Gravity Wells

March 14, 2005
American SF buffs will welcome Canadian author Gardner's highly intelligent first story collection. "Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large," which won the Aurora Award, is as witty as the title implies. "Kent State Descending the Gravity Well: An Analysis of the Observer" deals provocatively with the media's distortion of history, even for eyewitnesses. The large cast of "The Last Day of the War, with Parrots," set in the League of Worlds, at times slows the pace, but not at the cost of vivid characterization. "Hardware Scenario G-49," written for the Clarion Workshop, manages to convey an intense emotional impact almost without action. The quasi-fantastic "Three Hearings on the Existence of Snakes in the Human Bloodstream" explores a crisis of faith arising from the invention of the microscope and the scientific and medical progress it made possible. "Sense of Wonder" is a good example of that difficult form, a story entirely in dialogue. Like the author's most recent novel, Radiant
, these speculative tales can be heavy going, but they're all absorbing. Agent, Richard Curtis.

March 15, 2005
From his whimsical tale of the end of the world ("Muffin Explains Teleology to the World at Large") to a chilling story of art and sterility ("The Children of Cré che") and a meditation on the difference between martyrdom and meaningless death ("Kent State Descending the Gravity Well: An Analysis of the Observer"), Gardner approaches the sf short story with the same meticulous dedication to wonder as he applies to his novels ("Radiant"; "Expendable"). His first collection of short fiction -featuring stories revised from their originally published versions -includes reflections on human violence and compassion ("Withered Gold, the Night, the Day"), first contact ("The Young Person's Guide to the Organism"), and other themes of imaginative literature. This strong collection by a gifted writer belongs in most libraries.

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