Science Fiction Book Review: Ace Double 77710: The Eyes of Bolsk by Robert Lory, and The Space Barbarians by Mack Reynolds

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I thought it was about time I read another Ace Double. I think I've got something over a hundred of this classic science fiction book series in my collection, so I'll need to read a few every year to stand any chance of getting through the lot before I die. The problem there is that I'm not doing as much reading for leisure lately as I used to, due to having my spare time taken up with a special project of my own (learning a language). This particular volume was published in 1969. I've read one of the authors before, but not the other. I decided to start with the writer that I wasn't familiar with. The Eyes of Bolsk by Robert Lory I wasn't able to find out much about this author, other that he was American and the author of several series, none of which I've read. This seems to be his first published novel. The hero of this short novel is Jared Kane, an American secret agent who's on a sabotage mission in an Eastern Bloc country. Surprised by a guard just as he's planted some explosives, death for him is almost certain when time suddenly stops in his vicinity and he is contacted by a representative of the “Committee of Nine”, a shadowy group who seem to govern the Universe from behind the scenes. Even the bureaucrats who work for the Committee, themselves a mixture of different alien races, don't know the identities of the Committee members. The Committee wants Kane to do a job for them in return for being extracted from the deadly situation that he's in. It's made clear that this is purely a voluntary assignment, but being as the other choice is to be left to die, Kane volunteers. Kane finds himself transported to a world called Trovo, which strongly resembles the Earth, except that it has two moons. It's even inhabited by human beings, although at a much lower technological level than Kane's 20th Century civilisation. Kane's job is to put out the eyes of a dead man called Bolsk. That's all the information that he's given. Putting out the eyes of Bolsk is necessary to preserve the cosmic balance in some way that he isn't made privvy to. It turns out that Bolsk was the former ruler of the country that Kane finds himself in, but was killed by his own son years previously, and his preserved head is now in the custody of the country's new ruler, the self-styled Philosopher Rai, a manipulative and ruthless former fortune-teller who attained power through the use of bribery, spies and manipulation. Rai now rules from the security of his castle, taxing the population too heavily in order to finance research into how to synthesise a rare oil which he's been using to extend his life. It's when Kane is brought into the presence of Rai that he encounters the eyes of Bolsk, which are still in Bolsk's head – a head which was cut off by Rai and which is now kept in a mummified state in his throne room. Rai has Bolsk's head wired up to a remote control device, enabling him to move the head and focus the eyes on anyone in the room – and when he presses a button, those eyes shoot out beams and the victim vanishes. Aided by local political official Augcash, who has been trying to organise a revolution, Kane does succeed in overthrowing Rai, but then finds himself transported to another location in space-time, which turns out to be a future Earth. The rulers of this future Earth are at war with a former colony on the Moon which has declared independence. They've found a connection through the space-time continuum with Trovo – in other words a wormhole – and believe that this can help them win the war in some way that isn't immediately obvious to Kane. But treason and espionage are both at work too. This is a fast-moving SF thriller with an interesting cast of characters, ruthless and devious types involved in a plot which could potentially threaten the security of the Universe. Kane himself, despite being a highly-skilled secret agent, frequently comes across as being out of his depth, and both the morals and competence of the beings who work for the Committee are open to doubt. It's not a bad read, and I'll probably read the sequel if I ever get the chance. The Space Barbarians by Mack Reynolds Mack Reynolds was a popular SF writer in the 1960s, but for some reason his popularity declined in later years. I haven't read a lot of his work, but I like what I have read of it. He had a background as a political activist, and this is reflected in his stories that I've read. They all seem to be about societies facing radical political and/or social change, and the characters having to decide which path to take from imperfect options. This story is set on the planet Caledonia. Several centuries before the start of the novel, an interstellar colony ship from Earth crash landed there. There were survivors, but much of the ship's library was destroyed in the crash. As the survivors organised themselves into settlements, increased their numbers over the generations, and then divided into factions, there was a long period of warfare and chaos, during which most of the other books were destroyed. In the end, there were only four random books left, which became the foundational documents of Caledonia's only religion. Eventually, the period of chaos came to an end as the various factions (knows as “clanns”) agreed to a set of rules with the force of both law and religious tradition (known as “banns”). This has led to a society which is largely modelled on the old Scottish clan system, with some influences from ancient Greece and Native American culture. The clanns seem to mostly live by cattle herding, but they also have a culture of frequently raiding other clanns and stealing their cattle. This is viewed as honourable behaviour. Although this society has a lot of small-scale violence going on, it's stable on a bigger scale, with large-scale warfare being unknown. The technology level seems to be roughly 18th or 19th Century level, with single-shot rifles being in common use. Repeating firearms are forbidden by the banns, and swords are the main weapon in use. Artificial power sources seem to be absent, and transportation is by horse. This short novel is divided into three parts, each set roughly a decade apart. The hero is John of the Hawks, a young clannsman who is away from his home town of Aberdeen at the start of the novel, chasing down some members of a rival clan who have rustled some cattle, stealing their horses and counting coup. This is quite an achievement for a youth, but when he returns to Aberdeen he finds that his victory is overshadowed by the arrival of a small group of space travellers. This is the crew of an exploration ship from the League, a confederation of human-settled worlds. The League had previously been ignorant of Caledonia's existence. The Caledonians are vaguely aware that their ancestors came from elsewhere, but not in detail, so both sides are ignorant of each others' history and customs. Although they're initially there as peaceful explorers, the crew of the League spaceship soon change their priorities when they find that platinum is in abundant supply on Caledonia – so abundant that it's used in plumbing. In the League itself, platinum is still rare enough to be seen as a precious metal, so the explorers scheme among themselves to make an agreement with the people of Caledonia to secure mining rights and make themselves a fortune. It turns out that Caledonia has no concept of land ownership though, and nothing more than local government, so no-one is in a position to sell them the mining rights. The explorers hope to try and make a deal with one of the other Caledonian towns, but John finds out what they're planning and uses trickery to persuade them to leave. The outsiders don't give up though – there's too much money at stake. Ten years later, they return with a much larger and better-equipped expedition, which is ostensibly there to spread the Hindu religion. In actuality, it's fairly sophisticated way to use soft power to gain influence over the local population. The outsiders promise that if the locals convert to their religion, in a ceremony that includes taking a drug called soma, they'll walk with Krishna in perfect happiness and be cured of their ailments. This turns out to be a successful sales pitch, as people who accept this offer are genuinely cured of long-standing illnesses and sometimes even serious wounds. This is sold as the work of Krishna, but is actually due to the use of advanced medical technology. The subjects of this process also emerge as happy and contented, but also somewhat placid and utterly pacifistic. The sort of people that the outsiders hope will be useful in their platinum mines. John, who has by now advanced among his own people to be a respected leader, finds out how this scheme works, and is able to do some damage to the outsiders, but he is by now aware that change is inevitable, and his people will need to adapt if they hope to keep their independence. In the third part of the story, which seems to take place about twenty years on from the first encounter, the situation has deteriorated to colonialism and open warfare. The people from the League have established settlements on the planet and started mining, with the agreement of some, but not all of the clanns. The clanns that don't want to cooperate have been bombed out of their towns and retreated to the hills, from which they launch raiding attacks against the invaders. John of the Hawks is now the most senior military leader among the holdouts and is a very effective guerrilla leader. But many of the Caledonians have voluntarily joined up with the League colonists in order to take advantage of the better material life that their superior technology offers. The dilemma for John is: can he win the war against the League without breaking the banns that he's believed in all his life – particularly the bann against using advanced weapons? This is quite a good story, obviously inspired by the colonial situations of the 19th and 20th Centuries. Although the League is clearly the aggressor in this struggle, they do offer Caledonia the chance to progress beyond the static society that has existed for centuries. Neither side is fully good or bad. John of the Hawks himself goes through some significant character development, starting out as a naïve youth who has never questioned the way of life he was brought up in, verging towards a fanatical outlook in his later life, but also with the ability to think about the bigger picture. Along with his struggle against the League, his life is also complicated by a frustrated romance with a girl from another clann, but this subplot doesn't seriously impact on the main storyline. Both stories in this Ace Double are good, but I would say that The Space Barbarians is a better read and gives the reader more to think about.