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Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

Recommended Books

April, 2001

"The Chinese Finger Puzzle Trend"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

 Nighthawk by Kristen Kyle BMI paperback 1997 - try ElephantBooks.com. 

The Dreams of Darkness : Book 1 of the Everdark Wars by Elizabeth Burton Pulsar Books CD-Rom Sept. 2001

The People's Choice by Jeff Greenfield, Putnam hc 1995

Star Trek:: Voyager "The Void" aired January 2001

7 Days - TV series

Andromeda - A Gene Roddenberry TV Series.

 

Nighthawk, by Kristen Klye is a great early example of a trend now visible in e-books. This kind of mid-list SF/Romance novel made a strong debut in the mid-1990's then disappeared as the mid-list vanished from bookshelves, perhaps ushering in the years of Trendlessness.

The SF/Romance is back with a new, strong and growing presence in the e-book field, though that field has been tumbled into the void of Trendlessness by the current economic recession/slowdown.

One good current example of the SF/F Romance mix that, like Nighthawk, doesn't fail in the technique of worldbuilding, (as so many do) is The Dreams of Darkness, Book I of the Everdark Wars by Elizabeth Burton. You'll find more extensive commentary by me at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1586972502/rereadablebooksr/ .

In conjunction with both these SF/Romances, we must consider a book which was published in 1995 and is ostensibly a mainstream novel, The People's Choice. I bought this book at my public library just before the Presidential Election 2000 that ended in the "chad" controversy putting George W. Bush into the White House.

As I've noted here previously, that election illustrated the trend that has gripped the USA and maybe the world for some time -- a mega-trend of Trendlessness. The People's Choice accurately depicts Election 2000. The only difference is in the ending, which is a dramatic, sf/f-style ending, a relentlessly logical, ending. But real life isn't quite so dramatic. You've got to read The People's Choice. It's Future History at its best. It's still in stock at amazon.com.

What do these 3 novels say when taken together? Oh, you could conclude many things, but mixed in with all the rest is the clear image of a 5 year trend of Trendlessness.

We have been standing still, retracing our steps, backing and filling, waiting for the internet to be built up to where it can be used as a fiction-delivery-system, marking time while working furiously to transform the economic infrastructure of the world to the digital model.

If the Election 2000 problems result in digitizing our voting processes, we may be about to break out of Trendlessness. One harbinger of this may be the Star Trek: Voyager episode "The Void" which I saw this morning. It describes how to use magic to break the grip of Trendlessness.

"The Void" also showed me how the grip of Trendlessness is just like the grip of the woven tube-puzzle that traps your fingers when you shove them in. The harder you pull your fingers apart to get them loose, the more tightly the tube grips. You get stuck.

Both the new Roddenberry series, Andromeda and Voyager have the theme Roddenberry called "Wisdom" -- the understanding that the more adamantly individualistic we are, the more absolute is our interdependence.

It's a 7th House vs. 1st House theme. Visualize that woven-tube puzzle or a "worm-hole vortex" or in the astrological chart, the two ends of the Moon's Nodes connecting the 1st and 7th. The individual vs. the majority. "It doesn't matter if a few thousand people get laid off and have their lives destroyed -- the underlying economy is healthy." "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one."

Contrast that notion with the attitude of Frank Parker, hero of the TV Series 7-Days. He takes individuals one at a time and does what he sees as right for that one person. As a result, the larger factors right themselves automatically.

With the Chinese finger puzzle, your instinct is to pull your fingers apart to get them free. But the solution is to push them together -- to join them together to get them free. Freedom, independence, sovereign command of your own territory lies in cooperation, in touching one another not in pulling apart or erecting walls.

In other words, in magical reality there is no such thing as the needs of the many vs. the needs of the few or the one. Those needs are identical not antithetical.

Let's see what Captain Janeway did to break free of her Finger Puzzle.

The episode opens when Voyager gets sucked into a pocket of non-space called "The Void" where there are no stars, planets or resources. The only resource is new ships being sucked in. The Void uses up energy resources at an astounding rate. It's a kill or be-killed environment where only the superior thief can survive -- by destroying newly arrived ships and taking their energy and food.

Instantly, Voyager is set upon by two ships, one of which they beat off, and the other swoops in and transports away some of Voyager's food and energy.

The Void has them in the grip of Trendlessness -- they can make no progress toward home. They are stopped dead in their tracks while at the same time being furiously active just to survive.

They contrive a method of getting out of this Void, and try it, using up a hefty percentage of their remaining resources and finding themselves sucked back into the Void.

Janeway stands alone against all her advisors who see the expediency of adopting the most successful survival techniques - theft and murder. She returns to reading the Federation Charter (her sacred text). And she sees it has no advice for this situation, only an explication of the principles of the Federation -- compassion and interdependence is the greatest strength.

She applies these tried and true magical principles which she finds in the Federation Charter. "To Get, First GIVE." (i.e. what you send out comes back three-fold). "Charity" -- (i.e. share with those less fortunate). "Do not kill." "Do not covet your neighbor's goods" (i.e. do not steal). "And Do Not Despair" (i.e. never quit, never give up, never say die -- or in other words, be stubborn -- obstinacy is the best policy.)

The "don't quit" one is maybe the hardest to understand in magical terms. It is based on a pervasive awareness of the Divine presence in the world -- and that spiritual awareness is what keeps us from ever feeling lonely, abandoned, bereft, and thus hopeless, overwhelmed, and incapable.

Janeway, beset by the adamant objections of her closest and most respected advisors, nevertheless refuses to turn pirate, refuses to play the game of "survival of the fittest" which has become the politically correct cultural norm in The Void. She also refuses to believe what everyone tells her -- that there's no way OUT.

She acts not out of self-preservation, but out of personal integrity that makes her willing to die rather than break her "covenant" (her contract as a Federation Starship Captain), her Honor, and her Identity. You'll find extensive commentary on the magical use of Honor, Power and Identity in soul-growth in my earlier columns here.

Janeway hunts down the thieves and takes back some of the food and power that was stolen from Voyager - but refrains from taking anything other than what was stolen. Then she invites others into an alliance aimed at breaking free of the void, and shares her dwindling food and power, medicine and technology.

She finds one of her new friends is prejudiced against another species, but against her better judgment she draws them into the alliance. Then she finds these people have murdered a crew to steal a device they need to break free. She hands the desperately needed device back and dismisses that group from the alliance, refusing to benefit by murder and theft even if it means dying in The Void.

The spurned group forms an alliance of their own to destroy Voyager. One of the other groups she has shared food with offers to help thwart the attack. Because of that help, freely offered not bartered or bought, Voyager and two other trapped ships win free of The Void and go their separate ways.

Janeway bursts out of the Trendlessness Trap by combining UNLIKE technologies, by creativity that happens at the interface of the dissimilar (a basic theme behind www.simegen.com ), a freedom and creativity that can only happen when you push toward the "Other" rather than pulling away, and when you adhere to the principles of magic.

Free at last, Janeway says with wistful nostalgia that for a while there, she felt like she was back in the Federation.

It felt familiar to me, too.

Send books for review in this column to: Jacqueline Lichtenberg, POB 290, Monsey, N.Y. 10952
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