![]() The effectiveness of these Jukes in ensuring their propagation via human means did lead me to wonder how such entities could exist for any length of time before overrunning the planet. It is even plausible we see such behavioral manipulation in real world species like the emerald cockroach wasp, Sacculina carcini, or the cat-lover’s old pal, Toxoplasma gondii. Why write this particular horror story this particular way?Īlthough some of the townsfolk interpret what is happening to them in theological terms, the author provides a purely mundane explanation. Yet … the author created this world and its rules. Granted, the very nature of the Jukes, the scheming entities aformentioned, makes that inevitable. It’s more of a “why would you even have people in a story if you weren’t going to rape and or murder them?” kind of book.). (Rape of both women and men, I might add this isn’t one of those “why would you even have women in a story if you weren’t going to rape and or murder them?” books. Even people who seem to accept Waggoner as one of their own turn out to be as bigoted as the Klan the moment the doctor does anything that annoys them.Įven taking into account that spec fic is in a fairly rape-happy mood these days, this was a pretty rapey book. I was reminded of another novel, A Small Colonial War, in which the white South African settlers of a far off world are terrified of Africans despite there not being any on their world 1, Also relevant are the recent developments in Hérouxville, QC. Lack of contact with black people doesn’t seem to have blunted the locals’ ability to be prejudiced against them in any way. Waggoner seems to be the only black person in town. Unsurprisingly for a book set in 1911 America, the N‑word gets sprinkled across conversations involving Waggoner like some sort of foul-tasting condiment. To these entities, the utopians running Eliada are but means to an end. Much more of the strangeness is due to the presence of a group whose existence would come as an enormous surprise to the folks at the Eugenics Records Office. ![]() Some of the strangeness is due to idealists like Germaine, who are willing to go to horrifying extremes to ensure that their vision of a genetically purified America comes to fruition. ![]() Waggoner is rescued before the Klan can string him up, but by that point Jukes has already been hanged.īoth Waggoner, who has lived in Eliada for some time, and Jason, a newcomer, can tell that there’s something seriously wrong in Eliada. The Klan blames Jukes for raping the girl in the first place. The Klan blames Waggoner for the death of a while girl whom the doctor was treating, a girl the doctor diagnosed as the victim of a botched abortion. Andrew Waggoner (the only black doctor in town) and a mentally ill patient nicknamed Jukes. ![]() For example, it still celebrates such quaint American customs as lynching. He accompanies Germaine to Eliada, Idaho, one of the communities devoted to turning the ERO’s bold vision into simple everyday fact.ĭespite the energy that Eliada’s ruling cabal devotes to transforming Eliada into utopia, the town is still in touch with its roots. The unexpected arrival of his aunt Germaine, someone whom he has never met (or even knew existed), gives him an anchor point in a time of crisis. Sole survivor Jason Thistledown is facing some tough decisions about his future. The isolated community of Broken Wheel, Montana, would have been unremarkable save that all but one of its inhabitants died of a terrible disease during the winter of 1910 – 1911. Obviously, this situation can be easily corrected by applying the same techniques to humans as those historically used to improve non-human livestock: a bit of record-keeping, some arranged marriages, some mass sterilization, voluntary or otherwise, and Bob’s your uncle! A new and better human race. The visionaries at the Eugenics Records Office in Cold Spring Harbor, NY, are convinced that many of America’s woes are due to the fact that so many Americans are of second- and third-rate stock. Please welcome 2011’s Eutopia: a Novel of Terrible Optimism.Īmerica in 1911 is an America divided along class and race lines. One of those Nickle pubs is the subject of today’s review. I mentioned the collection to my various shadowy masters and in no time - that is to say, after a couple of years - I began to get a trickle of Nickle publications and other works from his publisher, ChiZine. The cover art definitely got my attention - in much the same way that a bowl full of spiders would get the attention of an arachnophobe. I wandered by a huckster’s table and saw this looking back at me. ![]() The first time I encountered a work by self-confessed Canadian David Nickle was during the 2009 Montreal Worldcon. ![]()
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