Dryland's End [Paperback]

Felice Picano (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1995

The father of gay literature turns his hand to science fictionFive thousand years into the future, humankind itself is in jeopardy. It is a time of intergalactic peace and faster-than-light travel, when a group of intelligent cybernetic servants rebel against their creators using a cyber-virus that could lead to the mass extinction of humans and near-human species.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

A true page-turner once he's set his diverse cast in motion. . . . Genuinely thought-provoking." -- Joseph Marchesani, PhD, Jurist, Philip K. Dick Award, 1996; Assistant Professor (Science Fiction/Fantasy Literature), Penn State University at McKeesport

The ride of a lifetime. . . .Outrageously irreverent look at humanity's future among the stars with conflict spread across the galaxy. -- Bill Fuller, President, PFLAG - Cornhusker, Lincoln, Nebraska --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Set five thousand years in the future, Dryland's End takes place in a fabulous techno-empire ruled by intelligent, powerful women. But military rivalries, religious fanaticism and economic competition threaten to destroy the empire from within just as a rebellion also threatens human exi stence throughout the galaxy.

Product Details

• Paperback: 500 pages
• Publisher: Masquerade Books; 1st Richard Kasak book ed edition (September 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563332795
• ISBN-13: 978-1563332791
• Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,392,465 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good premise, terrible storytelling., April 28, 2005

By 

K. Kondratieff "pedantic science snob" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dryland's End (Southern Tier Editions) (Paperback)

I checked Dryland's End out on a whim, and I'm glad that I did--instead of buying it on a whim. Were it a movie, it's the sort I'd recommend you don't buy but perhaps check out from Blockbuster for a night's entertainment--and then go watch something better.

Felice Picano is not a good storyteller. He's not horrible, but his ability to hold my attention--compounded by awkward language, cookie-cutter characters, and terrible science--waned as I got further through the book. I only made it halfway through before my desire to find out the "great mystery" behind everything petered out completely, in large part due to the fact I couldn't stand any of the characters. The protagonist, Ay'r, is lackluster and uninteresting, with nothing to distinguish him from his companion P'al at all. Many of the female characters--despite Picano's "revolutionary" premise of a female-ruled society--end up as nothing more than bags of machismo, men with their breasts pasted on. Instead of being fascinating, the move is as boring as portraying all dominant male characters in the same light--and utterly uninteresting.

While it claims to be a work of "science" fiction, and given Picano's reference in the introduction to the works of Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov, the science--especially the biological science--is terrible. At several points we're supposed to believe in the idea of "Fasts", space ships with "Plastro-Beryllium" (Plastro-Beryllium, by the way, is atomic number 900--despite the fact science has yet to discover any stable, natural element beyond 92!) hulls that can shrink to the size of an electron and because "electrons have next to no mass" they can exceed lightspeed. (As anyone who knows anything about linear accelerators can tell you, this is patently not so!) At others, we're presented the idea that a society with cloning techniques perfected to the point they can produce perfect children from three or more genetic contributors could be completely wiped out by a "microvirus" that renders its women sterile and changes the X chromosomes into something "completely different". (This is after destroying the reproductive organs completely in under twenty-four hours, with the only symptoms--instead of the expected massive internal hemorrhaging or blood poisoning or other evidences of toxic shock as several pounds of cell-death products are suddenly dumped into the blood stream--being a mild rash and a high fever.)

Needless to say, as a student of biology, this made me want to bash my head into a wall repeatedly in attempts to reassert my suspension of disbelief. Alas, this was not to be.

All of these problems are compounded by Feli. Pic. insistance on use. contract.s aft. having intro.d the term they corresp. to only onc. or twi.. This, coupled with the capitalization of EVERY new species name and EVERY new term he's invented, made for terribly choppy reading--as did the poor editting job and the absolutely horrible dialogue that ended in exclamation points half the time! (At least his characters weren't so excitable as to use two!!)

Anyway. Off the top of my head I can name several books that took on the topics Picano attempted to cover in this "opus" of science fiction, and did it better. His story suffered from trying to cram in a coming-of-age story (try Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card) with a futuristic society ruled by women cheek-by-jowl with one ruled by men (Heart of Gold, Sharon Shinn), with gender roles either switched or made equivalent and consequence-free sex abounding (Dreamsnake, Vonda McIntyre), in which an important role was played by a special new atomic element that allowed space travel (Psion, Joan D. Vinge, but don't just read it for the politics!)...

I could go on. But it does suffer seriously from the attempt to cram in far too much at once, which resulted in a host of uninteresting or laughably unbelievable characters, a murky plot, and the general unreadability of the book--combined with poor editting and horrid writing style.

Do yourself a favor--save the sixteen bucks, or go buy Ender's Game and Psion. It'll be much more worth your time.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A true sleeper, but perhaps Felice Picano's best book, August 6, 1998

By 

[e-mail] or andrew blechman (nyc) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dryland's End (Paperback)

This is not your average sci-fi novel. It ranks among the best, including 2001. Picano creates an imminently believable future where the "three species" live in relative, but strained harmony under the slowly unraveling Martriarchy.

Much like Star Wars, the book chronicles the disintegration of the Matriarchy but has numerous and intriguing subplots: a philosophical cyber rebellion; the burgeoning autonomy of a "wild west" planet that's filled with the equivalent of mega oil fields and Los Angeles-like denizens in search of sinful fun; and realpolitik power struggles within the Matriarchy itself. Also intertwined is the search for a cure to a virus that threatens to end human reproduction The cure is found on the slowly flooding distant planet of Dryland -- hence the title. The world created by Picano is phenomenally believable and even prescient. He introduces the reader to new languages, new forms of space travel, new cultures, new species -- bu! t he bases everything on plausible science. His knowledge of geology, space, military tactics and history are almost encyclopedic. Dryland's End is perhaps the most intelligent page-turning Sci Fi novel I have ever read. I honestly couldn't put it down. Picano is the master of plot! Other Picano books include "Like People in History" "Ambidextrous" and "The Lure." Enjoy!

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gay Themed Science fiction, July 6, 2008

By 

Carlos T. Mock "carloschicago" (Chicago, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Dryland's End (Southern Tier Editions) (Paperback)

We are at the end of a millenary Galactic Empire. A Matriarchy rules. Unfortunately, a virus has developed that has rendered women infertile and unable to reproduce. This, obviously, threatens their dominance.

Ay'r, the protagonist, his companion Pa'l, and a representative of the Matriarchy, are sent to the flooding world Pelagia on a mysterious mission. The book has a magnificent prose that narrates the exploration of the doomed world of Pelagia, its rapidly developing tribes, and the strange mythology of the inhabitants.

The homosexual ability to reproduce becomes the central research that Ay'r's parents were developing in Pelagia, and Mr. Picano guides us through this discovery in a brilliant and enjoyable way.

Meanwhile, a cyber-rebellion threatens the Matriarchy and all humanity. The solution to this crisis is somewhat linked to what happens on Pelagia...

In spite of its gay thematic, it is one of the best science fiction books ever written.