The Tabernacle of Legion

The author sent me a copy of his novel to read and review:

This prototype sci-fi thriller has a lot going on at the same time that eventually melds into one innovative story. In my opinion, Kevin Schillo’s first novel is a big-time success. I couldn’t resolve what concept I liked the best; is it: the awakening of a 70,000 year old being who was found frozen in a block of ice in the Antarctica, or the discovery of a three billion year old alien artifact buried in a asteroid, or the eventual meeting of these two events? Based on the author’s credentials in aerospace engineering, the technical aspect of the story was smooth as ice (no pun intended). He didn’t frustrate the reader with a lot of technical jargon (that) the reader wouldn’t understand anyway. So I’ll review the very early stages of these happenings in order to whet your appetite for this novel.    

First, the 70,000 year old being. At Niflheim Research Station, Antarctica: Paul Kivi, a climatologist, finds a block of ice containing a man later determined to be 70,000 years old. Anna Landes, chief physician and biochemist at Niflheim, names the specimen Ask, who according to Norse mythology, is the mate of Embla.  On page 38, Anna says, “There’s no trace of ice crystals anywhere in the tissue sample that I took. His cells are completely intact.” That’s not possible since, “when human tissue is frozen, ice crystals form within the cells and destroy the cells’ integrity.” She later says, “He seems to possess antifreeze proteins. Various species of fish and insects have such proteins that allow them to survive in frigid environments without having ice crystals form in their cells. Seeing this in a human is the most amazing thing I’ve ever observed.” Does Anna make a regretful mistake by saying, “I’m going to perform an autopsy.”? You must read the novel to find out what happens during and after the autopsy, but later in the book, the reader learns that Legion (who or what is that?) was responsible for Ask’s imprisonment in the ice. “Ask knew that Legion had directly intervened with baseline (human) history at least once, and that had been millennia ago when they had given him his nanomachines. It was an incredible gift. In addition to enabling him to change his appearance and probe baselines’ minds, the nanomachines also altered his physiology, allowing him to heal from any injury, immunized him against any disease, kept his body perpetually young, and permitted him to survive in hostile environments ranging from barren deserts to the frozen wastes of the polar ice caps. The gift effectively made Ask immortal.” Are you interested yet? How does Ask tie into the alien artifact story? Why was he buried here on Earth 70,000 years ago? What would you do after a 70 millennium sleep? Would you be grumpy?

Okay, what about the three billion year old alien artifact? Miles Gilster, Founder of IE (Interplanetary Enterprises), is the richest man on earth. He runs an asteroid mining company that mines precious metals, such as gold, silver, platinum, cobalt, nickel and iridium. He does this by having robotic miners excavate the metals off asteroids. The miners are self replicating and even build the transporters that bring the treasure back to Earth. Miles also runs tours from the Earth to the moon and back with the capacity to billet five space tourists, who spend a week at IE’s facility and on the lunar surface. His best astronaut, Mark de Rijk, commands the moon tour ship. Miles is in the process of building the world’s first fusion propulsion spacecraft meant to carry tourist to Mars and back in record time (and for record profits). Government space agencies around the world combined to have a joint exploratory base on Mars, but transportation to Mars and back via the two Cycler spacecraft (the Aldrin and the Armstrong) took five months to get there and eight months to get back to Earth. Recently, IE had a new miner land on an asteroid that has never been mined. Desmond Berens of IE was observing the miner's progress and suddenly realized “that the miner had not been able to penetrate through an inch of rock in more than three hours.” Alexis Razol, the only other employee in the room, asked, “Is there a problem with it?” Desmond said, “No...everything is working perfectly fine. It’s just not able to get through the material that it’s encountered.” They are positive there is nothing wrong with drills. The miner’s sensors cannot determine what it’s trying to drill through. “Alexis pulled up a video feed, showing the miner at the bottom of the shaft it had dug in the asteroid.” It could drill no further, whatever it was appeared to absorb all light. “In fact, it doesn’t seem to be emitting or reflecting any detectable electromagnetic radiation.” That’s why it’s so black. “All indications are that it is absorbing 100% of incoming radiation.” On page 26, Alexis tells Desmond that the black thing is artificial. “Okay,” Desmond said slowly. “So it’s artificial. The question is: who put it there? And why?” After Miles Gilster  sees what’s happening with the miner on the asteroid, he says, “You found a fucking alien artifact!” What’s going to happen now?

I was reminded of Arthur C. Clarke’s 1968 sci-fi novel 2001: A Space Odyssey while I was reading this novel, which by the way, is also mentioned in Kevin Schillo’s book by one of his characters. Was the artifact found on the asteroid a beacon to start life like the monoliths in Clarke’s novel? Or was it something foreboding? Or something else? You have 361 exciting pages to find all the answers...or will the author keep you guessing? The author’s prose was developed enough for the reader to have empathy for all the characters. But the author saved his best writing for the conversation between IE’S atheist astronaut, Mark de Rijk, and his parish priest brother, David, during the time they spent together discussing how the finding of an alien artifact would affect the world’s religions. That was very introspective. Good job of storytelling. The last 54 pages of this thriller are electric...well worth the price of admission in itself!

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: In the acknowledgements, the author thanks four people who supported an endeavor he pursued during a trying period in his life. All four friends are namesakes in Kevin’s novel: Mark de Rijk, Adam Hernandez, Miles Gilster and Jedediah Storey. Through a email, the author assures me that he is currently writing the sequel to The Tabernacle of Legion. He states that he will answer all the unanswered questions in that sequel. I hope so, because I have a lot to ask.

This was one of the best indie books (that) I’ve ever read...bar none. It’s the kind of novel that would be picked by Hollywood had it been published by a major house. I’m reminded of one of my favorite sci-fi novels that started out as a indie, later published by Simon & Schuster with the film rights sold to 20th Century Fox. What is this novel? It’s Hugh Howey’s 2011 novel, Wool (see my review of 1/21/2016). So there you go, Mr. Kevin Schillo...it can be done. Now, if you are wondering about the next novel in this series...does We're off to see the Wizard ring a bell?

Rambling Comments #5

It’s been almost four years since I did one of these columns...today’s the day. I’m going to tell you about a 63 page short story that I just read. This is not a review. You will not find this on Amazon.com, or Goodreads.com...not anywhere but here. I’m gonna tell you all about it because chances are (that) you will never read it. If you are going to read it...stop right here. It was written in 1940 by a little known author, Harry Bates. This story is significant because it spawned one of the most impactful science fiction movies of all time. It gave birth to the 1951 black and white movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, starring Michael Rennie (as Klaatu), Patricia Neal, Billy Gray, Hugh Marlowe and Sam Jaffe (as the professor). I’m not going to talk about that stupid 2008 remake starring Keanu Reeves as Klaatu. It was an embarrassment. Quoting sci-fi writer, Dennis Herrick, “The theme is the major difference between the short story and the movie. The atomic bomb had not been invented yet when Bates wrote the short story. The story was published in the October 1940 issue of Astounding, a science fiction stories magazine.” Once I start telling you the story, you will realize that other than the ship landing in Washington D.C (even that is dissimilar because in Bate’s short story the ship just appears out of nowhere) and the two time travelers having the same name (Klaatu), it’s a totally different scenario. Even the eight foot tall robot’s name is not Gort, but Gnut. Bates calls Klaatu a time traveler because the ship just materialized like it passed through a wormhole. Anyway, Dennis Herrick further states, “Bates’s Farewell to the Master went against the grain of most sci-fi stories of the time, aliens were usually described as menacing, aggressive, and murderous. In Bates’s story, aliens possess good moral character. The alien Klaatu looked like a benign god. The giant alien robot Gnut is immensely powerful but also capable of sadness and gentleness.” This commentary might take awhile, so if you have to go to the bathroom...go now. By the way (in the movie) Klaatu tells Helen (Patricia Neal) that should anything happen to him, she must go to Gort and say, Klaatu Barada Nikto. That line never appears in Bates’s story.

It appeared in a blink of the eye. “The ship appeared and just sat here. No one emerged, and there was no sign that it contained life of any kind. That, as much as any single thing, caused excitement to skyrocket. Who, or what, was inside? Were the visitors hostile or friendly? Where did the ship come from? How did it arrive so suddenly on this spot without dropping from the sky?” It sat there for two days. “And where was the ship’s entrance port? Men who dared go look reported that none could be found. No slightest break or crack marred the perfect smoothness of the ship’s curving ovoid surface. And a delegation of high-ranking officials who visited the ship could not, by knocking, elicit from its occupants any sign that they had been heard.” Is this an exciting story or what? Especially since I told you that it’s not the same as the movie. “At last, after exactly two days, in full view of tens of thousands of persons assembled and standing well back, and under the muzzles of scores of the army’s most powerful guns and ray projectors, an opening appeared in the wall of the ship, and a ramp slid down. And out stepped a man, godlike in appearance and human in form, closely followed by a giant robot. And when they touched the ground the ramp slid back and the entrance closed as before.” The stranger appeared to be friendly to the assembled thousands who witnessed what happened. As a large group of high-ranking government officials and army officers approached the alien, he said in perfect English, “I am Klaatu and this is Gnut.” And then from a treetop a hundred yards away, a shot rang out. Klaatu was dead, “The police pulled the slayer of Klaatu out of the tree. They found him mentally unbalanced.” Gnut was behind his master when Klaatu was killed. Gnut slowly turned his body towards him, moved his head twice, and then stood still. Klaatu was buried in a mausoleum in the Tidal Basin, and the Smithsonian Institution built a new wing around the ship and robot and started giving tours. The robot and ship were too heavy to be moved. All of our best metallurgists failed to break into the ship and they couldn’t find anyway to penetrate Gnut’s internals.

The story’s narrator, Cliff Sutherland, a freelance picture reporter, tells the readers that the site became a tourist attraction. A Mr. Stillwell recorded the info presentation that blared through the speakers to the visitors. At the end of the tour, the recorded voice would say, “You will be allowed to remain five minutes longer, and then, when the gong sounds, you will please leave promptly. The robot attendants along the wall will answer any questions you may have.” Since Cliff (from viewing his previous photos) thought that Gnut had somehow moved a fraction from the previous day, he hid in the building until closing time. As darkness set in, Cliff felt that Gnut’s red eyes followed him no matter where he went. Cliff settled in for a period of waiting. “And so it was that when Gnut did move Cliff was scared almost out of his wits. Dull and a little bored, he suddenly found the robot out on the floor, halfway in his direction.” The frightening thing was that he didn’t catch him moving! “For a moment Cliff all but fainted, and when he recovered, there was Gnut towering over him, legs almost within reach. He was bending slightly, burning his terrible eyes right into his own!” Cliff waited to be squashed like a bug. “And then suddenly and unexpectedly it was over. Gnut’s body straightened and he stepped back. He turned. And then, with the almost jerkless rhythm which only he among robots possessed, he started back toward the place from which he came.” Gnut went to the ship (the author calls the ship, the traveler) and utters some curious sounds and a doorway opens and a ramp slides down. Gnut goes into the traveler, and then the opening closes. Cliff was so scared that he forgot to take pictures. So he positions his camera to take a picture of the ramp connecting with the opened door when Gnut comes out of the ship. Hours passed. What’s he doing in there? “More time passed, and then, some time after two o’clock in the morning, a simple homely thing happened, but a thing so unexpected that for a moment it quite destroyed Cliff’s equilibrium...there was a faint whir of wings, soon followed by the piercing, sweet voice of a bird. A mockingbird.” How did the mockingbird get into this museum? It’s December, not spring.

Cliff didn’t notice, but Gnut was now out of the ship. The mockingbird fell out of the sky. It was dead. Gnut picked it up and went back in the ship. “Hours passed while Cliff waited for some sequel to this surprising happening.” Once again he failed to take a picture of Gnut moving around. Cliff took off his shoes and quitely hid behind one of the six robot attendants. The next thing Cliff saw was a dark shape that bounded out of the port quickly followed by Gnut. It was a gorilla! The gorilla and Gnut fought. The gorilla began tearing the robot attendants apart, one by one. Still Cliff is forgetting to take any pictures. Before the gorilla could come to the robot attendant that Cliff was hiding behind, “It dropped heavily on one side, rocked back and forth a few times, and fell twitching. Then it lay still and did not move again. As dawn crept into the room, Gnut’s heavy greenish features displayed a thoughtful, grieving expression towards the dead gorilla. He gently picked up the gorilla and brought it inside the ship." Cliff hid until 8:30 in the morning when, “there were noises at the entrance, and the good sound of human voices came to his ears.” He heard running feet, as he stealthily sneaked out, he looked back and Gnut was standing in his accustomed place, in the identical pose he had taken at the death of his master. Later, safe in his hotel room, he staggered over to the bed. “He did not wake up til mid-afternoon.” After he woke up, he went to a nearby restaurant patronized by newsmen. There he heard what he knew he would hear...the shit hit the fan at the museum. Cliff went back to the museum, showed his press credentials, and gained admission. They were cleaning up the mess, piling the broken robot attendants along the wall. Another reporter told Cliff that they found a number of short dark brown hairs. “Those hairs came off a large male gorilla...most of them were found on the robot attendants...and that’s blood, diluted-gorilla blood. It was found on Gnut’s arms.” Cliff realized that he had only two still photos, none involving any action. He decided that he had to go back for a second night.

If this recapitulation is too long, take a break and come back tomorrow for the surprise ending! Once again, I would like to reiterate that this is not a review. I’m telling the story. Did you notice there isn’t a professor (Sam Jaffe), or a potential love interest (Patricia Neal)? That’s because Bates killed off Klaatu as soon as he got off the spaceship. I wonder if George R. R. Martin, author of A Game of Thrones, got his “surprise kill” ideas from Bates. Oh, well.

                                                          

So Cliff snuck back into the museum the next night with the intention of getting some action photos. This time, besides his camera, he brought along a Mikton ray gun in case he ran into anymore gorillas. Once again, Cliff hid under the table of supplies in the laboratory. “He settled down to wait, keeping Gnut in full sight every minute. Hours slowly passed. From time to time he heard slight noises at the entrance. At about nine o’clock he saw Gnut move.” Like last night, Gnut walked over to Cliff and stared at him with bright red eyes. Cliff trembled all over, “You would not hurt me”, he pleaded. “I was only curious to see what’s going on. It’s my job. Can you understand me? I would not harm or bother you. I...I couldn’t if I wanted to. Please!” Cliff doesn’t know if the giant robot heard him or understood him. Gnut reached down and took something from a drawer of the table that Cliff was hiding behind. Gnut turned around and went into the ship. Cliff was in the dark for two hours while the robot was in the ship. Suddenly, Cliff heard muffled sounds from inside the ship...very familiar words. “Gentlemen,” was the first, and then there was a very slight pause. “The Smithsonian Institution welcomes you to its new Interplanetary Wing and to the marvelous exhibits at this moment before you.” My God, it was Stillwell’s voice, the man who recorded the exhibit’s tour. “For just a moment there was silence. Then came a scream, a hoarse man’s scream, muffled, from somewhere within the heart of the ship.” Abruptly, Stillwell flew out of the ship and stumbled towards Cliff with Gnut right behind him. Stillwell asked Cliff where he was and how did he get here. He told Cliff, “I was making a lecture recording when suddenly I found myself here.” Stillwell said he felt weak, then he fell on the floor...and then he died. Gnut looked sad, picked up Stillwell and laid him by the wall where he had stacked the dismembered pieces of the robot attendants the night before. Then he went back into the ship.

What is Gnut experimenting with in the ship that enabled him to bring a bird, gorilla and now a man into this complex? And why did they promptly die? One by one, Gnut brought out the bodies of the gorilla and the mockingbird, and laid them in the pile by the wall. Gnut was obviously cleaning house in his ship. Finally, Cliff went over to the pile to see the bodies of the gorilla, the mockingbird and the one of Stillwell, but wait there was a fourth body. “What he saw made him catch his breath. Impossible, he thought. There was some confusion in his directions. He brought his face back, close to the first body. Then his blood ran cold. The first body was that of Stillwell, but the last in the row was Stillwell, too. There were two bodies of Stillwell, both exactly alike, both dead.” What is going on? “Cliff backed away with a cry, and then panic took him and he ran down the room away from Gnut and yelled and beat wildly on the door. There was a noise on the outside.” “Let me out!” he yelled in terror. “Let me out! Let me out! Oh, hurry!” The door opened and Cliff ran out like a wild animal and then stopped and looked at the building. “As he looked, the grounds about the building came to life. Several people collected at the door of the wing. Above sounded the siren of a police copter, then in the distance another, and from all sides people came running, a few at first, then more and more. The police planes landed on the lawn just outside the door of the wing, and he thought he could see the officers peeping inside. Then suddenly the lights of the wing flooded on. In control of himself now, Cliff went back.” Of course Gnut was standing motionless in his usual spot. “The ship’s door was closed, and the ramp gone. But the bodies, the four strangely assorted bodies, were still lying by the demolished robot attendants where he had left them in the dark.” Then Cliff was recognized, “This is the man!” the guard shouted. “When I opened the door this man forced his way out and ran like the devil.”

“The police officers converged on Cliff.” At this point, Cliff is the only witness to what happened the last two nights in the compound, even though he had little pictorial evidence. But everybody knows that something “out of this world” happened. Will he cooperate with the police? Yes and no. Yes he will, but not till he makes a lot of money from his eye witness account. “What were you doing?” the officer asked, eyeing him. “And where did these bodies come from?” “Gentlemen, I’d tell you gladly -only business first,” Cliff answered. “There’s been some fantastic goings-on in this room, and I saw them and have the story, but - ” he smiled, - "I must decline to answer without advice of counsel until I’ve sold my story to one of the news syndicates. You know how it is. If you’ll allow me the use of the radio in your plane - just for a moment, gentlemen - you’ll have the whole story afterward. Say in half an hour, when the television men broadcast it. Meanwhile, believe me, there’s nothing for you to do, and there’ll be no loss by the delay.” Cliff made a deal with a news syndicate that paid him a lot of money...then he told his story to the world. Afterwards, he spent the night in jail before being released. Then a Federal agent grabbed him and said, “You’re wanted for further questioning over at the Continental Bureau of Investigation.” Cliff had no choice but to go with the agent. Thirty-five high ranking officials were at the meeting. After listening to Cliff’s story again, they decided to encase Gnut in a transparent block of glasstex. Cliff then learns that Stillwell is alive and that the two others at the museum were copies. Cliff was allowed to watch the pouring of glasstex on Gnut, while he sat alone fifteen feet above the ground in a tree outside the compound. He commanded a clear view of Gnut through a museum window. Cliff is armed with his infrared viewing magnifier, a radio mike and a infrared TV eye with sound pickup. Hours passed. The moon came out. Gnut is still stationary in his block of plastic.

“Then, suddenly, Cliff saw something and quickly bent his eye to the viewing magnifier. Gnut’s eyes were moving, at least the intensity of the light emanating from them varied. It was as if two tiny red flashlights were turned from side to side, their beams at each motion crossing Cliff’s eyes.” Was Gnut making an attempt to break out of his block of plastic? “A faint red glow was spreading over the robot’s body. With trembling fingers he readjusted the lens of the television eye, but even as he did so the glow grew in intensity. It looked as if Gnut’s body was being heated to incandescence!” This particular section of the book was Harry Bates best as far as displaying his ability to create tension. He is obviously a sci-fi writer that fell through the cracks because he got very little credit for any of his writings during his lifetime. “He had within himself somehow the means to raise his own body temperature, and was exploiting the limitation of the plastic in which he was locked. For glasstex, Cliff now remembered, was a thermoplastic material, one that set by cooling and conversely would soften again with heat. Gnut was melting his way out!” “The robot became cherry-red...the whole structure began to sag...the robots body moved more wildly.” The plastic melted away. The transition happened quickly. “His body was free! And then, still cherry-red, he moved forward out of sight!” “Several minutes passed. There was a sharp, ringing crack. The metal doors of the wing flew open, and out step the metal giant, glowing no longer. He stood stock-still, and his red eyes pierced from side to side through the darkness.” Then chaos erupted as the waiting army’s tank fired its shell into the giant robot. Cliff’s tree swayed side to side, the area where the robot had previously stood was covered in a cloud of dust and smoke. Did the army destroy Gnut? Cliff had to wait for the haze to clear. He was sure the robot had taken a direct hit.

When the haze cleared, Cliff saw Gnut get up and head for the tank. Before the tank could maneuver it’s barrel, Gnut destroyed the breech with one mighty wallop. The crew scattered to safety. “And then he turned and looked right at Cliff. He moved toward him, and in a moment was under the tree. Cliff climber higher. Gnut put his two arms around the tree and gave a lifting push, and the tree tore out at the roots and fell crashing to its side. Before Cliff could scramble away, the robot had lifted him in his metal hands.” Strangely, the giant robot put Cliff on his shoulder, stabilized him by putting his hand on Cliff’s ankle, and then marched off towards the Tidal Basin where Klaatu’s body was buried. “His neck and shoulders made Cliff a seat hard as steel, but with the difference that their underlying muscles with each movement flexed, just as those of a human being. To Cliff, this metal musculature became a vivid wonder.” Thousands of people followed; above droned copters and planes, and on the ground police cars followed with their annoying sirens blaring. Gnut navigated through water up to his waist before he arrived on the land where the mausoleum that housed Klaatu’s tomb was. “In a moment they were at the top, on the narrow platform in the middle of which rested the simple oblong tomb.” “The giant robot walked once around it, then, bending, he braced himself and gave a mighty push against the top. The marble cracked. The thick cover slipped askew and broke with a loud noise on the far side. Inside...lay a transparent plastic coffin, thick walled and sealed against centuries, and containing all that was mortal to Klaatu, unspoken visitor from the great unknown.” Also inside was a sealed box that contained all the records of Klaatu’s very short visit along with a little roll of film that caught the sight and sound of Klaatu’s short visit. “Gnut paid final respect to his beautiful and adored master. Suddenly then it was over. Gnut reached out and took the little box of records, rose to his feet and started down the steps.” Gnut with Cliff still on his shoulder, and the little box of records in his hand, went back the same way he came and then entered his ship with Cliff on his shoulder.

Once inside, “He set Cliff down and stood looking at him. The young man already regretted his rash action, but the robot, except for his always unfathomable eyes, did not seem angry. He pointed to a stool in one corner of the room. Cliff quickly obeyed this time and sat meekly, for a while not even venturing to look around.” Cliff eventually noticed that he was in a laboratory of some kind. None of the equipment looked even vaguely familiar. “Dominating the center of the room was a long metal table on whose top lay a large box, much like a coffin on the outside, connected by many wires to a complicated apparatus at the far end.” He was also wondering why there was what appeared to be an Earthman’s briefcase on a nearby table...it seemed out of place. “Gnut paid him no attention, but at once, with the narrow edge of a thick tool, sliced the lid off the little box of records. He lifted out the strip of sight-and-sound film and spent fully half an hour adjusting it with the apparatus at the end of the big table...this done, Gnut worked a long time over some accessory apparatus on an adjoining table. Then he paused thoughtfully a moment and pushed inward a long rod. A voice came out of the coffinlike box - the voice of the slain ambassador.” Wow, what’s going on? “I am Klaatu,” it said, “and this is Gnut.” It flashed through Cliff’s mind, those were the only words the ambassador uttered! Then Cliff realized there was a man in the box...he sat up! It was Klaatu! “Klaatu appeared somewhat surprised and spoke quickly in an unknown tongue to Gnut. And Gnut, for the first time in Cliff’s experience, spoke himself in answer. They talked for several minutes.” Klaatu seemed to be tired and was going to lay down, but he changed his mind when he noticed Cliff sitting there. He once again talked to Gnut, this time at length. Then he said to Cliff, “Gnut told me everything.” Cliff had a hundred questions to ask, but for a moment hardly dared open his mouth. “But you,” he began at last - very respectfully, but with an escaping excitement - “You are not the Klaatu that was in the tomb?” “No.”

“I am dying,” he announced simply, as if repeating his words for the Earthman. Again to his face came the faint, tired smile.” Cliff didn’t have a clue what was happening. “I see you don’t understand,” he said. “Although unlike us, Gnut has great powers. When the wing was built and the lectures began, there came to him a striking inspiration. Acting on it at once, in the night, he assembled this apparatus...and now he has made me again, from my voice, as recorded by your people. As you must know, a given body makes a characteristic sound. He constructed an apparatus which reversed the recording process, and from the given sound made the characteristic body.” Now it dawned on Cliff, during those two nights that he spent observing, Gnut was in the ship experimenting. First with the mockingbird, then the gorilla and finally with the two Stillwells. Cliff said to Klaatu, “But you needn’t die!” Klaatu said, “You don’t understand...your recordings had imperfections. Perhaps very slight ones, but they doom the product. All of Gnut’s experiments died in a few minutes, he tells me, and so must I.” Cliff thought about what he has just learned and, “Suddenly, then, Cliff understood the origin of the experiments. He remembered that on the day the wing opened a Smithsonian official had lost a briefcase containing filmstrips of various world fauna. There, on the table, was a briefcase. And the Stillwells must have been made from strips kept in the table drawer.” Cliff didn’t want Klaatu to die and slowly an idea popped into his head. “You say the recording was imperfect, and of course it was. But the cause of that lay in the use of an imperfect recording apparatus. So if Gnut, in his reversal process, had used exactly the same pieces of apparatus that your voice was recorded with, the imperfections could be studied, canceled out, and you’d live, and not die!”

Then something truly unexpected happened, Gnut whipped around like a cat and gripped Cliff tight. An excitement was was shining in the metal muscles of his face and he (yes, that’s right, Gnut) said in perfect English, “Get me that apparatus!” It never dawned on me that he could talk. After all, he never talked in the movie. Anyway, Klaatu said, “There is no hurry, it’s too late for me...stay with me to the end." Shortly thereafter, he died. Then Cliff said, “ Gnut, I’ll get the original apparatus. I’ll get it. Every piece of it, the exact same things.” Gnut let Cliff out of the ship, a huge crowd was around the ship when Cliff stepped down the ramp. He told his story to the authorities in charge, but “He told only part of his story. He was believed. He waited quietly while all the pressure which the highest officials in the land could exert was directed toward obtaining for him the apparatus the robot had demanded.” When the hatch of the spaceship opened, Gnut handed Cliff the body of the second Klaatu and Gnut received the apparatus he needed. Cliff said, "Gnut, you must do one thing for me. Listen carefully. I want you to tell your master - the master yet to come - that what happened to the first Klaatu was an accident, for which all Earth is immeasurably sorry. Will you do that?” “I have known it,” the robot answered gently. “But will you promise to tell your master - just those words - as soon as he is arrived?” “You misunderstand,” said Gnut, still gently, and quietly spoke four more words. What Gnut said made Cliff’s body go numb and teared his eyes. Wow, what were Gnut’s final four words? Are you ready? Gnut said to Cliff, “You misunderstand...I am the Master.

Rick O 2/3/2018

Comment: This column was a experiment that I will not repeat (too hard). It all started when I remembered a magazine type publication I used to read when I was a kid. For the life of me, I can’t remember the publication’s name. Anyway, this publication would do classic novels in an abbreviated form. I wanted to do one, but I needed a short story to abbreviate. Then I found this 63 page classic, Farewell to the Master. Whala! I had my story to shorten, but let me tell you that it was not easy. I had to shorten 63 pages down to 7 including all my commentary without losing the gist of Harry Bates’s novel. Did I succeed?

POTLATCH

The author sent me his novel to read and review:

I read this funny novel and still don’t know what Potlatch is. Is it what scam artist Ray Coggins says it is? “It’s...a word I’ve heard the Boss use sometimes...it means the organization - you know, the Gallaher organization (South Philly’s answer to Tammany Hall’s Boss Tweed). The well oiled machine that keeps us all alive and well.” Or is it what the homeless man extraordinaire, Randolph, thinks it is? “It’s something the Indians out West used to do, until the white man put a stop to it. I read about it in National Geographic. It was a kind of pow-wow where the big chief gave lots of stuff away to keep the tribe happy. He later said, “Course the white man put an end to all this, just like everything else the Indians did. The white man didn’t want those Indians giving away trinkets to each other. He wanted them to sell the trinkets to the white folks who gambled at the casinos.” Welcome to the silly world of super-rich tax-dodgers who run non profit companies for a profit by being a nonprofit company. Of course, most of the college graduate employees have unpaid internships. That’s why they go to UCLA (University on the Corner of Lancaster Avenue) run by a college president known as “Half Nelson”. I told you that this an absurd novel. Nothing in this novel makes sense (obviously on purpose). It is a somewhat silly novel, sometimes a bit absurd in the same way Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series was. Haha’s are good but keep the level of hilarity down to a dull roar every now and then. In other words, everything Seinfeld said wasn’t meant to be funny. Relax, come up for air once in awhile. That’s my only criticism of a otherwise humorous avant-garde novel. Okay, What’s the story about? I’m not sure; let’s talk about Bruce Hartman’s characters instead.

The first character your going to meet is the narrator, Alice Coggins. She is twenty four years old and single. Her family wants her to marry Judge Rotundo’s son, Kyle. She knows that Kyle is a dope, but he happens to be Alice’s father’s probation officer. A neighbor named Hector Lopez (an intern in a all-woman bank, haha) also wants to marry Alice. Again not a match for Alice. Will she find the right guy while interning as a waitress for Gallaher Catering? Her sister Tiffany is two years older and considered by Alice to be slutty. Tiffany aspires to latch on to a lawyer. Alice’s father, Ray Coggins, is a scam artist who is serving a life sentence under house arrest (yea, that’s right). He wears a ankle cuff and can go as far as his front stoop before the alarm will go off. Alice’s mom has the best job in the world. “When he (Ray Coggins) went under house arrest, he pulled some strings to get mom a no-show job in the Motor Vehicles Department.” Ray can get out of the house whenever Boss Gallaher, who seems to own every business in South Philly, needs him for a job. Then we have the local loan shark, “Baby Boy” Backocy, who owns a butcher shop. “The butcher shop was a front for his loansharking business. Eventually he opened a branch “downtown”- meaning in South Philly -where he could expand his customer base.” “South of South,” Dad said, “you’re in Gallaher territory. Baby Boy’s clients know what they need to keep their lines of credit open.” Otherwise they would meet Baby Boy’s muscle...Howie. By the way, UCLA’s president “Half Nelson” owed Baby a half a million dollars. Ouch! Ray Coggins would get released for the day (authorized by Boss Gallaher) so he could facilitate this problem between Baby Boy and Half Nelson. I still haven’t told you anything about the story...and I ain’t gonna.

Incidentally, when I was talking about Ray Coggins, I forgot to mention that Ray was going to start a new political party...The Neanderthal Party. Yes, that’s right, he is going after the Neanderthal vote! Alice explains how it started, “Dad pulled out a Q-tip, asked me to open my mouth, and he took a swab of DNA from inside my cheek to send to the National Geographic ancestry project.” He said, “You might find out you belong to some group that’s entitled to benefits...maybe you can open a casino.” Well, lo and behold, the results came back saying Alice was 2.6% Neanderthal. Anyway, a man of interest for her and her sister was Andrew Ogleby, who recently passed the bar exam and was now working as a non-paid intern (of course) for the law firm “Stark Raven”, a firm “dedicated solely to non-profits.” Andrew lived with his dad, David, and his mom, Patti, in a high-end condominium building. His dad is a “white-haired blue blooded elder statesman of the local non-profit community.” His mom is much younger and a real looker. She sells condos in her building and seems to be looking for a new mate ever since she found out that David lost his money some time ago. Andrew’s parents want him to marry the ugly Melissa Forepaugh, a pet food heiress. Oh well. Did I mention Randolph, the homeless man? He chats with Ray Coggins every morning while doing his tour of the neighborhood. Randolph is an artist in the new social rage, Homeless Art. Andrew Ogleby was invited to the gala opening of the Museum of Homeless Art. Andrew’s boss, Mr. Wolf of Stark Raven said to him, “The museum,” Mr. Wolf had explained, “was the brainchild of the Stark Raven tax department, conceived and executed as “Operation Shelter” for Bob Baskerville, one of their most important clients. The shelter in question was a tax shelter, not a homeless shelter.” Who is Bob Baskerville...really?   

Okay, enough of the cast of characters. There still is a lot of the persona that I haven’t mentioned...too many for me to go on any further. Cormac McCarthy’s theory of three to five main characters in a novel has been blown to bits by author Bruce Hartman. If you are in the mood for a silly story...read this one, in-between brain-twisters. I think this is only the second review out of the 325 published by me that I didn’t talk about the actual story.   

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: My all time favorite comedy novel is Joseph Heller’s 1961 novel, Catch 22 (see my review of 2/17/2013). It’s the only novel that I actually laughed out loud as I was reading it.

It became a hit movie in 1970 with a spectacular cast: Alan Arkin, Art Garfunkel, Martin Balsam, Orson Welles, Richard Benjamin, Buck Henry, Anthony Perkins, Jon Voight, Martin Sheen, Bob Newhart, Paula Prentiss, Jack Gilford, Norman Fell and Charles Grodin to name a few. What a cast...are you kidding me?

the WOMAN in the WINDOW

The author, A. J. Finn, has weaved a Alfred Hitchcockian type tale that reminds me of the 1954 movie, Rear Window, but is distinctly different. In Finn’s novel we have a 39 year old child psychologist, Anna, who has agoraphobia (in her case-a fear of being outside) and who witnesses a murder from her window...or did she? Can a witness be reliable if she is on a diet of merlot wine and numerous self-prescribed pills? Basically, she is a mental mess after a recent horrible car accident. She is also freshly separated from her husband, Ed and her daughter, Olivia. She is a recluse who sleeps late, talks to her family (who aren’t there), communicates on the internet site, Agora, with others that have her phobia and then watches old black and white movies all night...mostly mysteries. Oh yea, she also spies on her neighbors with her Nikon D5500 camera. The author got my attention immediately with excellent prose (with a touch of ergodic literature thrown in) that kept me guessing throughout the 427 pages. The only minor flaw was the author’s repetitive time spent writing about Anna’s addictions to pills and merlot wine. But like I said that was minor compared to the constant drama and tension that built up as I read each short (which I’m a big fan of) cliffhanging chapter. I did try to figure out the ending, but with so many surprises along with the many twist and turns, I failed to solve this gripping whodunit because I was never sure a murder even happened.  

Anna lives in a four story multi-million dollar home in NYC with her cat, Punch and a basement tenant, David. The story starts out with Anna spying on her neighbors across the street in #212. She sees Dr. Miller almost catch his wife in bed with their contractor. While she is having a discussion with her daughter and husband (who aren’t there), she sees new neighbors moving into #207 across the park. “The deed of sale posted yesterday. My new neighbors are Alistair and Jane Russell (and their teenage son, Ethan); they paid $3.45 million for their humble abode. Google tells me that he’s a partner at a midsize consultancy, previously based in Boston. She’s untraceable-you try plugging Jane Russell into a search engine.” During the day, Anna logs on to the internet site, Agora, with the code name of thedoctorisin. She tries to help various people that have agoraphobic fears similar to hers, which…"includes being outside the home alone; being in a crowd, or standing in a line; being on a bridge.” One of the newcomers emailed her. Anna directs her to a survival manual she whipped up in the spring. It explains how to get food and  medicine without leaving the house, et cetera. The doorbell rings...it’s the Russell’s boy, Ethan. He gives Anna a gift of a lavender candle from his mother. Ethan seems to be a shy boy. He ask where her family is. Anna tells him that Ed and Olivia don’t live with her, “We’re separated.” She tells him that she is a psychologist who works with children. He leaves. Is he as delicate as he appears?  

On Halloween, Since Anna doesn’t answer the door for trick or treaters, her house is egged. The kids will not stop. “I jolt the door open. Light and air blast me.” She is hit with eggs and falls, “I taste concrete. I Taste blood. I feel my limbs pinwheeled on the ground. The ground ripples against my body. My body ripples against the air.” Suddenly someone chases the kids away and helps Anna back into the house. Anna looks at the woman and says, “You’re Jane Russell.” She stops, looking at me in wonder, then laughs, her teeth glinting in the half-light. “How did you know that?” Several days later, Anna has her camera on the Russell’s house…"then the doorbell rings.” It’s jane Russell, “You must be bored as hell”, she says when I open the door. Then she folds me into a hug. I laugh, nervously. “Sick of all those black and white movies, I bet.” “I brought something for you.” She smiles, dipping a hand into her bag. “It’s cold, too.” A sweaty bottle of Riesling. My mouth waters. It’s been ages since I drank white. “Oh, you shouldn’t…” They drink and play chess for two and a half hours before Jane leaves and says, “I’ve got very important things to do.” What is so important? The next day, after Anna finishes playing chess on the internet and was deciding on what Hitchcock movie to watch, she hears from #207, “A scream, raw and horrorstruck, torn from the throat.” Okay, I hope I was able to arouse your interest. I just wanted to give you the flavor of what’s ahead. There is no way you can anticipate what happens in the next 312 pages. Get your own copy of this New York Times bestseller...soon to be a movie.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I think (that) it’s funny that two of Alfred Hitchcock’s movies are my favorites and one of them that isn't one of my favorites are all adapted from Daphne du Maurier (5/13/1907 to 4/19/1989) novels. The favorites are the 1940 movie, Rebecca (written in 1938) and the 1963 movie, The Birds (written in 1952). The classic novel Jamaica Inn (written in 1936) was a horribly done Hitchcock movie in 1939.

But my all time favorite Hitchcock movie was the 1944 movie, Lifeboat. It starred Tallulah Bankhead, William Bendix (remember him in the hit 1953-1958 TV series, The Life of Riley), Walter Slezak and Hume Cronyn. It is a classic black and white movie. I’ll bet A. J. Finn’s Anna has seen it.

GONE ON SUNDAY

The author sent me a copy of her novel to read and review:

As I was nearing the end of this twofold mystery, a murder archetype came to my mind...Who killed Cock Robin, twice? Once in 1932 and again 1972. Tower Lowe cleverly melded two related murders forty years apart by alternating the chapters by the year of the crimes. Not only are the murders related, but so are most of the characters. The minor flaws (that) I detected in Tower’s novel were the amount of characters (too many) and a prose that was not as colorful as it could have been...where was the southern drawl? I also thought that the vernacular spoken in 1932 would be a little less modern than the language spoken in 1972. But somehow the writer made it work. The first hundred pages or so were a little confusing trying to remember all the character’s names. Once that was accomplished, I was able to track what was happening easily. This novel has more twists than Carter has Liver Pills. I defy any reader to solve both of these mysteries (I didn’t guess right on either murder). Writing alternating chapters, while also reminiscing within them, is a hard task for any author and somewhat confusing for the reader, but it was manipulated smoothly by the writer. Tower Lowe is a proficient storyteller...just needs to do a better job with her composition.

The novel starts out with twenty three year old Cotton Lee Penn investigating the murder of her cousin, Little Mary. Cotton was working for a local attorney, Max Mayfair, who was hired by Little Mary’s fiance, Walker Kane. Walker was afraid of being arrested because Little Mary was beaten to death and he was known to have beaten her before. Did he do it? Apparently, Little Mary was working on a memorial scrapbook to honor her mother who died two years ago. She was also trying to clear up the murder of her grandmother, Bead Baker, who was also beaten to death forty years prior. Cotton is a pretty lady, but limps around with a gimpy leg from a earlier bout of polio. The novel has a touch of southern discriminations of 1932 and 1972 Virginia. Both blacks (Wilson in 1932 and Muddy in 1972) faced unjust suspicion because of their color. Are they murderers? What about the mean Reverend Samuel “Sharp” Dorn? He hated Bead Baker because she was spending too much time with his wife Verdie (teaching Verdie how to cook and be independent). Rev. Dorn was also known to smack his wife around. Bead was rumored to be a witch or at least someone with a great sixth sense. Did he beat Bead Baker to death? Many more suspects emerge with good reasons to murder Bead...too many to mention in this review. I couldn’t figure out who did it.

 

Little Mary was also known as a woman with great intuition in 1972 Virginia. Many people  worried that their secrets would be revealed by Little Mary. This novel had similarities to Grace Metalious’ Peyton Place (1956) at times. Did the local school teacher, Sally Hampton, who had a secret affair, kill Little Mary? Why did Cotton’s sister, Sydney, who was married to a state senator, want Cotton off the investigation? Did she kill Little Mary? On page 51, she says to Cotton, “Little Mary knew secrets about me, and I don’t want them exposed.” The Reverend Ron Dorn (yes, the son of the 1932 Rev. Dorn) hated Little Mary...why? Cotton Lee’s college black friend, Muddy, tells Cotton that his grandmother, Grace (Bead’s maid), had three pages that she tore out of Bead Baker’s cookbook the day she was murdered. Did Bead write clues on those pages before she died? Can Cotton put the mysterious writings together? What does, One more hour at most. Remember Sugar. Sugar is sweeter than needed. Sharp, bitter-Sugar does not mask it. Sugar turns sour and rises-leaving, mean? There are two more cookbook pages with similar notes that are puzzling, but one page is missing. The pages have dried blood on them. Can Cotton Lee find out who murdered Bead Baker in 1932 and Little Mary in 1972? I’ve only mentioned a fraction of the intrigue still to come in this novel...there are no humdrum chapters.

I thought Tower Lowe’s novel could have been less perplexing if she would have trimmed down the many characters to a reasonable amount, but then I thought, maybe it would have been too easy to figure out who the murderer or murderers were... being they occured forty years apart. Whatever...she did a good job fooling me. If you think you could solve these murders, buy your own copy of Tower Lowe’s whodunit.  

RATING: 4 out of 5 stars

Comment: I know that I am being picayune when I constantly complain about the vernacular of a novel. But the novel comes alive when you use the proper slang, punctuation or accent of a particular time. Just read Mark twain, for example, and you will get what I’m saying. Here’s a quote from Twain’s 1884 novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (see my review of 12/17/2012):

“Yes-en I’s rich now, come to look at it. I owns mysef, en I’s worth eight hund’d dollars. I wisht I had de money, I wouldn’ want no.”

How about a quote from Robert Louis Stevenson’s 1883 novel, Treasure Island (see my review of 8/23/2016):

“Fifteen men on the Dead Man’s Chest yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum! Drink and the devil had done for the rest yo-ho-ho, and a bottle of rum!”

Okay, you want an example of a more modern novel? How about Erskine Caldwell’s 1933 novel, God's Little Acre:

“Mr. Ty Ty, you oughta’ be out raisin’ cotton. You’re a good farmer-that is, you USED to be. Why, Mr. Ty Ty, you can raise more cotton on this land in one season than you can find gold in a whole lifetime. It’s a waste of everything, Mr Ty Ty, diggin’ them holes all over the place.”

Do you see why these writers are legendary?

KIM

Rudyard Kipling’s Kim (published in 1901) was rather educational to read, although somewhat trying in deciphering the English/Indian language of the late 1800s British controlled India. Kim O’hara was a orphaned white boy running around India thinking and acting like he was a Hindu Indian when he meets an aged and possibly mad Tibetan lama, who is on a pilgrimage. I didn’t read Miguel de Cervantes’ novel, Don Quixote (1605), but I am familiar with the novel and the story of Kim reminded me of that classic tale. In Kim, a Tibetan lama was on a pilgrimage to find a holy River while Don Quixote was on a  knight-errant search for chivalrous adventures...a perfect match. Both seemed ‘mad as a hatter’ (were they really?). Kim became the lama’s chela (disciple), while Sancho became Don Quixote’s squire. Like Sancho, Kim is forced to deceive his master (?) at times. Anyway, both novel’s are not an easy read. I keep reading the classics, because I believe it makes me a better reviewer who can then authoritatively compare modern novels with the distinguished novels of yesteryear. Does that make sense? So what’s Kim all about? I’m glad you asked...or did you?

Kim is a poor orphaned white boy who wears Hindu garb and is loosely watched over by a half caste woman. His father, a British soldier, and mother are both dead. Around Kim’s neck is a amulet that explains who he is. He gets his meals where he can and does odd jobs for the local merchants of Lahore City, including the horse trader, Mahbub Ali. One day Kim meets a lama from Tibet in front of the Wonder House Museum, who says that he is on a pilgrimage to Benares to find a holy river that absolves one of all sins. The lama tells the Curator of the Wonder House of Lahore about his quest on page 13, “Listen to a true thing. When our gracious Lord (Buddha), being as yet a youth, sought a mate, men said, in his father’s Court, that He was too tender for marriage. Thou knowest?” The Curator nodded, wondering what would come next. “So they made the triple trial of strength against all comers. And at the test of the bow, our Lord first breaking that which they gave Him, called for such a bow as none might bend. Thou knowest?” “It is written. I have read.” “And, overshooting all other marks, the arrow passed far and far beyond sight. At the last it fell; and, where it touched earth, there broke out a stream which presently became a River, whose nature, by our Lord’s beneficence, and that merit He acquired ere He freed himself, is that whoso bathes in it washes away all taint and speckle of sin.” “So it is written,” said the Curator sadly. Now you might think that I made a lot of mistakes in the above text in punctuation and capitalization, but sorry...I only put it down exactly the same way Rudyard Kipling wrote it. And who can question his writing ability?

Since the lama was on a holy quest, he only brought his begging bowl with him. It was up to Kim, now the lama’s chela, to find food and shelter each night after their day’s walk. At the end of the first day’s walk, they end up at a large courtyard for overnight caravans. Kim has had previous dealings with the local horse trader, Mahbub Ali. Kim ask for money for food from Mahbub on page 23. And Mahbub says to Kim, “And if thou wilt carry a message for me as far as Umballa, I will give thee money. It concerns a horse-a white stallion which I have sold to an officer upon the last time I returned from the Passes. But then-stand nearer and hold up hands as begging-the pedigree of the white stallion was not fully established, and that officer, who is now at Umballa, bade me make it clear.” The message will prove the pedigree of the white stallion. Kim agrees to take the message, but “He knew he had rendered a service to Mahbub Ali, and not for one little minute did he believe the tale of the stallion’s pedigree.” Who really is Mahbub Ali? After a short sleep, Kim said to the lama, “Come. It is time-time to go to Benares” The lama rose obediently, and they passed out of the serai (caravansary) like shadows. I hope my 23 page recap whet your appetite for the rest of the novel. There is a lot of adventure ahead if you can fist fight your way through the tough vernacular of late 1800s India. This novel is not for everyone. It will test your mettle, but make you feel like you accomplished something noteworthy...and you did.

RATING: 5 out of 5 stars

Comment: I’m glad that I finally read a Rudyard Kipling (12/30/1865 to 1/18/1936) novel (some literary experts say that it was his best novel) as I continue my quest to read at least one novel from each of the classic writers (I could only hope to live so long).

Kipling is famously quoted as saying, “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten.” and “Words are, of course, the most powerful drug used by mankind.” Is he on the money, or what?

Besides Kim, Kipling's other works are highlighted by The Jungle Book (1894), The Man Who Would Be King (1888) and Gunga Din (1890), which was originally a poem. Gunga Din became a major motion picture in 1939 starring Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Cary Grant, Victor McLaglen and Sam Jaffe as Gunga Din (the waterboy).