Six Moon Dance was chosen by the classic SF discussion group https://groups.io/g/ClassicScienceFiction/
as one of its monthly reads, and being a long-term fan of Sheri Tepper I made a
point of acquiring a copy. It is a stand-alone book, rather than being one of
the short series which comprise much of her output.
The story is set on the planet Newholme, which had been
settled by humanity not many generations before, and exists with a low level of
technology. The matriarchal culture is curious, driven by the fact that a
considerable imbalance in the population has developed, with far more males
than females. This means that females are highly valued as well as dominating
the powerful planetary religion, with prospective husbands (or their families)
having to pay a massive dowry to obtain a wife. The males are principally
concerned with becoming "family men", with their own business or
farm, a wife and children; the oldest son inherits, so younger sons have little
to look forward to. One of the options open to the more attractive ones is to
become a Consort or "Hunk"; highly trained to please women in every
way and purchased by wives for their pleasure once they have completed their
compulsory duties of child bearing, a state of affairs which is accepted as
normal.
There is a mystery about Newholme that no-one likes to talk
about: when the planet was first settled, an exhaustive search failed to find
any trace of sentient natives, freeing humanity to settle the planet. However,
not long after the settlement, humanoid natives were everywhere. The settlers
do not like to admit that they exist, since their settlement would then become
illegal, so they pretend not to see them, despite the fact that the natives
voluntarily act as servants and manual workers. However, word that something
odd was happening on the planet led to the arrival of the Questioner: the
representative of the Council of Worlds, and a cyborg of ultimate power and
authority. The Questioner arrives at a time of crisis, with the six large moons
of Newholme moving towards a rare configuration which would create massive
seismic effects on the planet.
The story mainly follows four humans: a young man who enters
training as a Hunk; a girl who pretends to be a boy in order to avoid her
childbearing fate; and two young dancers dragooned by the Questioner to assist
her work. What is really happening on the planet turns out to be something far
greater and more fundamental than anyone suspected. The author drops hints
about the mystery throughout the book, particularly when describing the
activities of the natives, who know far more about the situation than anyone
else, and the meaning of some terms they employ only becomes evident towards
the climax.
This story is typical of Tepper, combining SF and fantasy
elements with a large measure of social – and especially feminist – commentary.
Some readers are deterred by the strong feminism in the plots of many of her
books, but it does not bother me. Her fantasy elements and characters tend to
have a whimsical side to them, and (SPOILER WARNING) I have to admit to being
amused by the concept of a vast space creature becoming obsessed with gender
rights issues and heading off into the galaxy to preach the gospel!
On looking through Tepper's novels and noting the ones I
have reviewed, the others I read before I started reviewing, those which I
possess but have not yet read, and the ones I have not so far obtained, I
discover that I have quite a lot of reading to do in order to catch up with
this prolific author's impressive back catalogue.
*************************************
John Steakley had an unusual publishing record. Between 1981
and 1990 he published a handful of short stories and two novels: one a military
SF (Armor, 1984), the other a horror
(Vampire$, 1990). He died at the age
of 59 in 2010. Both of his novels were well received, with Vampires (different spelling) being turned into a 1998 film. I
first read Armor shortly after it
was published, and thought well enough of it to keep it for a re-read – which
has now occurred.
Part 1, the first 80 pages of Armor, consists of an intense focus on a few days in the life of
Felix, a soldier in an interstellar war being fought against giant insectoids
dubbed "ants". The human soldiers are heavily protected by massive
powered armour which gives them colossal strength and speed; the ants are less
technological but are bred as killers. The soldiers are "dropped"
onto planetary surfaces from massive orbiting spacecraft (via some kind of
teleportation), and at the start of the story Felix is awaiting his first drop
onto an ant world the humans call Banshee.
Felix survives several days of ferocious fighting, very much
against the odds. Terrified of the prospect of fighting, he gains aid from a
part of his mind he thinks of as "the Engine"; which turns him into a
relentless killing machine. There is some mystery in his past, a suggestion of
hereditary high rank, but no answers as to why a civilian like him has become a
soldier.
One key question occurred to me at the end of this part of
the story: Banshee was not just an ant world, it was uninhabitable by humans
due to highly poisonous oceans and atmosphere, plus extreme temperatures; in
other words, of no value to humanity at all.
So why were soldiers being sent down to the surface to fight ants
hand-to-hand? The obvious response to such a situation should be for the
spaceships to stay in orbit and rain thermonuclear-tipped missiles down on any
observed concentrations of ants. (This evidently bothered the author too, as
much later in the book he states that the atmosphere was too poisonous and with
two many random electromagnetic fields for guidance systems to work. But the
teleportation system does? Hmmm…) Anyway, to continue with the story…
Part 2 is headed Jack
Crow, and provides a complete change of plot and characters. The focus this
time is on the notorious pirate of the heading, and is told by him in the first
person, in contrast with the third-person structure of the first part. We first
meet him in prison, from which he is saved by another pirate, the giant
Borglyn, and is compelled by him to undertake a mission on a planet called
Sanction. This is inhabitable by humans, but currently occupied only by a large
research base plus a motley collection of settlers inhabitating a nearby slum
city, including the enigmatic Lewis, an alcoholic who reputedly owns the
planet. This part is not that comfortable to read, as Crow befriends the
researchers with the aim of betraying them to Borglyn. Meanwhile Hollis, the
innocent genius who heads the research base, has become fascinated with a suit
of combat armour which Crow had discovered in a spacecraft abandoned in orbit,
and is trying to unlock the memory files embedded within it. When he succeeds,
both himself and Crow experience Felix's life in combat via virtual reality as
they try to discover what happened to him. Part 3 continues with Felix's story
as experienced by Crow and Holly, and the psychological tensions build up
steadily as relationships with the settlers reach crisis point. The fourth part switches back to Banshee and
resolves the identity of Felix, a man running from his past. Part 5 is the
finale, as Borglyn arrives to claim Sanction, triggering a climactic conflict.
This is far more than just another military SF tale, and
almost half of the story is set on Sanction. The plotting and characterisation
are very good, although it struck me as slightly odd to have two different heroes with nothing to connect them until right at the end. Strongly recommended, and such a pity that Steakley wrote no
more SF novels.
