“Ashes to Ashes, Dust to Dust, Earth to Alluvium” by Gray Rinehart, published in Orson Scott Card’s Intergalactic Medicine Show Issue #39, May 2014 (online)
Eligibility: Eligible for 2015 Hugo in the category of Novelette
Status: Nominated
This is the editorial voice review. The reader's voice review is forthcoming. (for info on what this means, see here)
First thoughts
Embedded in a story or interstellar colonization and first contact, this is really more about free will, (political) freedom, and the transition of death. The story starts in the right place, the middle of the action, and the author doesn’t bog the narrative down with too much exposition on the back story – indeed, he seems to have held back a little too much in places. He does provide background however, and there are a few points where the need to tell us why things are as they are results in lectures from the mouths of the two main characters. Despite relatively brief treatment, we get a really clear view of the aliens and their motives as the story progresses, and the link between the story’s twist and the alien culture is an interesting one.
Ideas
The basic idea – a human colony on a far world, first contact, tension between the two species – is an old, well-worn one, but the author gives it a twist by not leaning on the tired themes so common in this sort of story. Instead of painting one as a technological wonder and the other as some Rouseauean superman the humans and aliens are presented as equals, even equally alien to the world, and the oppression of the humans seems almost accidental, as though it could easily have gone the other way. The scenario isn’t developed in any detail, but we get the sense that this is not so much about righteous deliverance and stolid defenders of freedom as it is about the stupid injustices that happen when people just don’t understand each other. [1] But then, the conflict between the aliens and the humans isn’t really the point, and anyway is something that happens before and after the story, but not during. The main thrust here is actually an exploration of what it means to be free, what happens to people when they are given “all they need” – but the definition of that is decided by outsiders for motives unclear. There is a subtext here that echoes the type of social SF of the civil rights era, though it doesn’t get the kind of deep treatment it deserves. But again, this dimension of the story isn’t quite what the author seems to be aiming at either – there is another layer here where the characters explore death and how to approach it with some modicum of dignity even under poor circumstances. Sadly, a novelette length seems insufficient for the lofty promises of this story, and although each layer does get some development there also seems to be a critical shallowness to it. Not due to any weakness in the writing, but just because it constantly feels as though much of the story is somehow missing. This is nowhere more evident than in the author’s treatment of two important ideas he brings up: the philosophical question of how to end one’s life in the extremis of health, and the understanding of what is “human” – the difference between sentient and sapient. Both of these are explicitly raised and then almost immediately abandoned without any exploration at all, let alone an adequate one. They seem left to the reader as homework, which is very unsatisfying considering the enormous scope such questions could have.
Writing
The language here is a bit richer than I actually expected from a “space colony” type story, but understandably so: this story doesn’t talk to us about technology and action, it’s a thinking story about society and the individual. The language isn’t ponderous though, and it doesn’t weigh us down with sonorous philosophising. The narrative moves on at a steady pace throughout, and pulls us on toward the conclusion. The exchanges between the humans and the aliens work, with the language chosen helping to remind that these things aren’t human without needless affectation or awkwardness. Likewise, descriptions of the aliens themselves are added judiciously throughout rather than provided in a single encyclopedia-like paragraph as is so common in this kind of setting. The overarching plot is coherent and well-paced, but there are some odd choices that are puzzling. The most striking is the deus ex machina feeling of the aliens’ critical psychological weakness. It’s certainly adequately supported in bits and pieces scattered through the work, but something about it seems almost as though it were a fragment of something more substantial – certainly, the logic behind it is never adequately explained, and here the author’s habit of using spare and description fails him because rather than making us imagine the world for ourselves (as he successfully does in other aspects of the story) we’re just left feeling it doesn’t make any sense. The other choice that might leave the reader struggling to suspend disbelief is the conceit that the aliens are gradually paring away human technology. Why are they doing this? What’s the point? Oh, reasons are readily imaginable to the veteran SF reader, but the options are many and the author provides no guidance as to what he’s thinking of. This is perhaps understandable, since the dearth of technology available turns out to be the hammer he uses to force the story in certain directions that would be impossible if an interstellar colony of humans actually had access to the kinds of technology you might expect – he might have found a more graceful way to do this, however. The author’s penchant for hammering things into place comes into play in other parts of the story as well, where what seem like implausible turns of events are critical in driving the story forward. Again, the impression is that everything would make sense if only we knew more about what was going on – this is perhaps a failing of having edited a bit too enthusiastically to get the spare narrative he wanted (or to fit in the space allowed?).
Characterisation
I think that one of the saddest things about this story is that the characters we meet are quite well realised. There are elements of the superficial about everyone but the two main characters, but on the whole the characters are fine considering the length of this work. Why is this sad? Because we are left with the impression that the entire alien-human conflict involves a grand total of 3 aliens and 5 humans (one of whom is dead, and another dies before we’re done). Somehow, the author completely avoids any mention of the human community beyond the limited spaces in which the characters deliver their lines, and although we get a slightly better view of the aliens we are only ever introduced to three of them, and none for more than a few moments so only one of them actually seems real. The story would have benefited greatly from providing more social context to the characters and perhaps depicting them as more than just actors delivering a limited set of lines. Another dimension of characterisation that is sadly lacking is related to the author’s fleeting treatment of deep questions: without close engagement with the questions and internal struggles the author has carefully crafted into the story the characters really don’t seem to change much over the course of events. In many shorter stories this wouldn’t be too serious – even the relative “cut out” quality that two of the four living humans have would be no serious problem if the two main characters could be seen to have real depth. Considering that the story revolves around such weighty issues, this seems to be a real failure, and the story would have benefited greatly from a stronger examination of the two main characters as they struggle, debate, and evolve.
Verdict
On the whole, this was a good story. It does seem lacking in some areas, but the sense is that the lack comes more from the inability to do the themes and questions justice in the space available. Perhaps the story should have been longer (maybe a novella, maybe even more) or perhaps the author should have considered being less ambitious with this single piece and stretching the tale he wanted to tell over a number of stories of various lengths. Certainly, he has made a good start to world building, but despite the skill with which the props have been made there are just too few to convincingly populate the stage, and this strikes me as being caused mainly by the need to juggle several things that all deserved much deeper treatment. The result is that you come to the end feeling unsatisfied, but the journey there is interesting enough to demonstrate that the problem is not the writing, but the space available, and you can’t help but think that with a bit more elbow room – or with tighter focus – there is potential here for something very interesting indeed.
Readability: Pass
Hugo quality: Pass
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1. Perhaps apropos for the 2015 Hugo slate…
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