Nettie van Straten Books

In which we find Jherek Carnelian, one of the small population of hedonistic immortals remaining on earth at the end of time, still obsessively in love with Mrs. Amelia Underwood, a reluctant time-traveler from Victorian England. After narrowly escaping death in nineteenth-century London, Jherek again is separated from his love by several millenniums. And so he begins a new, headlong campaign - seesawing through space and time regardless of risk or consequence - to reunite himself with Mrs. Underwood. This is volume II in a trilogy, The Dancers at the End of Time, of which An Alien Heat was the first. It is full of astounding antics and incredible characters. Another outstanding book by one of the most esteemed and prolific writers of science fiction.

De levenscyclus van het heelal begint zijn einde te naderen en de mens is op het punt gekomen, waar hij zichzelf niet meer serieus neemt. Hij beschikt over de kennis van duizenden en duizenden jaren, maar die kennis gebruikt hij om zich uit te leven in spelen en fantasieën, in het scheppen van het beeldschone absurde. Er is trouwens weinig anders te doen. Grootse plannen, vaak grandioos en pervers, worden zonder bezieling uitgevoerd en zonder spijt vergeten. De dood is een zeldzaam verschijnsel. De mens Jherek Cornaljin raakt - tot zijn eigen verbijstering - in de greep van zijn obsessie en komt terecht in een maalstroom van tijd en liefde.

Naomi Mitchison, daughter of a distinguished scientist, sister of geneticist J B S Haldane, was always interested in the sciences, especially genetics. Her novels did not tend to demonstrate this, and she did not publish a Science Fiction novel until almost forty years into her fiction-writing career. Isobel Murray's Introduction here argues that it is by no means 'pure' Science Fiction: the success of the novel depends not only on the extraordinarily variety of life forms its heroine encounters and attempts to communicate with on different worlds: she is also a very credible human, or Terran, with recognisibly human emotions and a dramatic emotional life. This novel works effectively for readers who usually eschew the genre and prefer more traditional narratives. Explorers like Mary are an elite class who consider curiosity to be Terrans' supreme gift, and in the novel she more than once takes risks that may destroy her life. Her voice, as she records her adventures and experiments, is individual, attractive and memorable. Isobel Murray is Emeritus Professor of Modern Scottish Literature at the University of Aberdeen.