“Escape from Earth” by Allen M. Steele
“Where the Golden Apples Grow” by Kage Baker
“Spaceboy” by Orson Scott Card
“Derelict” by Geoffrey Landis
“Incarnation Day” by Walter Jon Williams
“Combat Shopping” by Elizabeth Moon
“The Mars Girl” by Joe Haldeman
“Where the Golden Apples Grow” by Kage Baker
“Spaceboy” by Orson Scott Card
“Derelict” by Geoffrey Landis
“Incarnation Day” by Walter Jon Williams
“Combat Shopping” by Elizabeth Moon
“The Mars Girl” by Joe Haldeman
In “Escape From Earth” by Allen M. Steele, modern-day astronaut wannabe Eric meets time-traveling kids from the future who need fuel from his town’s abandoned nuclear plant for their spaceship. Steele expertly sketches the boredom of small town life, setting the stage for the quintessential juxtaposition of fantasy: stultifying normalcy (dead-end Vermont) with fabulous strangeness (for example, the scene in which the space kids try to ape modern fashions). With a combination of humor, sensitivity, and believability, Steele writes an adventure story (with romantic undercurrents) that forms a crucible of character for our hero. Everything ends bittersweetly, but satisfyingly, and we are left in the same position as Eric. Having sampled the wild unknown, we want more.
Fortunately, we’re only one story into Escape From Earth: New Adventures in Space, edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois. Written with YAs in mind, this book should be read by anyone who needs some good sci-fi in his or her life.
“Where the Golden Apples Grow” by Kage Baker brings together two boys from opposite ends of the Martian tracks. Bill, an ice hauler’s son, wishes that he was in the position of Ford, son of a communist farmer. The two, of course, get thrown together when Bill’s dad’s rig is caught in a storm, and the two boys must collaborate with their wits to survive. By playing off each other, two representatives of the contrasting social classes, Baker neatly realizes a robust Martian culture and the requisite source of conflict. Add to these elements a literally chilling depiction of the unforgiving Red Planet, and you have an engrossing story with one of the best examples of worldcraft in the book.
“Spaceboy” by Orson Scott Card proves to be the collection’s low point, disappointingly enough for readers like me who found his Ender’s Game series thought-provoking. In “Spaceboy,” Todd’s mom disappears, and he must face down a nasty Rumpelstiltskin-like alien to bring her back. Not a bad idea, but the fairy tale elements sit uneasily and rather pointlessly in an otherwise interesting story about a worm (wormhole?) connecting two worlds. Plus, the characters constantly refer to the worm’s “anus” as a point of entry for interworld travel, which struck a wrong note. Too scattered and tone-deaf for teens, too simplistic for adults, I couldn’t figure out who this story was directed toward.
In Geoffrey Landis’s “Derelict,” Dylan and his friends illicitly explore an abandoned space colony, discovering its secrets. One of the shorter stories in this anthology, “Derelict” impresses me because it balances the author’s encyclopedic knowledge of what it might be like exploring in zero G (hint: your water bottle can be a weapon) with a teenager’s unmorbid and touching realization of his own mortality. The story ends poignantly, with the suggestion that the unknown may be much more comprehensible and human than we expect.
Fortunately, “Incarnation Day” by Walter Jon Williams, one of the most inventive stories of the bunch, wipes away bad memories of “Spaceboy.” In a society where kids exist virtually until parents decide whether to keep them and download them into physical bodies, Alison (who, incidentally, has imaginary conversations with Dr. Samuel Johnson) fights on behalf of her friend, whose parents want to erase her. Williams writes in Allison’s voice with such devious cleverness that the reader instantly roots for her and her bodiless comrades. You feel like you’re a kid again, raging against the obvious stupidity of those in charge. That’s how good Williams’s creation of character is.
“Combat Shopping” by Elizabeth Moon has the same plot as most of Escape From Earth’s stories: that of the Teenager stickin’ it to the Man. When her siblings are kidnapped at the interstellar mall, 12-year-old Andi uses her illicitly learned flying skills to defy her cruel adoptive parents, save the kids, and win respect from the incredulous adult community. But what elevates this story above a sci-fi Cinderella story (though its use of the “vindicated orphan” theme does prove immensely satisfying) is the author’s full characterization of everyone, child and adult. Yeah, the space pirates are faceless evil mongers, but they are the only nebulous entities in a story where the adults, however harsh or uncomprehending, come across as sympathetic as the rebellious, hurt protagonist. This story goes beyond “Incarnation Day,” allowing you to get inside the heads of all characters, not just the teens.
“The Mars Girl” by Joe Haldeman re-imagines the familiar trope of first contact from the viewpoint of Carmen. The teenager’s boredom as one of the few young people on a Mars colony quickly evaporates when she discovers Martians. Like many of the protagonists in this book, she is unsure of what to do with her life and misunderstood by the adults around her. Also, like many of the protagonists in this book, she proves that she, as a teenager, has greater qualifications—namely, intelligence and a level head—for dealing with the aliens than the grown-ups. Crisply and compactly written, “The Mars Girl” crams a novel’s worth of intrigue and character development into its pages, closing Escape From Earth with definitive proof that it does indeed achieve its goal of inventive, cool space stories for teenagers that you don’t have to be a teen to enjoy.