Stations Of The Tide by Michael Swanwick (book review).
With so many books being published in a variety of formats—print, digital, and audio—it is difficult to choose, especially when the market is swamped by self-published volumes. While there are popular writers whose books are always sought after, some excellent books from last century tend to get overlooked. There is a good market for mainstream literary novels, especially those that have been translated into film or TV. TOR’s Essentials series is designed to bring some of the best novels from past decades back to the attention of readers looking for quality.
‘Stations Of The Tide’ is a bleak, surreal novel by Michael Swanwick, winning the 1991 Nebula Award. Although it pays homage to writers he respects, Swanwick threads Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’ throughout it. Miranda is a planet orbiting Prospero. Planets are often regarded as children of their suns. Miranda is influenced by the gravitational effects of its sun and also the moons, which are named Ariel and Caliban. The orbit must be irregular, as in every two centuries, the tides rise and drown the continents. That is about to happen. The human colonists are being evacuated. The native flora and fauna survive the tides by having the ability to transform from a terrestrial form to an aquatic one. There are those who don’t want to leave the place where they were born.
Into this situation comes the bureaucrat. He is never named, but he fulfils the role of Ferdinand, deposited on a planet that he gradually falls in love with. He has with him a briefcase, which not only acts as if it is sentient but also always makes its way back to him if they get separated. It is the essence of ‘The Tempest’s Ariel. The bureaucrat is looking for Gregorian (Caliban), who has stolen some proscribed technology. In order to retrieve it. Gregorian is claiming that he can transform the people of Miranda so that they can survive once the land is flooded. He is offering hope, whereas the bureaucrat is convinced he is a charlatan.
The bureaucrat only has a week to find Gregorian before the Jubilee Tides consume the continents, and, from the moment he arrives, he feels that Gregorian is not only putting obstacles in his way but is also laughing at him. Along with the briefcase, he is helped by a liaison officer, Lieutenant Chu. Together, they embark on the hunt for Gregorian. First, tracking down his mother, who reveals Gregorian’s background and gives him a notebook written by Gregorian, which appears to be full of magical symbols. The bureaucrat gives it to the briefcase to translate.
The encounters that the bureaucrat has as he makes his way through a world that is emptying become more bizarre before it reaches a conclusion. It still works as a surreal fantasy and is the kind of book that deserves reading more than once.
Pauline Morgan
December 2024
(pub: TOR Essentials, 2024. 238 page paperback. Price: $17.99 (US), $23.99 (CAN). ISBN: 978-1-250-86249-5)
check out website: https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250862495/stationsofthetide/
