I've published dozens of reviews of science fiction novels by well-known and little-known authors in the past few decades, in the New York Review of Science Fiction, Tangent, the Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, and other places. I thought it was time to begin putting these reviews up on this blog, one or two a month, right alongside the more numerous reviews of television series.
To start, here's my 1992 review, published in the Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems, of John Stith's Redshift Rendezvous (Ace, 1990, 256 pp.), now available on Kindle. People often ask me to name a science fiction/ mystery hybrid that really works. Isaac Asimov's robot stories (in contrast to his faster-than-light ships in space) are a good example. And then there's Redshift Rendezvous, in some ways even truer to the hybrid ideal ...

Faster than light travel has been one of the most intriguing and
frustrating challenges of science fiction, which generally
distinguishes itself from fantasy by writing about technologies and
events that are at least scientifically plausible. But according to
Einstein's theory of special relativity, movement at faster than
light speeds is flatly impossible, and the slightly more lenient
theory of general relativity insists that objects attain infinite
mass at light speeds. So how, then, is science fiction to write
about human relations across star systems and galaxies in human time
frames?
One approach might be to contest Einstein's proscriptions on
super-luminary travel on scientific or philosophic of science terms.
If we agree with the philosopher Karl Popper that even the best corroborated
scientific theories are nonetheless highly fallible and destined for
falsification -- as Einstein himself did -- then fiction writers
should have little trouble amending Einstein much the same as
Einstein amended Newton. But not many science fiction writers seem aware
of Popper, or indeed sophisticated discussions of philosophy of
science, at least insofar as these might pertain to speed of
light.
The result has been a science fiction that by and large has
repealed Einstein without much of a hearing. Whether the hyperspace
drive of Asimov in the 40s or the warp drive of
Star Trek and most
else in between, travel at faster than light speeds has been more of
an assumption than a challenge in a genre which is supposed to engage
rather than subsume technological puzzles. (Cryogenic solutions that
posit transport of frozen humans to be wakened upon reaching their
destination at least have the merit of not ignoring Einstein. Frank
Herbert's approach of beings "folding" space in the
Dune series
has an Einsteinian plausibility, but relies a bit too much on the
quantum mechanical idea of mind pushing matter
to be satisfyingly scientific.)
Even more disappointing than the repeal by fiat of Einstein has
been science fiction's treatment of human relations in the faster
than light environments. That treatment has usually been a simple
transplantation of human dynamics from Earth to far vaster realms,
with the assumption that travel from here to Tau Ceti and beyond
should in principle be no different in terms of human effects than
our capacity to easily travel now from New York to Los Angeles. But
history and philosophy of technology have shown over and over again
that new modes of transportation profoundly transform their
passengers -- the medium is the message, as McLuhan pointed out,
whether communication or transportation -- and science fiction that
treats a trip across the galaxy as no different in human principle
than a trip across the country thus shortchanges its readers.
Which is why John Stith's
Redshift Rendezvous is so
refreshing. The book is in many respects a standard adventure of
murder and hijacking in space. But in one crucial regard this book
is extraordinary in science fiction: it deals with the human detail
of faster than light travel. Indeed, speed of light and its
consequences is the real hero of this book.
The "Redshift" is a ship that travels faster than light, and
Stith posits that speed of light inside the ship is therefore reduced
to some ten meters per second, or 30 million times slower than its
usual speed. This is far from always pleasant, and passengers are
advised to keep their lifebelts on at all times (in order for their
neural chemistry to operate at normal speeds), and trust their
kinesthetic rather than optical perceptions.
Simple dining can be very interesting in this environment -- a
morsel of fish turns indigo as it enters its eater's mouth and
life field -- but committing and solving murders are even more so (the
latter can be done by removing the victim's lifebelt). The chief
security officer single-handedly manages to nearly disable an entire
terrorist crew by virtue of his superior understanding of human
movement and vision aboard his ship, and in the end he calls upon the
physics of the ship's corridors to quite literally hoist the villain
on her own petard.
If you like your science fiction to treat faster than light
travel with a bit more respect than Dorothy clicking her heels
together three times to go from Oz to Kansas, you'll enjoy this book.
I look forward to return voyages on the Redshift and other Stith
vessels that speculate on the stretching of natural laws and its
effect on humans.

"As a genre-bending blend of police procedural and science fiction,
The Silk Code delivers on its promises." -
The New York Times Book Review
#SFWApro