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The Final Dream and Other Fictions

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Review by Jeff VanderMeer Jeffvan@freenet.fsu.edu

THE FINAL DREAM AND OTHER STORIES by Daniel Pearlman

268 pages/ Short Story Collection/ ISBN#1 882633-05-9 /Trade Paperback $14.95 list price /Permeable Press 47 Noe Street #4 San Francisco, CA 94114-1017

Daniel Pearlman writes science fiction stories in which the ideas are often so interesting that characters may seem secondary to his purpose. The key word is "seem" because I hasten to add that Pearlman's characters are rarely wooden, but, like Stanislaus Lem, Pearlman's fictions build on a foundation of crosshatching and cross-referenced ideas; often, very whimsical and playful ideas.

The three best stories in The Final Dream-- "Taking From the Top," "Megabride," and "A Moebius Trip"--demonstrate a dazzling ability to play with the conceptions and conventions of science fiction. In a better world, these stories would have won or at least been finalists for the Nebula Award.

"Taking From the Top," first published in Synergy, concocts a future in which senior citizens must gather "life points" by buying them or earning them through community service. If you need hospitalization and don't have enough life points (no one is sure of how many life points they have), the doctors put you to sleep instead of operating on you. The hero of the piece, John Cedars, a scholar of Robert Frost, needs heart surgery, but isn't sure he has enough life points. Without heart surgery, he won't be able to finish his book on Frost, excerpts from which are strategically placed throughout the novella for maximum thematic resonance. In Cedars quest to determine his life point status, Pearlman gives the reader a brilliantly satirical (and, frankly, laugh-out-loud) scene in which a life points adjuster tries to rate Cedars school of literary theory against more current schools. Cedars other life points come from community service, such as cleaning up trash. At one point, the adjuster tells him he needs "eighty- seven pounds of litter, or thirty-seven pages of the sort of literary criticism you've been producing" to bring him up to ten "LP's." A second remarkable scene occurs when Cedars tries to buy life points off a woman through a life points dealer. The pathos of this scene contrasts starkly with the story's satirical element; it is Pearlman's ability to balance such disparate elements that makes "Taking From the Top" such a marvelous work of fiction.

"Megabride" features the detective Merkouros and a case of apparent plagiarism. Merkouros is a magnificent creation--a dedicated, somewhat overzealous investigator from another dimension who tracks criminals from Earth to Earth. In less skilled hands, this concept might have made for a cheesy 1950s sci-fi piece, but Pearlman manages to create a work of real daring and precision. The experimental use of point-of-view, the magnificent conundrum of ideas, and some very playful misdirection, give "Megabride" the beauty of a mathematical equation. "A Moebius Trip," which also features Merkouros, shares these qualities, although "Megabride" is the more elegant story.

The title story "The Final Dream" postulates a future in which, to avoid nightmares, people plug in to dreams created by dreamspinners. Then the dreams start turning sour. The story is as ambitious as "Taking From the Top," but the plot falters toward the end as the reason behind the bad dreams lacks the imaginativeness of Pearlman's other fictions; in the absence of same, "The Final Dream" provides solid entertainment. Other stories of note include "The Defenders of the Golden Tower," "The Ground Under Man," and "And Baby Makes Five." Stories such as "The Heart of the Overchild" and "From Here to Eternitape," however, seem clunky by comparison, the satirical element completely overwhelming character; they also lack the playfulness evident in Pearlman's other fiction.

The majority of stories in The Final Dream work precisely because Pearlman's ideas are, unlike those of so many science fiction writers, firmly grounded in precise observations about human society and the human condition. When character and idea are in balance, Pearlman's stories positively shine; when this balance is upset, Pearlman's stories seem heavy-handed and derivative. Luckily, the delights of The Final Dream far outweigh the few misfires. In addition, Permeable Press must be commended for producing such a fine-looking book with a spectacular cover painting and design by Ellen Alva Hales.