Terra Incognita

April 23, 2018
SFWA Grand Master Willis, noted for science fiction novels that range from harrowing (Doomsday Book) to hilarious (To Say Nothing of the Dog), displays her penchant for screwball satire in these three previously published novellas, which have not really withstood the test of time. 1994’s “Uncharted Territory” takes place on an alien planet and involves three human surveyors and their indigenous sentient scout, whose adventures are dramatized back on Earth. Willis uses the planetary romance as a vehicle to satirize bureaucracy, political correctness, and gender identification. 1995’s “Remake” takes place in a near-future Hollywood (featuring the Trump Chinese Theatre), where live movie-making has been replaced by digital images of deceased stars that are pasted into endlessly recycled remakes of film classics. The movie references come fast and furious as a CGI programmer meets a young woman whose dream is to dance in an actual movie. In 2007’s “D.A.”, which parodies Robert A. Heinlein’s “juvenile” novels, a high school girl is shanghaied into the prestigious International Space Academy and sets out to prove that she is the victim of a conspiracy. Once cutting-edge, these works now feel dated, proving that science fiction satire has a short half-life.

June 15, 2018
A master of fantasy playfully combines science fiction with other genres in three antic novellas.Willis (I Met a Traveller in an Antique Land, 2018, etc.) has long regaled her readers with science fiction that flies off whimsically into fantasy, as well as fantasy that leans on science to support its plots. In this trio of novellas (really two novellas and a short story), she folds in other genres as well. Uncharted Territory takes on the Western; Remake reconsiders the Hollywood musical; and D.A. pays homage to--or perhaps thumbs its nose at--the coming-of-age space opera. In "Uncharted Territory," Drs. Carson and Findriddy are surveying the planet Boohte with the rather unhelpful aid of their native guide, Bult, when a "socioexozoologist" named Evelyn Parker arrives to study the courtship habits of the local fauna--both native and, it turns out, terran. In Remake, the ever merging corporations that control the entertainment industry have long since given up on new movies and, for the most part, living actors. They prefer to use computer graphics and artificial intelligence to insert long-dead stars into Hollywood classics. Then a CG student meets a dewy-eyed dancer with soaring ambitions. Can he make her dreams come true? In D.A., the shortest and most delightful, everybody in Theodora's high school is dying to be a cadet at the International Space Academy--except Theodora, who's set her heart on UCLA. When the Academy appointments are announced, she knows there must be some mistake. Why would they choose a student who didn't even apply? Willis is best known for her time-travel novels, and her recent fiction has been steeped in a cranky nostalgia that suggests she might be happier if she could use one of her time machines. But in this book, the nostalgia seems affectionate rather than bitter. The stories share her signature style of comedy, in which muddled protagonists bat their ways through flurries of seemingly absurd rules and nonsensical events, which all resolve by the end into neat patterns.Clever, funny, thought-provoking, and sweet, these stories are classic Willis.

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July 1, 2018
These three previously published novellas about our future may come from the past, but the topics they lampoon still feel pertinent (though perhaps no longer groundbreaking). In the farcical Uncharted Territory (1994), two surveyors investigating an alien planet babysit a tourist, who knows of their adventures through soapy dramatizations on Earth. Willis uses a light touch to satirize how the government's labyrinthine rules for preserving indigenous cultures run counter to their mission. In Remake (1995), live-action movies have been replaced by endless remakes starring digitized versions of dead actors. The narrator is a cynical digital editor, until he meets a woman determined to dance in a real movie. Bursting with film references, the story uses the entertainment industry's love of sequels and retellings to explore a future where creativity and talent matter less than nostalgia and marketability. In D.A (2007), a teen-centered novella of sanctioned rebellion, a high-school student uncovers the conspiracy that led to her being sent into space to attend a prestigious academy, despite not having applied. This is a solid collection for the classic-sf fan.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)