First thought: I read this as a kid and understood it?
A significant chunk of my little world-bubble of 1979 consisted of a certain three books, all borrowed from the local library. Accustomed as I was to the golden age science fiction of Asimov and Heinlein, or the poetic science fiction of Bradbury, or the James-Bond-secret-agent-man science fiction of Poul Anderson, these three books were a dangerous vision indeed.
They were all written by Gary K. Wolf. Killerbowl is about a football league where gladiatorial violence is both expected and encouraged. A Generation Removed is about a literal war against aging, via enforced forced euthanasia. The Resurrectionist, his last book of the Seventies, concerns itself with what might happen if someone gets lost in a world-wide network of teleportation lines. Gritty and ticking-time-bomb intense, they grabbed me by the throat, slammed me against the lockers and stole my lunch money, cackling maniacally all the while.
I read them over and over and over.
Then, the years went by, disappearing into the nethervold like calendar pages twirling off with the wind in those 1940s noir flicks.
I mentioned them, now long out-of-print, from time to time. The wife bought me eBay copies of Killerbowl and A Generation Removed as an anniversary gift one year. But The Resurrectionist sat in limbo for close to thirty years until, one day a few weeks back, I decided to search for it on an online used book site. The book came a week later, and I read it in five hours spread over four days.
Imagine one of those archetypal Seventies movies; Network, I think works well, and use that as your cultural background. Now insert a teleportation-through-copper-wire transportation system that’s considered ho-hum run-of-the-mill. Finally, mix in the crisis of, say, what happens when a very high profile celebrity gets lost in that system. Disappears. No – even better – dissipates. She steps into the transfer booth at Point A and never materializes at her destination, Point B.
I read this as a kid and understood it?
In this Wolfian world, like so many good thrillers, techno or elsewise, nothing is as it seems. Indeed, things sometimes change two, three, four or more times as the story progresses. Many characters are not who we think they are. Nor are many things what we first suspect. Same for situations. I enjoy novels like that – keeps me on my toes. But it also jades me a bit, taking me a bit out of the story to see if I can trip up and second-guess the author. With The Resurrectionist, I was pleasantly surprised four or five times, not bad in a 180-page novel.
Though I liked the premise and the surprises, there were a few minor things that nagged at me. The lead characters were somewhat stereotypical: the hard-boiled ex-cop troubleshooter and his ex-wife eeevil corporate CEO. Their bickering banter felt more than a little scripted. But Wolf balances these out with some unique supporting roles that come to life. And the ending wrestles with some fairly intense moral issues which I wish were explored a little more in depth – there’s plenty of gut-wrenching emotional agony that I wanted more of there. There’s a one-page denouement, a definite plus, that balances the law of unintended consequences with a Rod Serling punchline. That was not a surprise, because it was the only thing I recalled vividly from reading the book three decades ago.
I grade it a B, though I have to stress this is from a somewhat world-weary and much more experienced reader. As a youngling all of Gary Wolf’s books floored me. If forced to rank them in terms of enjoyment and fascination, The Resurrectionist would probably be third in this list; Killerbowl, which I’m saving to re-read once things settle down, would be tops. Still, a great blast from the past and a decent read, even if you’ve never come across it before.
* * *
[Never heard of Gary K. Wolf, one of my favorite childhood authors? In 1981 he wrote a book called Who Censored Roger Rabbit? which was made into that groundbreaking film a couple of years later. And just recently he teamed with my Archbishop, John Myers, a childhood friend of his, to co-author Space Vulture, a throw-back homage to the golden age of SF. That’s a book that is on my radar, too …]
A significant chunk of my little world-bubble of 1979 consisted of a certain three books, all borrowed from the local library. Accustomed as I was to the golden age science fiction of Asimov and Heinlein, or the poetic science fiction of Bradbury, or the James-Bond-secret-agent-man science fiction of Poul Anderson, these three books were a dangerous vision indeed.
They were all written by Gary K. Wolf. Killerbowl is about a football league where gladiatorial violence is both expected and encouraged. A Generation Removed is about a literal war against aging, via enforced forced euthanasia. The Resurrectionist, his last book of the Seventies, concerns itself with what might happen if someone gets lost in a world-wide network of teleportation lines. Gritty and ticking-time-bomb intense, they grabbed me by the throat, slammed me against the lockers and stole my lunch money, cackling maniacally all the while.
I read them over and over and over.
Then, the years went by, disappearing into the nethervold like calendar pages twirling off with the wind in those 1940s noir flicks.
I mentioned them, now long out-of-print, from time to time. The wife bought me eBay copies of Killerbowl and A Generation Removed as an anniversary gift one year. But The Resurrectionist sat in limbo for close to thirty years until, one day a few weeks back, I decided to search for it on an online used book site. The book came a week later, and I read it in five hours spread over four days.
Imagine one of those archetypal Seventies movies; Network, I think works well, and use that as your cultural background. Now insert a teleportation-through-copper-wire transportation system that’s considered ho-hum run-of-the-mill. Finally, mix in the crisis of, say, what happens when a very high profile celebrity gets lost in that system. Disappears. No – even better – dissipates. She steps into the transfer booth at Point A and never materializes at her destination, Point B.
I read this as a kid and understood it?
In this Wolfian world, like so many good thrillers, techno or elsewise, nothing is as it seems. Indeed, things sometimes change two, three, four or more times as the story progresses. Many characters are not who we think they are. Nor are many things what we first suspect. Same for situations. I enjoy novels like that – keeps me on my toes. But it also jades me a bit, taking me a bit out of the story to see if I can trip up and second-guess the author. With The Resurrectionist, I was pleasantly surprised four or five times, not bad in a 180-page novel.
Though I liked the premise and the surprises, there were a few minor things that nagged at me. The lead characters were somewhat stereotypical: the hard-boiled ex-cop troubleshooter and his ex-wife eeevil corporate CEO. Their bickering banter felt more than a little scripted. But Wolf balances these out with some unique supporting roles that come to life. And the ending wrestles with some fairly intense moral issues which I wish were explored a little more in depth – there’s plenty of gut-wrenching emotional agony that I wanted more of there. There’s a one-page denouement, a definite plus, that balances the law of unintended consequences with a Rod Serling punchline. That was not a surprise, because it was the only thing I recalled vividly from reading the book three decades ago.
I grade it a B, though I have to stress this is from a somewhat world-weary and much more experienced reader. As a youngling all of Gary Wolf’s books floored me. If forced to rank them in terms of enjoyment and fascination, The Resurrectionist would probably be third in this list; Killerbowl, which I’m saving to re-read once things settle down, would be tops. Still, a great blast from the past and a decent read, even if you’ve never come across it before.
* * *
[Never heard of Gary K. Wolf, one of my favorite childhood authors? In 1981 he wrote a book called Who Censored Roger Rabbit? which was made into that groundbreaking film a couple of years later. And just recently he teamed with my Archbishop, John Myers, a childhood friend of his, to co-author Space Vulture, a throw-back homage to the golden age of SF. That’s a book that is on my radar, too …]
Wonderful blog, just found it. We have similar tastes in reading. I too am a devout fan of "Killerbowl". Have you ever read any works by Julian May? I would recommend starting with "The Many-Colored Land". Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the kind remarks!
ReplyDeleteI have not read anything by Julian May, but on your recommendation and the assertion we have similar tastes I'll put her on the Acquisitions List next time I'm in the used books store.
Wikipedia tells me she wrote "The Blob" under the pseudonym Ian Thorne. If that's the movie novelization that's intriguing as The Blob was the scariest movie of my childhood.
And also it lists one of her pen names as Wolfgang Amadeus Futslogg! Greatest. Name. Ever!!