The Book of Skulls

Immortality is at stake; but is the price too high? Source: Here

"Eternities must be balanced by extinctions."

I have a soft spot for quest narratives. They give us an easy journey to follow that parallels the characters' own internal evolution over the course of the book and rather neatly frames the course of events. Reading this particular journey gave me much to think about - between this and Dying Inside, I'm slowly gaining a taste for Silverberg's bibliography. (I also wasn't sure whether to place this book as sci-fi or not. Seemingly the only element that could qualify this book as science fiction is the idea of immortality and our characters' search of it - beyond that, this could have easily been marketed as more mainstream or even literary fiction)

The Book of Skulls is a 1971 Hugo Award nominee written by Robert Silverberg. It follows the journey of four college students, guided by a translation of an ancient manuscript known as the Book of Skulls, which sends them travelling deep into the Arizona desert to find the House of Skulls. Within this alleged monastery lives an order of monks capable of conferring immortality to those that complete their initiation rite. Immortality comes at a price; only two will be able to gain eternal life, and the other two must die - one must be murdered and the other must commit suicide of his own volition. 

Our journey is presented by four first-person narrators, the novel rotating between points-of-view to give each their time to shine, and it is great to see that each is clearly distinct from another. Not only that but this device allows us to learn about them gradually as well as seeing how each of them react to events unfolding. There is no unifying sense of morale keeping the group together - only morbid curiosity and perhaps the hint that this mad quest for immortality may not be fiction after all. What initially begins as a regular road trip soon becomes darker and more final in purpose, down to the inevitable conclusion.

Immortality is the central theme, the goal for our characters and the topic of debate. Can it be gained? Perhaps more importantly, if it exists should it be a goal worth seeking? The book constantly interrogates this notion, as well as whether it actually exists - we never get a definitive answer by the end on whether the House of Skulls and its promises of immortality are genuine or simply a fraud. Silverberg's own depth and breadth of knowledge shines through, with references to the legend of Glaukus the fisherman, the Uttarakuru and Ugaritic civilisations, famous explorer John Mandeville - it is very clear we are in the hands of someone who knows his stuff.

There were elements of the book I didn't quite enjoy. I fully understand that some books are very much products of their time but the misogyny and homophobia weren't exactly palatable. Female roles in the book are fleeting and scarcely sketched out with any dimension (though perhaps with so much of the book devoted to the main quartet that may be an inevitable consequence) and the main gay character is a lecherous and downright unlikable protagonist - hardly a plus for positive representation.

Yet nevertheless I couldn't help but enjoy the book. Silverberg is downright masterful with his prose and each sentence is a treat to read. There's just this indescribable quality I can't quite put my pulse on, and like with Dying Inside the prose is poetic yet functional without needless verbiage. Once the plot gets into the monastery we reach the inevitable conclusion of these characters' journeys, learning more about just what type of person they are and how committed they are to this quest and I simply could not stop reading until I had found out their end. I had a devil of a time reading this book, and I look forward to revisiting it further down the line and being absorbed by Silverberg's prose.

More Than Human

An astonishing work of science-fiction. Source: Here

“Love’s a different sort of thing, hot enough to make you flow into something, interflow, cool and anneal and be a weld stronger than what you started with.” 

There are certain books that truly stand the test of time, that not only seem not to age with the passing of years but still remain just as compelling as they were upon their original publication. So stands More Than Human as a titan of not just science fiction, but good fiction.

More Than Human was published in 1953 as a revised and expanded version of the previously published novella Baby is Three, adjacent to two new sections written for the novel ("The Fabulous Idiot" and "Morality"). The story concerns a group of individuals and outcasts from society who possess extraordinary abilities and come together to form a being greater than the sum of its parts; "Homo gestalt", the next stage of human evolution. They include:

• Lone - the "Idiot", a  25 year old man with the telepathic ability to make people do what he wants them to. He is the "head" of the gestalt, directing the whole collective.
• Janie - an eight-year old with the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. She is the "body" of the gestalt, linking the disparate pieces together and ensuring communication is fluid.
• Bonnie and Beanie - two black twins who are able to teleport. They form the "hands" of the gestalt, able to go anywhere they are directed.
• Baby - a strange malformed infant who acts as a supercomputer, his advanced mental capacity allowing him to solve any problem put to him.

They form the original gestalt in Part 1 ("The Fabulous Idiot"). Gerry Thompson, a street urchin with sociopathic tendencies becomes the new "head" of the gestalt from Part 2 onwards, while Hip Barrows is the man who journeys from nearly dying in prison to giving the gestalt a new lease of life. Such a colourful and varied cast of characters kept me engaged and willing to read on, and it was particularly refreshing to see minority and female characters play such an active role in events for a book written in 1953.

If there is any detail that makes this book stand out to me even now, it has to be the prose. Sturgeon's writing is immediately electric and memorable:

"It was spring, the part of spring where the bursting is done, the held-in pressures of desiccated sap-veins and gum-sealed buds are gone, and all the world’s in a rush to be beautiful."

"The idiot lived in a black and gray world, punctuated by the white lightning of hunger and the

nickering of fear. His clothes were old and many-windowed. "

There is a lyricism to the writing that is seldom seen in S.F., and the fact that the book hasn't aged a day since its publication is a testament to the strength of Sturgeon's writing. More Than Human explores question of love, isolation, being part of a greater whole, individual identity and how best fit into and serve society - there are no easy answers given but the ending should leave readers with plenty to mull over.

Yeah, the process of evolution as depicted in the novel is hardly accurate, but to nitpick it is to miss the point of the book entirely. Sturgeon posits what might happen should evolution advance mental faculties - it is notable that our main characters' powers are all psionic in some form or other - and the use of a "soft" science like psychology doesn't make the book any less scientific. Science fiction has always examined how humanity and the definition of humanity might change with the passing of time or with the introduction of new scientific advances. Homo gestalt may indeed be more than human but does that mean it is fully divorced from its roots? Perhaps not.