Conference noted::sf

1213.0. "John E. Stith" by JVERNE::KLAES (Be Here Now) Thu Mar 10 1994 13:04

Article: 513
From: [email protected] (Duncan MacGregor)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.reviews
Subject: Book Review: _Manhattan Transfer_ by John E. Stith
Date: 10 Mar 94 01:18:40 GMT
 
[Meta Note: there may be a "minor" spoiler in the following, but the book
cover gives it away, too.  "addbib" codes follow.]
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                 MANHATTAN TRANSFER by John E. Stith (1993)
 
John Stith is, I believe, one of the most under-rated SF authors to
appear in a long while.  His book _Redshift Rendezvous_ (1990) is one
of the best descriptions I have seen yet of an FTL passenger ship. 
This new book is, I believe, even better. 
 
What happens if an alien spaceship comes suddenly to planet Earth,
cuts Manhattan Island loose from its bedrock, and steals it?  That's
the premise that starts this novel.  The alien ship is absolutely
enormous, it has the shape of a stop sign (which isn't really a
spoiler), and it makes off with Manhattan with perfect ease.  What
follows is the story of a group of people, led by the city's mayor,
who are trapped on the island when it was taken -- and who proceed to
investigate why this was done. 
 
After Manhattan is taken, the book reads much like a "whodunnit", as
the one group tries to find out why this has happened, and another
group -- convinced that the theft is a literal "act of God" -- tries
to stop them.  The twists in the plot, especially when they meet the
aliens who run the vessel, are surprising indeed -- though clues to
them do show up earlier.  The only problem I had with the book was
that its focus seemed to be too narrow; almost nothing was mentioned
about the reaction of the rest of Earth to Manhattan's departure. Does
Earth have no space stations or satellites at the time this happens? 
Do none of Earth's nations (especially the U.S.) get around to
attacking the invader?  The author (or the publisher) might well 
have decided that the book was too long in its original form. 
Nevertheless, it still was a mistake to cut out the sections
describing Earth's reaction to the theft. 
 
One of Stith's great strengths is his characterization of the
protagonists.  He clearly explores motivation as well as actual
actions.  This was quite visible in _Redshift_Rendezvous_, where only
humans appear.  Here, Stith applies his characterizations to aliens as
well.  While some of them are perhaps too anthropomorphic, others
appear to be very appropriate.  It reminds me very much of Hal
Clement's or Robert Forward's novels, but they lack the tendency
towards wordiness that plagues much of their more recent work. 
Despite the length of the book mentioned above, it reads like a "short
story" and the action does not lag. 
 
The tale is fairly simple, but it reads very well.  Here's hoping that
Stith will continue to write more SF. 
 
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%A   Stith, John E.
%C   New York City, N.Y., USA
%D   July, 1993
%G   ISBN 0-312-85285-1
%I   Tor "A Tom Doherty Associates book"
%K   SF, aliens, first contact
%O   USD 21.95, CAD 28.95 (hardcover) [c 1993]
%P   381pp.
%T   Manhattan Transfer
 
--
Duncan MacGregor | [email protected] | [email protected]
#include <disclaimer.h> | Simplification of reality is a shortcut to disaster.

John Stith has a new book out, I forgot the
name.
Has anyone read it? Is it worth the hard cover
price? Manhattan Transfer was.

Tony