PS Publishing, 2016, 35 p.

As its title implies this, very short at 33 pages, novella is a rounding off of Brown’s four volume Starship series published between 2007 and 2012. In it David Conway’s now settled life on Delta Pavonis IV is disturbed by a message from his ex-wife, Sally – mysteriously delivered in audio only – wanting to meet him. This brings up memories of his dead daughter, which Conway would prefer to have kept submerged.

What at first seems incidental (though one of Brown’s familiar flourishes,) the unveiling of a new interactive art work, this time by Conway’s friend Matt, reflecting a person’s emotions and personality back at them and projecting them as sound to whoever is nearby, helps to divert Conway from his thoughts about the impending encounter with Sally, becomes instrumental in the plot’s unravelling.

Before meeting Sally, Conway is first greeted by her companion, Gideon Antrobus, who claims to have reversed Sally’s ageing. The apparition Conway is then confronted with indeed looks like a young girl. Neither Antrobus nor the girl is quite what they appear on the surface.

As a final send-off to the Starship series Starship Coda is enjoyable – and readable – enough. Brown handles the situation with his usual aplomb. How much it adds to the series is debatable but it certainly doesn’t detract from it.

“Time interval later” count: seven. Plus a ‘Later’ an ‘a few months later’ an ‘A little later,’ and an ‘A while later.’

Pedant’s corner:- “ ‘Here’s goes,’” (Here goes,) “that all was not right” (that not all was right,) Matt Sommers’ (Sommers’s,) “‘You make it sounds as if’” (You make it sound as if’,) aging (ageing,) at worse (at worst.)

This song is more associated with Crosby, Stills and Nash but was co-written by Paul Kantner of Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship and Starship, who died earlier this week. Apparently his name could not be put on the CSN release of the song for legal reasons but Kantner contributed to the lyrics. Both CSN and Jefferson Airplane performed the song at Woodstock but Airplane’s (very long) version did not appear in the film.

Jefferson Airplane: Wooden Ships

Paul Lorin Kantner: 17/3/1941–28/1/2016. So it goes.

Solaris, 2012, 384 p.

Jeff Ellis is a shuttle pilot who travels between the many worlds of the Helix. On a flight to Phandra his craft is shot down by the Sporelli who are invading from the neighbouring world on the spiral. His life is saved by a Phandran healer, Calla, but they are taken prisoner by the Sporelli. Meanwhile the Mahkan, Kranda, has set out to rescue Ellis from the Sporelli in order to fulfil the debt of honour she incurred when Ellis previously saved her life. She does so but the Sporelli have taken Calla in order to utilise her healing powers on their injured. Thereafter we are involved with the search for Calla as Ellis feels he is now in her debt. Elsewhere, on the Helix world of New Earth, Ellis’s more-or-less estranged wife, Maria, has begun an affair with her boss.

The Helix is one of those familiar SF tropes, a Big Dumb Object. In his first novel set there, Helix, Brown did not explore the structure nor its mechanics to any great degree. That omission is remedied here. The technology of its Builders, which allows its inner exploration, is – as Clarke’s Law has it – indistinguishable from magic, perhaps from the point of view of the story conveniently so. But then if you’ve got a tool kit why not use it? The novel reads like a kind of mashup of the BDO tale and a shoot-em-up.

Brown is incapable of writing a book which does not feature human dilemmas, however. In Helix Wars these seem to sit awkwardly with the more straightforward video game type elements even if the extended interplay between Kranda and Ellis on the morality of the use of force raises the tone.

Brown’s more character driven novels are much more satisfactory. Unless you’re into shoot-em-ups I’d advise you to savour his “Starship” sequence or The Kings of Eternity instead.

Aside:- Helix Wars has a cover which, had Eric not been a mate, would have made me disinclined ever to pick the book up.