I will fear no evil – Robert Heinlein

Summary: Old man dies, has his brain swapped into the body of a 20-something hottie. The only problem… somehow, she’s in his head with him!

Setting: The book was written in 1970, and while it’s set in the future (about 2030, as near as I can tell), on the surface it feels analogous to “The Jetsons”; The Jetsons were a cartoon expectation of the 21st century, and this book could be described as a literary expectation of the 21st century.

 

Plot: Johann Schmidt has reached the end of his life. He’s well into his ‘90’s (if not older, the book’s not clear), he’s accomplished everything he wanted in his life, and by most measures, he’s an incredible success. He’s built a multi-billion dollar company, and he’s got too much money for his own good. When he dies, all of his money will be fought over by his granddaughters, who never loved him while he was alive. All he’s got left is his lawyer and best friend of the last 27 years, and his secretary.

He’s hooked up to machines to live, and now that he’s attached to all of these wires, it’s not possible for him to die. He comes up with a legal scheme to help himself die; arrange a brain transplant to a younger body, and harnesses his wealth to this scheme – if it’s successful, he gets his money. If he dies as a result of the transplant, his fortune goes to all sorts of charities (to keep his grand-kids away from it).

The transplant works out, but there’s a “glitch”. The previous owner of the body still has some presence in this body, and can communicate with Johann. It sounds like a horror story, but it’s not horror in any way, shape or form. Simply perfect Sci-Fi.

One thing to note. Some of the social mores we are used to are not necessarily followed in this book. Clothing is optional in most cases, and when you do have to wear clothes, you’re supposed to dress as scandalously as possible. The main character (Johann) is a nearly 100 year old man, and his brain is transplanted into a 25 year old female’s body. Due to the youth (and attractiveness) of his current body, and the amount of money that he was able to “bring with him”, our new main character has no shortage of sex partners, and through most of the book, Johann is hopping from bed to bed (when she bothers to get out of bed at all). Male, female, groups, you name it, she does it; she did it; hell, she’s probably doing it right now!

There are quite a few deeper messages in this book, but if you pay too much attention to them, you’ll miss out on all the sex… and there’s a lot of it. Nothing is presented graphically at all, but once the main character (Johann, or later, “Joan Eunice”) is up and around after surgery, she still manages to find herself flat on her back on what seems like every other page.

On the alternate side, if you pay too much attention to the sex scenes, you might miss some of the hidden commentary. In particular, the masterful transitions between chapters; they’re a brilliant method that Heinlein used for (I think) 3 different purposes: 1: To acknowledge that time has passed in the story, and that the reader didn’t get to read through absolutely everything that happened, 2: To give you a sense of how important our characters are in the story – their status is covered in the “National News” segments between chapters, to give you a picture of how many people are aware of the ongoing story; 3: Heinlein was not bashful about making predictions about the future. The transitions are crammed with information about what he was expecting to happen in the future. Some of the events he refers to as “Current News” are, ironically enough, happening today. Heinlein has plenty to say about politics, the environment, capital punishment, contraception, religion, arcane social customs; he was truly a wonderful writer, and regardless of the main topic of his books, he was able to get his social commentary in without coming across as “preachy”.

Wrap-up: This is a wonderful book, and I’m not just saying that because of all the gratuitous sex scenes in here. This book explores quite a bit about psychology, multiple personalities, the power of physical relationships, religion, racism, and many other topics.

One thing that does get a bit awkward is that a lot of the social conventions that we’re used to are completely ignored. While Johann has almost a century of hetero-sexual activity, he’s quite quick to jump into bed with any man who comes along, rather than sticking with his original orientation. It’s quite smoothly explained within the context of the story (taking into account the presence of the consciousness of the previous occupant of his body), but it’s still interesting to see how he manages it. He doesn’t necessarily limit his selection of partners to just men though; evidently in Heinlein’s alternate universe, bi-sexuality is the norm, and everybody sleeps with everyone else, regardless of existing relationships. In a lot of cases, spouses are well aware of (and in some cases, complicit in) their partners activities. There’s all kinds of swapping going on – I think the only person who doesn’t have sex in the whole book is the illiterate African American preacher.

If you’re not scared off by Sci-Fi, I’d highly recommend giving this one a read. I can’t describe this book any other way, though… This is pure Sci-Fi, from one of the acknowledged masters of the genre. It doesn’t get any better than this, folks!

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book an A-.

11/22/63 – Stephen King

Summary: Jake Epping has an opportunity to undo one of the defining moments of a generation. Don’t forget about The Butterfly Effect, though.

Setting: Late 1950’s / early 1960’s & present day

Plot: Jake is a high school teacher in (where else?) Maine. In addition to his normal classes, he teaches GED night school to adults as well. The high school janitor is in his adult class, and when the janitor relates (in a writing assignment) the story of how his abusive (and estranged) father killed all the other members of the family, Jake is moved almost to tears.

 

The dying owner of a diner (an acquaintance named Al) calls Jake, and over a late meeting at the diner, shows Jake a specific spot in the back pantry of the diner, and tells Jake that this particular spot is inexplicably linked with a different time, telling him that if he walks into this specific spot, he will be transported back to the late 1950’s. Jake is understandably skeptical until Al talks him into taking a journey back in time, as a test.

 

Jake makes the test journey (and returns unharmed), and is convinced. He makes another journey to the 1950’s to save the other members of the janitor’s family, so he can see for himself what consequences changes in the past can have on the present, and learns that due to The Butterfly Effect, small changes can have wide-reaching effects.

 

Al gives him a mission: Travel back to the late 50’s, and make his way to Dallas in time to stop Oswald from shooting Kennedy in 1963. Al sets him up with some money, and some research that he’s done to make the job a bit easier (sports results, research into Oswald’s life and movements leading up to the shooting).

 

Jake decides to stop Oswald, but first he has to live through 5+ years in the 1950’s and 60’s, waiting for the right time to act. He fits an entire lifetime into that 5 years.

Criticisms:  No technical criticisms. A little jumpy at the end, but it’s by design. A lot of King’s books do that, and while this book’s got a few of those trademark “end a paragraph in the middle of a sentence, then continue the sentence in the next paragraph but change the topic of the sentence in the middle” changes, there are remarkably few of them. It’s King’s style, and you’ll see hundreds of those “transitions” in a book like “The Stand”. This book has only 3 or 4 of them.

Wrap-up: King is unfairly classified as a horror writer, and there are two kinds of readers:

1. Those who have read a lot of Stephen King and know that the characterization of him as strictly “Horror” is not accurate;

2. Those who have read a couple of King’s horror novels and have decided that they don’t like him because his books are too scary, or won’t read his books in the first place because they don’t like horror.

This novel has no horror in it. None.

 

There are parts that can be a little bit gory, but there’s absolutely no horror.

 

While this book is ostensibly about going back in time and preventing the assassination of JFK, I’m not certain that that’s a fair characterization of it; I think the book is more about the journey that Jake takes (both in terms of distance, and over 5 years) while waiting for his chance to act. He has time during his journey to get in trouble with the mob (in two different locations), make a difference to an entire class of high schoolers (in one case, one of the stars of a high school football team decides to focus on drama and acting instead), and to fall in love; all while trying to reconcile the false identity (from the 1950’s and 1960’s) that he’s had to create with his true identity from the 2000’s.

 

Regardless of genre, King is a master of his craft, and if you haven’t read any of his “non-horror” work because you don’t like scary stuff, you’re missing out on some wonderful writing and doing yourself quite a disservice. All of his books (with the exception of a couple of NF’s and some of his earliest work) are quite solid, and I can’t think of many writers who are even in the same class as King in regards to verisimilitude.

 

If you want some suggestions of other Stephen King books to take a look at (that aren’t horror), let me know. I can suggest a few for you.

 

As far as this book - there is no “pat” ending to it; it’s not all wrapped up with a pretty bow on top of it. This book doesn’t end with “happily ever after”. Stories in real life rarely end like that either. If that’s what you’re looking for, this may not be the book for you. If you want a realistic book where the hero has to make some tough choices and live with the consequences of his decisions, give it a try. 

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book an A-.

Tripwire – Lee Child

Summary: A Reacher novel. If you need more of a summary than that, you're not familiar with him, and you need to be. Pick up a Reacher novel, then come back to this review.

Setting: Present day U.S.

Plot: Jack Reacher is contacted by a private investigator while working as a laborer in Key West. After the PI makes contact with him, he’s mysteriously killed (the PI, not Reacher). Who hired the PI? Reacher takes it upon himself to figure that out, as well as trying to figure out who took him out, and why they did it.

Turns out that Garber (Reacher’s old boss) was investigating a soldier who was MIA in Viet Nam and he evidently pissed off the wrong people. Reacher’s left to pick up the pieces, which he does in his standard spectacular fashion.

Criticisms: No technical criticisms.

Wrap-up: Reacher is a wonderful character, but to be honest, I need a break from him for a while. He’s a bad ass, and everything typically works out for him. That’s a bit tiring after a while. I think a bit of separation may bring back some of the enjoyment for me.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I give this book an A-.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls – Robert Heinlein

Summary: Colonel (Senator?) Richard Ames Campbell is being recruited to save the world. A stranger is assassinated at his dinner table, he and his girlfriend get booted out of their apartments, and they’re chased off the habitat in the company of a man who was supposed to kill them both. Now he’s being recruited for a mission (across multiple timelines and dimensions) to save all existence.

Setting: Distant future, across multiple dimensions and timelines (Heinlein’s “World as Myth”).

Plot: Richard Campbell is an ex military commander who currently writes salacious novels. He’s out to dinner with his girlfriend when a man approaches their table and tries to enlist Campbell in a plot to murder a prominent citizen of their habitat. Before the unwanted visitor can get the particulars across, he’s mysteriously shot from afar. In the course of investigating the murder (and the requested “hit”) Campbell and his girlfriend are evicted from their apartments, and kicked out of the habitat.

His girlfriend turns out to be an operative with an organization whose grasp surpasses the boundaries of time and space; they jump around in different time lines to try and steer the present into more beneficial outcomes. Richard’s hesitant to join the organization, but his participation is vital (according to the group’s research) in saving a certain computer system.

Criticisms: I don’t have any major criticisms of this book.  

Wrap-up: As far as Sci-Fi is concerned, if you were to ask anyone (who’s familiar with Sci-Fi) who the masters of the genre are,  Heinlein would be in the top 3 of every respondent, along with Clark and Asimov.

If you’re already a Heinlein fan, this is a little gem which ties together with most of the other “World as Myth” books. If you know who Lazarus Long is, you’ll have a small step up on other readers. If you’re not a Heinlein fan but have been eager to try a new author (or genre), this would be a good choice, as it’s not dependent on the other novels but can be read as a good stand-alone book.

Heinlein exhibited his famous sense of humor (and solid grasp of the absurdities of the current political situation when he wrote the book) perfectly with this book, and it would be a good primer for a burgeoning Sci-Fi (or Heinlein) fan.

Grade: By my arbitrary scale, I would give this book an A-.