Orphans
Ben Tanzer. Switchgrass Books,
$15.95 paperback (158p) ISBN: 9780875806952
"I would prefer not to, but..."
That is the excuse at the heart of Tanzer's well-executed
science fiction tale. Which at first seems odd for the author, but it is very
Tanzer-esque. He's cut his teeth writing real-world stories of guys who are
inept in their own skins. Men who aren't quite ready for the maturity required
in a real relationship. Or definitely not prepared for fatherhood. And they'd
rather just bury themselves in a pair a headphones and smother all those
problems with a soundtrack that brings back all the good memories of the past
(rather than the ever-encroaching present). So at the heart of his first and
only science fiction novel, Tanzer is covering similar ground. The guy has an
oeuvre. But he's also smart enough to know the best science fiction tales are,
at their core, simple. They are meant to reflect our own foibles.
In the futuristic Chicago of Orphans, there are still hapless guys who need to provide for their
families. For Norrin Radd, the protagonist, there are bills to pay and a family
to feed and sacrifices to be made to achieve both goals. Society has fallen
under the control of a single Corporation. If you want to work, you play ball.
Or you get cast out. You can provide for your family and live in one of the
sanitized districts (enforced by constant surveillance and black helicopters)
or you can live on the streets with the unemployed. They have E.C.'s
(electronic concierges) and Terraxes (robot labor) to handle the menial jobs.
The latter work tirelessly until one day they malfunction and keel over, only
to be recycled. Hence the constant refrain of "I would prefer not to,
but...". Radd goes along, but not without consequences. He winds up having
to travel back and forth between Mars, selling real estate to one-percenters
who want to be 'pioneers,' and quickly growing weary of spending all of his
time with sweet-talking E.C.s who only serve as reminders of how much of a
sucker he is after all. Meanwhile, back home, a carefully programmed Terrax is
filling in with his family. And all those insecurities about what happens while
he is away start creeping into Radd's brain.
Giving obvious nods to Ray Bradbury and Philip K. Dick,
Tanzer keeps the story focused on human frailty. We can make advances in
science, but we're still the same at heart. Radd would prefer not to, but....
While this might feel like well-trod ground for Tanzer, the story is smart and
absurd and even eerie in parts, which is a new bent for the author. The SciFi
elements never go off the deep end — they always feel believable, trusting the
reader to grasp everything without all the details. Tanzer is a confident
enough storyteller that he doesn't need to produce a Total Recall like standoff at the end. Some folks might hate that,
but Radd's ultimate fate rings true. The world is bigger than Radd and he could
play the hero, but....
(November 2013)
Purchase Orphans HERE.
