AFTER THE FALL ....

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall ~Nancy Kress

4

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall

written by Nancy Kress

To be released in April 2012

Tachyon Publications

192 pages

8/10 stars

Thought-provoking, relevant, engaging story. Once I started reading it, I couldn’t put it down.

The year is 2013 and Julie Kahn is working with the FBI, creating and tracking a complex algorithm to help explain and hopefully stop a series of odd burglaries and unexplainable child abductions.

The year is 2014 and just below the surface of the earth various microbes are combining and dividing to form something new, and something not quite right.

The year is 2035 and the last surviving members of the human race are living inside a protective shell, captives of a group of aliens the humans have named the “Tesslies”, the long-ago destroyers of the surface of Earth.

Author Nancy Kress has created a generation-spanning tale of near-future calamity and rebirth that starts out strong and builds steadily to a satisfying climax. In less than 200 pages Kress proves that a science fiction novel need not be dense to contain fascinating and relevant scientific concepts, intriguing mystery, and characters that compel you to keep the pages turning.

I was familiar with the work of Nancy Kress from short stories published in Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine as well as her excellent short story, “Elevators”, published in the Eclipse Two anthology. Tachyon Publications has been on my radar for the last year with three particular releases that I enjoyed immensely: The Very Best of Charles de Lint, Jeff Vandermeer’s short story collection The Third Bear, and the Sleight of Hand collection of Peter S. Beagle’s short fiction. So when Charlene Brusso from Tachyon Publications offered an Advanced Reader Copy of Kress’ newest novel, I jumped at the chance. The book’s description combined with the fact that it appeared to have a manageable page count was too good to pass up.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall alternates between the three aforementioned time periods, weaving together the stories of two individuals in particular–brilliant mathematician Julie Kahn and a 15-year old boy named Pete who is one of the Six, the only surviving children from the original 26 humans who were saved from the Earth’s devastation by the aliens responsible for the Earth’s demise. Pete is one of only a handful of humans who is healthy enough to travel back in time during the Grabs, 10 minute portals into the past in which they are able to grab goods and also children with which they hope to be able to restart humanity once the Earth is again capable of supporting human life. Julie Kahn has picked up a pattern in the child abductions and strange robberies and is using that knowledge to try to predict where the next disappearance will occur. She hopes to be able to provide proof that the outlandish stories of children disappearing into thin air followed by a flash of light are actually not stories at all.

Author Nancy Kress wastes no time, she draws the reader in from page one. Her writing is taut and she keeps chapters short, building dramatic tension with each shift in time. The details of the story and the descriptions of the world in which each of her characters live is woven into the fabric of the tale, there are no info-dumps here. Her characters are interesting and engaging and authentic. Her biggest triumph is capturing the “voice” of a 15 year old boy so well. Sometimes too well. My one niggling complaint would be that I found myself growing tired of hearing Pete recount the things that made his cock hard. But his sex-obsessed thoughts are so in line with what I recall of my own adolescence that it is a minor complaint indeed, though one to keep in mind when deciding on the book’s audience. I found myself more than once comparing this book favorably to Paolo Bacigalupi’s award-winning YA novel, Ship Breaker, and while the book is likely to be marketed to an adult audience I can see this book appealing to teen readers as well. It would be wonderful to see more science fiction amidst all the Twilight-esque fantasy dominating teen sections of the bookstore.

I have not been shy over the years in lamenting the ever-growing size and weight of the contemporary SFF novel. Despite enjoying many very hefty novels, I often wonder what happened to the days of yore when authors could write a story that was a few hundred pages yet could skillfully capture the reader’s imagination. I commend Nancy Kress on doing just that. My conditioning from reading contemporary tomes had me worried as I read that the story might not come to a fully satisfying conclusion and I am happy to report that those worries were unfounded. The survivors and their six children are of particular interest and the mystery and sacrifice of their lives are conveyed with an economy of words that paint vivid images for the reader. Julie Kahn is a likeable “everywoman” protagonist who grounds the reader in our present time. The novel’s short length does nothing to rob it of its poignancy.

After the Fall, Before the Fall, During the Fall is as entertaining as one hopes fiction will be while also rising above “mere” entertainment to explore pertinent environmental concepts in a plausible but not overly scientific manner. Nancy Kress has created an accessible, page-turning near future science fiction tale that stirs the mind as well as the imagination.