Special Circumstances

Celestial Matters by Richard Garfinkle

A successful combination of an alternative history with hard sf ideas, in particular a vividly detailed invented cosmology makes this a remarkable first novel for Richard Garfinkle.

The novel begins in the 935th year since the founding of the Delian League (should be about 500 AD). In this novel, Alexander the Great managed to keep his empire united and he did not turn back at India but kept going until he met with the Middle Kingdom. As the novel begins, there are two superpowers in the world: the Delian League, which consists of Persia, India and the rest of Europe united under the banner of Athens and Sparta and the Middle Kingdom which rules over the Far East and which has established colonies in North and South America.

The one thing that makes this particular alternative history remarkable is the notion that Aristotle's Laws of Physics are exactly right. All of them: so the Earth is stationary at the center of the universe and all the celestial objects rotate about the earth on their own individual "crystalline spheres". Furthermore, the Chinese notions regarding Chi and the functioning of universe is also exactly correct. These rival scientific notions of the universe co-exist in this novel but the science of each side is mysterious to the other. The novel is set in this convoluted cosmology and the success of this book is that it makes it come alive in your mind.

The plot of the novel involves Project Sunthief, the Greek plan to steal a bit of sun's fire itself to use as a weapon against the Middle Kingdom. The essence of a star extracted from the Sun is the fifth element (the quintessence) which is distinct from four elements: earth, wind, air and fire. The fifth element will be the secret weapon the Delian League can use to turn the tide in the long-running cold war against the Middle Kingdom. The head of the project is a Spartan, Aias. His team includes his second-in-command the Persian, Mihradarius and his science officer, the Indian, Ramanojon (sic) along with his navigator, another Spartan, Kleon and his bodyguard, the Stoic, Captain Yellow Hare. The novel follows their trip to the Sun on the airship "Chandra's Tear" with the constant danger of Chinese sabotage and the knowledge that one of the crew is a traitor.

The end result is a rare novel that might appeal equally to fantasy and hard-sf readers. There are some similarities between this alternate history and one published years later: "The Years of Rice and Salt" by Kim Stanley Robinson, but while they both come up with somewhat similar geopolitical settings, each novel speculates about very different outcomes.

%T Celestial Matters
%A Richard Garfinkle
%I Tor Books
%D 1996
%G ISBN: 0312859341 (hc)
%P 348
%K science-fiction

Review written: 2001/02/20