H - Novels

Hawksbill Station (1967)

M: Galaxy, August 1967
PB: Avon, 1970, 176 pages
PB: Berkley, 1978, 185 pages, ISBN 0-425-03679-0
PB: Universal (UK), 1978, 192 pages, ISBN 0-426-04116-X
PB: Warner, 1986, 185 pages, ISBN 0-446-34056-1

From the Warner cover blurb:

They had fought a life-crushing 21st century dictatorship. Now they were political prisoners, exiled to an Earth before the dawn of life. Sentenced to the past, sealed forever behind a billion-year-high wall of time, they had to make their home by the grey slab shorelines of a barren planet. A lifeless world was their prison, eons away from cities and civilizations and trips to the stars--and there was no way back.

Then one day the stranger came...

Cover art Berkley 1978 uncredited (Alexander?)

The time-travel aspect of the book holds up pretty well: What if time travel worked, but only one way--backward? Other aspects of the story seem dated, definitely grounded in the late 60s. It's not only the Cold War elements of it, but (in contrast to, say To Live Again) the technology aside from the time travel seems primitive, especially in the computer area. But who knew?

The characterization works well, and the plotting is solid (though I could see the ending coming halfway through). I especially like the way the main character Barrett is handled: you like him and sympathize with him even though he's sometimes a bit of a jerk. (His attitudes toward women are the prime dating factor in the story, as a matter of fact.)

It's a shame that the novel-length version of Hawksbill Station is more readily available than the shorter novella, which Silverberg (and I) regard as a better work.

Nominated (in shorter form) for Nebula Award for best novella, 1967.

Hot Sky at Midnight (1994)

HB: Bantam, 1994
PB: Bantam Spectra, 1995, 388 pages, ISBN 0-553-56935-X

From the cover blurb:

Centuries from now, ecological disaster has overtaken the earth. Humanity is faced with two options: flee to the stars, or genetically engineer itself into a kind of creature that no longer needs to breathe the poisoned air. Against this backdrop a mysterious spy, a blind man with extrasensory vision, and a brilliant but tortured scientist struggle to alter the course of the future. Meanwhile, megacorps compete for the lucrative rights to act as humankind's savior-- or to steal its soul.

The earth is a real mess in this mid-future book. It's a few generations from now, and pollution and ozone depletion have made such a mess of the planet that current temperate regions have become either desert or sweltering jungles and northern Canada and Siberia are major agricultural regions. Air filter masks are needed nearly everywhere, and exposure to sunlight can be very harmful in a matter of hours. Large numbers of people have moved to L-5 space habitats, and scientists are working on ways to adapt humans to the new environment on earth since it's too late to reverse or even slow the damage to the environment. Mega-corporations control a significant part of the economy on earth and in space. A varied group of people try to cope with the unpleasant situation, some by working to help out, some by ignoring it as best they can and getting on with their own lives.

The characters feel real, the setting is all too realistic, and the story moves along nicely. Silverberg does a great job of bringing humanity to all the characters, and their struggles in this world-gone-to-hell are fascinating. Some of the ideas may be less than 100% new (megacorps, environmental damage, etc), but this novel doesn't seem trite or hackneyed. It's a good read, though I'm not sure what the cover art is supposed to represent.

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Last updated October 21, 2002

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