Sime~Gen Inc. Presents

ReReadable Books

August 2006

"Mercury, Truth and Communication"

By

Jacqueline Lichtenberg

I recently saw the re-run of the 3^rd Season Smallville episode where Lex Luther has revived one of his father’s failed research projects – to create a truth serum that works on the questioner not the person being questioned. (it was fatal after mere hours, and the antidote was untested.)

When Chloe, who accidentally got a dose of this truth serum, asked anyone a question, they would blurt out the most embarrassing or deadly facts. It didn’t work on Clark Kent, of course.

The main, ongoing issue between Clark Kent and his teenage friends is that they (the girls especially) sense he’s keeping secrets. That prevents Relationship and hope for a lifelong, viable partnership such as marriage.

A great deal of "life" is all about endurance, the ability to go the distance, to keep on keeping on despite obstacles, opposition, hatred, rejection, or your own depression or bereavements. Success in life boils down to goal-directed endurance – often called stubbornness by those who oppose you and strength by your friends.

The root of that kind of strength, of that fierce stubbornness that makes for storybook heroism manifested in real life, is indeed Relationship. And all relationships depend on a commitment, and a solid bonding. That bonding and commitment can only be achieved when there is communication (Mercury).

Since January, we’ve discussed the trends that might arise as effects of the Neptune transit of the USA natal Moon ( lightworks.com or simegen.com/reviews/rereadablebooks/ ). In a person’s chart, the Moon can represent the person’s most cherished inner needs, the goal underneath all other life goals. In this episode of Smallville, Lex Luther revealed under the Truth Spell that his goal was to get his father to love him.

Neptune is idealism, but also works by dissolving or blurring perceptions. Thus we fall in love with an inappropriate person under strong Neptune Transits.

In other words, Neptune interferes with the primary communication we need to be able to establish the bonding with friends and family that produces successful endurance, the kind of strength the Kent family built into their foundling, Clark/Kal-el.

As most readers of this column have already seen, Superman/Clark Kent is The Magician, the man of power who makes things happen and protects the innocent. He uses Power properly because of his family’s values, and yet aside from his family and one or two associates, he’s a loner. He needs to develop adult relationships to endure.

Would telling the Truth establish communication and thus cause bonding and make Relationship possible? In this episode, truth telling shatters many relationships. Clark takes a lesson here – his truth does not come out, and he is determined it won’t. Ever. Especially not to a woman he cares for.

The White Lie is the core of many relationships, especially marriages, the lubrication that smoothes interactions. In SF/F Literature, we very often focus on a Hero who is a loner – while in "real" life, we all know how many psychotic destroyers turn out to have been "loners". Still, the SF/F reader has traditionally been alienated, alone or unique in some way they are proud of, the maverick, the truth-teller, the renegade (such as The Doctor in Dr. Who.).

One quality we look for in our SF/F Hero is honesty, and especially self-honesty – the ability to tell the truth, to face truths about themselves, and not compromise. The SF/F Hero has traditionally been the sort who will not use the White Lie and thus has few if any Relationships.

Lately, though I see a change surfacing, ever so gently. Something in the USA consciousness is changing as more people live alone, yet find bonds to the extended family. We are now seeing a plethora of novels in all kinds of sub-genres from Alternate History to Vampire Romance, where the Hero starts out a loner, focusing all endurance on truth, honesty, solving a mystery, protecting the innocent, and through his/her stubborn endurance, gains true friends.

Take for example, Tall, Dark and Dead by Tate Halloway. Told entirely in first person, this is the story of a young woman who has Magical Power. She offended a secret organization that eradicates Witches, and she now hides out as a clerk in a Magic Shop (telling no truth about herself, and thus going it alone).

A man comes in to order mandrake root. He’s tall, dark, and very dead – a vampire and student of magic who made himself a vampire with a magic potion which is now wearing off. And her pursuers show up, pursuing him, not her. He has led them to her unwittingly. And he’s dying.

Meanwhile, her ex-boyfriend drops in. He is also a vampire with a hidden agenda. She is not sure which vampire is the good guy (or better guy) – because truth is not part of their hidden agendas. She is locked in a struggle to contain Power so that it causes least harm, and has to choose who to trust. This book has me dying for the sequel already!

Although the jargon of astrology and Tarot is woven into this novel, the magic is very superficial. There’s no chance that any "innocent" would pick up anything they could hurt themselves with, so you can recommend this book freely.

Mercury in a natal chart or by transit is all about moving, moving information as in communication, and moving yourself and other objects. We have a novel here that "moves" almost entirely on long, involved dialogue or first person monologue, Touch the Dark by Karen Chance. The hero, Cassandra Palmer, seems very much like a cross between Buffy and Anita Blake.

Cassandra does try to work through "the system" to handle the problem of an old enemy attacking her rather than taking matters into her own hands. She calls on the Vampire Senate for justice, and becomes embroiled in vampire politics – where nothing is as it seems. Intrigue, betrayal and double-cross are the rule of the day, and it becomes a contest for power over the magical creatures of the world.

While reading all this, I’ve also been watching the Sci Fi channel’s run of the 9^th Doctor (Dr. Who is "The Doctor"), played by Christopher Eccleston. He does capture some of my favorite nuances of the Tom Baker Doctor, but the story-line and characterization has changed significantly.

This timeline may not be the main timeline of the Dr. Who universe. Here, Gallifrey (the home planet of the Timelords such as The Doctor) has been destroyed by the arch-enemy, the Daleks, but the Daleks have been wiped out by the Timelords as well. The Doctor believes he’s the sole survivor of his kind.

The Doctor meets up with the sole surviving Dalek, held captive on Earth. His companion, Rose, gets the Dalek to change its philosophy away from "exterminate" and we see it showing promise of abandoning the Dalek mission. Communication is the key to the Dalek’s change.

But this incarnation of The Doctor has seen his own species die. And he wants revenge. He wants to kill that Dalek in the worst way – and he does. He talks it into exterminating itself, another use of Communication.

This Dr. Who series is more Intimate Adventure than any previous Who I’ve seen, and well worth a look for those who have considered the series too childish. OK, it’s still a children’s series! But I love it, and it does address matters of Mercury and Truth.

I’ve reviewed the Chorillan Cycle Books by Michelle Levigne (Feb 2006). This new one, Book 5, Silver Azuli progresses the story arc a bit more, and is every bit a can’t-shut-it-off (it’s an e-book) read as the others. It’s well constructed and well written – but the pacing is lazy, laid back, and gives much time to deepening and developing relationships through intimate communication.

If you haven’t been reading the Chorillan Cycle, start at the first book. This is the kind of story that blends action, science fiction (it’s set on a well developed alien planet in a universe filled with non-humans who can think), and the importance of developing relationships that endure the test of time and change.

I have to squeeze in Sharon Shinn’s The Thirteenth House here though it deserves more space. The Hero is a woman shape-shifter who can pretend to be her twin sister, heir to the throne. Preferring to be a lone adventurer, she goes off on a social circuit of parties among the nobles as her twin, searching out enemies of the throne. She prevails because of her ability to form enduring, bonded relationships despite obscured truths. Honesty, when it comes is painful. Shinn’s writing is as always firm, the non-stop action plausible, and the relationships deep and meaningful. Don’t miss this one even if you have to get it from the library.