Customer Reviews

Black Projects, White Knights: The Company Dossiers

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've been following Kage Baker's "Company" series of novels for a few years now, but it was only with the publication of this book that I discovered just how many "Company" short stories she has written as well. According to her own notes, she has written more than twenty. Fifteen of them are showcased here.

For those of you unfamiliar with this series, it tracks the lives of a number of immortal cyborgs working for a company from the twenty-fourth century that has found the solutions to both immortality and time travel and uses them to send agents through time to collect bits of history. The catch to this, though, is that recorded history cannot be changed, so the operatives must work in the shadows of history - collecting artifacts after ships are sunk, graves are sealed, etc. This introductory story is actually an excellent introduction to the plot and the dramatis personae of the series.

For those of you that are familiar with the "Company" series, the fifteen short stories in here cover most major characters we've seen so far - including Joseph, Lewis, Mendoza and her very mysterious lover - and manages to dig around in their stories enough to shed greater illumination on all the characters without making the collection necessary reading for those that are sticking only to the novels. It also details the childhood of Alec Checkerfield, a young mortal from the mid-24th Century who is undoubtedly another aspect of Nicholas/Edward, in four separate stories. Each is excellent, if slightly surreal, but they serve to raise more questions than they answer about him. Incidentally, for those of you curious, the breakdown for how often each character is featured in the collection is: 3 for Joseph, 3 for Mendoza (one featuring both of them), 1 for Lewis, 4 for Alec, 2 for Kalugin, 1 about Budu, 1 indeterminate and 1 introductory story telling a little about all the characters but not featuring any of them.

Each of these stories is a gem and I really like how they flesh out the "Company" universe more fully. If I have one complaint, it is that I wish more of her stories would feature places other than California or Britain and she'd get out and play around with other parts of the world more. However, this is minor given the level of detail that she knows about both. This is 'must-read' material for the established Kage Baker fan and a not-half-bad starting spot for the novice - although you may want to pick up "In The Garden of Iden" first if you're really curious.

Fans of Kage Baker's "Company" novels may not realize that the series actually was first published in short story form. As she states in her introduction to "Noble Mold," this story was published in Asimov's magazine while In the Garden of Iden was still looking for a publisher. After The Graveyard Game was published, she decided to collect a bunch of Company short stories from Asimov's (and they always appeared in Asimov's) into a book. The result, along with three new stories and a new introduction, is Black Projects, White Knights. These stories range from the mundane to the bizarre, but all have that distinctive Baker touch that makes them readable.

We are first introduced to all of the characters that will be featured in the coming stories, under the cover of a spy into the Company's records bringing up dossiers on all of the major players in the series (and the stories as well). "The Hounds of Zeus" will eventually tie into the series itself (Baker has hinted as such), but for now it is a suitable summary of who everybody is. We then get into the stories, and the wild ride begins. As in most short story collections, there are some standouts and some weaker stories. Surprisingly, I found the stories starring Mendoza to be among the lesser works, though they were still interesting. She features in three of them ("Noble Mold," "Lemuria Will Rise!", and "Hanuman"), but none of them spring off the page. While the potential of these stories is surely there, I found the writing of the first two stories to be lacking (especially "Noble Mold, but it was her first story so it's excusable).

As usual, Joseph stars in the best stories, with "The Literary Agent" being the best of the bunch. In this one, Joseph interacts with Robert Louis Stevenson during his three-day stint on a mountain in California where he almost died. Joseph comes to see if he can get Stevenson to write a screenplay for him so that his "masters" can have an original work by him to film (it seems they've already adapted all of the books Stevenson has or will have written). Baker captures Hollywood perfectly, with Joseph submitting the screenplay ideas and then having them rejected, or accepted with some "slight changes." The story is a riot from beginning to end and I couldn't stop laughing through all of it. It's fast-paced and Baker captures the personalities perfectly.

An interesting addition to the Company mythos is a series of stories about Alec Checkerfield, a young boy living in a time near the "Silence" (2355, or the year that the Company is working toward, which nothing is known about what happens afterward). Checkerfield's stories show us how ugly the world has become, where an adult can't even hug a child in public without a license for fear of being taken away as a possible child molester. Alec is a young boy who doesn't know his place in the world. His parents have left him (though there's some doubt that he's even their child) and he's being raised by his "father's" servants. He has reprogrammed his electronic "child companion" so that he can break all of the social norms of current society. He's very intelligent, and he's going to be a force to be reckoned with someday. The book contains three stories about Alec at various stages of his growth, with the final one taking place when he's 16. Baker obviously has plans for him, but I have no idea what they could be. The stories themselves aren't that interesting other than in showing the future world, with the exception of "The Dust Enclosed Here." In this story, Alec meets a hologram of William Shakespeare in a museum. Shakespeare's plays have been forbidden for being too violent, but his sonnets are well liked and they have created a semi-sentient hologram of him to entertain the public. Alec comes in and gives old Will a lot more sentience then he bargained for. The interplay between the two of them crackles and the story is witty yet slightly frightening. It's another standout in the book.

Other stories give interesting insights into some of the characters we've seen in previous Company novels, giving some history to them and making them more complete (especially if you've read the stories before reading the books). While I didn't think any of these stories stood out among the ones already mentioned, I thought they were interesting, well-written, and had some good characterization. Baker is a great short story writer, and even the lesser efforts in this book are well worth reading. The new stories are about extremely minor characters, and thus aren't quite as interesting as the rest. The exception is "The Queen in Yellow," which is a rollicking adventure of Lewis, the Literature Preservationist and friend of Mendoza, and his adventures in an Egyptian archeological dig in 1914. There's a weird professor, an immortal woman controller who's not above using her wiles to get what she wants, and good old Lewis stuck in the middle. Having just read The Graveyard Game, I found it interesting to hear a bit about Lewis' past, and Baker again excels in the characterization department.

If you're a fan of the Company books, Black Projects, White Knights is a valuable addition to the whole story. You won't get any big insights into the ongoing plot, but you will get to see some of your favourite characters in some interesting situations, and you'll get to experience Kage Baker, the short story writer. It's well worth the time and investment.

David Roy

Before reading the Company novels, I was introduced to the idea through her short stories in the pages of Asmiov's. I feel that the shorter works are the strength of Baker and are better than the novels.

The idea of immortal cyborgs hiding in the shadows of history to plunder artifacts recorded as lost or destroyed is clever and provides the opportunity to place stories in a myriad of periods and cultures as well as dealing with famous and not so famous historical characters.

We not only get to see the two main characters, Joseph and Mendoza in these stories, but some more amusing operatives such as Kalugin and Lewin, providing more breadth on the operations of the company. In fact we get to see the early cyborgs, pre homo sapiens designed for enforcement rather than preservation or faciliation. A broad history of the company is painted in these short tales.

All the stories are quite good, as enjoyable in this collection as they were on the first read. The one caveat is that all together they are a bit much particularly if read in one sitting. Other than that I think the Company tales are first rate storytelling and Kage Baker a wonderful author.

What a surprise!! I was expecting little vignettes of Company life with the same roster of characters but the depth and variety of characters, settings and plots was simply stunning. Maybe it is true that the short story - as opposed to the novel, poem, saga, chant or song - is the real American art form. If so, then Ms. Baker has accepted that challenge with gusto.

The author is said to be a fan of the X-Files and in that show, one quickly grew tired of monsters and weirdos, yearning instead for the ever-changing, ever-evolving mythology which girded the series. The Zeus books follow a similar pattern. If "The Garden of Iden" is almost childlike - you might say innocent - the following tales evolved into philosophical treatises on the nature, reason and ultimate fate of time travel and, more than anything, the mysterious Chronos Corporation and its hidden agenda.

These are splendid stories although it is imperative that one is first acquainted with the preceding novels to which they allude. The sequence seems random but one discovers a serial-like order of presentation. The young lad with the extraordinary powers shows up several times and the attentive reader will discern both the hows and whys of his origin. Some of these stories sound boring in the extreme until the first paragraph. Suddenly you are caught in the web spun by the author and the only escape is finishing the tale.

Some are tongue-in-cheek (Lemuria), some are explanatory (Search for the Delacroix), others are reflective of the author's great interest in English history (Shakespeare). All possess that unique "Baker" quality that permeates her works - the excellent turn of phrase, the fidelity to the character and the times, the occasional surprise and the relentless movement of the logic to its conclusions, tragic, maudlin or triumphant. Many of these could easily be developed into novels, a task I hope the author will undertake in the future

The 'Company' sends its immortal cyborg operatives throughout time digging up extinct life forms, destroyed artworks, and lost writings--which it then sells at a handsome profit. BLACK PROJECTS, WHITE KNIGHTS is a collection of short stories about these cyborgs and about Alex, an alien lifeform that passes as human in the 25th century.

Author Kage Baker delves into the thought processes and 'emotions' of her cyborgs bringing a fresh imagination to the 'lives' of these once-human creatures. Reflecting Baker's California upbringing, a majority of the stories take place in the Pismo Beach area--from the days of Spanish rule through the gold rush and the 1930s up into the future.

Baker's future view, most clearly seen in the connected series of stories about young 'Alec' are of overly protective social urges gone dystopic--meat, cheese, alcohol, flour, and refined sugar are all banned to protect the innocent 'consumers.' Alec becomes a pirate of sorts, yet without the extreme self-justification and self-importance of, say, an ATLAS SHRUGGED. Among the cyborg stories, those hinting at conflict within the company are highly intriguing. After all, powerful immortals without equally powerful opposition hardly make for a competitive field.

Baker's writing is engaging and her ability to detail insights into contemporary humans by her glimpses into the 'lives' of immortal cyborgs located in our past is outstanding.

I have very mixed feelings about these stories. I don't know how comprehensible they would be to someone who hasn't had Baker's universe explained to them, but the stories are enthralling, wise and witty. One might want to first read at least the beginning of In the Garden of Iden (The Company) where the premise is explained. I thoroughly enjoyed reading most of them. They just aren't very good science fiction - Baker's universe is losing the integrity that separates science fiction from fiction with fantastic touches.

The Company novels are based on the premise that written history cannot be altered, but unrecorded history can. This is apparently "cannot" in the strict sense of the word, as in not possible, not "cannot" in the sense of forbidden or imprudent. This is a pretty weak premise: how can being recorded fix history, especially given that historical accounts are often contradictory? If the only account is actually inaccurate, does that alter history? What happens when the accepted account is altered by new material or archeological evidence? However, I am generally willing to allow one weak premise to get a good story going.

There is a distinction here: there are anomolies that the characters notice, and which supply part of the plot. I am referring here to oddities that none of them seem to see.

Reading these short stories seriously strains the premise: in one story, an operative saves a doomed infant - are we to understand that this must mean that the infant's society wouldn't have recorded his early death? Or that at no time in his life will his existence be noted, he won't have children? Would the medical procedures would have mysteriously failed if he belonged to a society that kept detailed records, or if his mother kept a diary or if he had descendents who would one day enter the written record?

Much of the activity of the Company agents is recovering and secreting items that were historically lost. Logically, however, the items could not be found before the order went out to rescue them (in the 24th century) or written history would be altered if the rediscovery of the artifact is noted. The recovery is often the focus of the plot in these stories: in one of the short stories, papers are taken out of an Egyptian tomb opened in 1914; at least one of them shows up in the 22d century and thereafter dramatically affects history. The story is gripping and hysterically funny, but this violation of the logic of Baker's universe bothers me.

I found the story "The Hotel at Harlan's Landing" haunting and reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. I was spellbound while reading it, but later I couldn't help wondering why the Courier cyborg in "Facts Relating to the Arrest of Dr. Kulagin" has a locater beacon that goes off when it is damaged and the damaged cyborg in this story doesn't. And why would someone unnecessarily force a physical confrontation when at a numerical disadvantage?

Several of the stories are about Alex, who I suspect is connected with Nicholas and Edward, featured in the novels. I enjoyed the stories as a comment on overly-organized and protective societies, but his sidekick "Captain Henry Morgan" is a bit too twee for me. I have this horrible feeling that Alex will be appearing in a swooning novel in the future.

Readers presumably know their own tastes. The reader that doesn't avoid science fiction, or who isn't bothered by logical inconsistencies will have some wonderful writing to enjoy.

Kage Baker has created a fascinating world where cyborgs, human beings who have been enhanced, augmented and made immortal live through the ages doing the bidding of the Dr Zeus Corporation in the 24th century. They collect artifact, rare plants, and anything else that has monetary value in the dreary world of the future. This collection of short storys, some previously published, shows snippets of the very longs lives of Mendoza, Budu, Lewis and other cyborgs who appear in the novels of the Company.

Alec Checkerfield, also a creation of Dr Zeus but not a cyborg - well, not like the others - is featured in four stories. These are part of the foundation for the novel `The Life on the World To Come', also by Baker.

I love what Baker has created and enjoyed each of the stories. While they stand alone as written, the reader will enjoy them more if the previous novels in this series are read as well. They fill in many of the holes that the stories expose (but cannot fill without turning into a novel). Since the setting of the series is the entire planet and all of recorded history (plus the future up until 2355) there is plenty of room for more stories of this type and I hope to see more soon.

What a surprise!! I was expecting little vignettes of Company Life with the same roster of characters but the depth and variety of characters, settings and plots was stunning. Maybe it is true that the short story - as opposed to the novel, poem, saga, chant or song - is the real American art form. If so, then Ms. Baker has accepted the challenge with gusto.

The author is said to be a fan of the X-Files and in that show, one quickly grew tired of monsters and weirdos, yearning instead for the ever-changing, ever-evolving mythology which undergirded the series. The Zeus books follow a similar pattern. If "The Garden of Iden" is almost childlike - you might say innocent - the following tales evolved into philosophical treatises on the nature, reason and ultimate fate of time travel and, more than anything, the mysterious Chronos Corporation and its hidden agenda.

These are splendid stories although it is imperative that one is first acquainted with the preceding novels to which they allude. The sequence seems random but one discovers a serial-like order of presentation. The young lad with the extraordinary powers shows up several times and the attentive reader will discern both the hows and whys of his origin. Some of these stories sound boring in the extreme until the first paragraph. Suddenly you are caught in the web spun by the author and the only escape is finishing the tale.

Some are tongue-in-cheek (Lemuria), some are explanatory (Search for the Delacroix), others are reflective of the author's great interest in English history (Shakespeare). All possess that unique "Baker" quality that permeates her works - the excellent turn of phrase, the fidelity to the character and the times, the occasional surprise and the relentless movement of the logic to its conclusions, tragic, maudlin or triumphant. Many of these could easily be developed into novels, a task I hope the author will undertake in the future.

This collection of fifteen short stories features characters from Kage Baker's Company novels, including Mendoza, Joseph, Lewis, and the mysterious Alec Chesterfield. I really don't know how she does it - each story is entertaining, the world-building is splendid, and her characters are wonderful. I especially love the thread of dark humor that runs through her books. I hope she keeps writing for many years to come.

This collection contains fourteen short stories set in Kage Baker's world of time traveling cyborgs and the mysterious Company. I can add little to previous reviews other than to say that these tales provide additional detail into some of the cyborg characters from her other books. It also introduces young Alec Checkerfield, who bears a striking resemblance to two human men the Cyborg Mendoza was well acquainted with in previous novels. Alec is a tall lad of remarkable capabilities who hangs out with an AI pirate. He'd make a great character for his own YA series but as to what he might really be, and whether he is a clone of the men he resembles remains unknown. I recommend this collection for all established Kage Baker fans.