Customer Reviews

Elvene: The Kiri Myth of Ocean Woman

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I found this gem after the author had left several insightful comments on a philosophy blog that we both occasionally frequent. I ordered the book before it became available on amazon and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Elvene is the story of a coupling between Elvene, a Space Core officer from Old Earth and Myka, a young "primitive" Kiri tribesman from a life bearing planet in an unchartered sector of the universe. This story (which I won't give away here) has it all: the loyal shipboard computer, chasing robotic drones, tasteful sex scenes, vivid description and fluid storytelling. Here's just a brief sample:

"Marauders [i.e. the robotic drones], however, weren't always so predictable, and trying to second guess them was inevitably a gamble. By their very nature they evolved strategies in the same way that they evolved their own mechanisms. They had effectively become an independent species, spawned by humankind and now a menace to the colonised universe. It was a mistake to believe that they thought like humans; their creativity was blind but no less effective. They were an evolving form of machinery with the ability to form strategies, co-operate, use experience as their compass to the future, and most significantly of all, to survive by Darwinian domination of all other technologies. They perceived humans as another form of technology rather than another species of nature, hence the perpetual conflict and struggle for supremecy" (page 161).

Written largely while the author was waylaid in Montreal, Elvene will be a welcome purchase or gift for anyone who enjoys what I will describe a throwback sci-fi. Mealing is like a cross between Philip Jose Farmer and James Blish - I just wish he would write another one of these.