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Re: The Search for Krazy Kat by Frederick Rustam

Posted: April 24, 2004, 01:21:14 PM
by Robert_Moriyama
"The Search For Krazy Kat" gives us a positive view of a plausible future that is firmly rooted in the rapidly evolving technology of our own time. If science fiction, or speculative fiction, as some prefer to call it, has a serious mission, it is to help the living to face the uncertain future with confidence. Not all of Fred Rustam's work is as positive in outlook as this one, but after reading "The Search For Krazy Kat" I think that he would agree, as I do, with the words of William Faulkner in his Nobel banquet speech:

"I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last dingdong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail."
<br><br>I haven't read Fred Rustam's bio, but I suspect that he is NOT British, if only because a certain pessimism seems to permeate a lot of British sf. One annoying example of this was the poor-us attitude of Space 1999's Alphans, which seemed to conform to the old 'There are some things Man was not meant to know/do' trope.<br><br>On the other hand, the sentiment expressed in Faulkner's speech reflects the bull-headed Divine Right of Man credo that the human spirit (or failing that, technology and bigger guns) will (and should) conquer all. Think Cortez vs. Moctezuma, etc.; strip-mining, clear-cutting, extinction of species for fun and profit or just because they're in the way.<br><br>Neither attitude is really conducive to long-term survival. One is too passive; the other too aggressive; neither views the universe as a system of which humanity is a component and in which humanity must function without destroying the underpinnings from which it sprang.<br><br>So ... optimism is fine in sf, but it can become grating if it drifts or slides or plummets into Humans First and Foremost (or even First and Only) species-ism.<br><br>'Scuse me, I have to go blow away some aliens in Unreal II.<br><br>

Re: The Search for Krazy Kat by Frederick Rustam

Posted: April 27, 2004, 01:24:24 PM
by Robert_Moriyama
Cary's note expressed his approval of the dataship concept -- an interesting extrapolation of the idea of FTL couriers serving as the main communication medium over interstellar distances, which has, I think, occurred before ... I think Larry Niven's colony worlds (with no FTL communications OR ships) depended on supply drones for communications, new technology, etc. Fred Rustam's dataships, however, are like merchant ships in the 17th - 19th centuries, or "the Wells Fargo wagon" in the old American west -- their arrival at a colony is an event in itself, even though information (and communication and entertainment) is now the most valuable commodity.<br><br>What Cary didn't specifically mention is that the story is FUN. The unusual skills of Datamaster Roath and the odd quest named in the title make for a very entertaining story, reminiscent of Keith Laumer's Retief or some of Gordon R. Dickson's less-serious work.<br><br>The potential for a series is certainly there, although it's kind of a shame that Roath is going into retirement. We could have fun with The Adventures of Jun as she samples the cultures of different worlds, but more of Roath would also be welcome.