Preternatural

Preternatural #1

by Margaret Wander Bonanno

Struggling science fiction writer Karen Guerreri believes that the alien jellyfish in her current work is trying to communicate with her, and she must figure out whether she created the aliens, or they invented her. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Contemporary, Fiction, Aliens

314 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1997

About the author

Margaret Wander Bonanno was an American science fiction writer, ghost writer and small press publisher. She was born in New York City. She wrote seven Star Trek novels, several science fiction novels set in her own worlds, including The Others, a collaborative novel with Nichelle Nichols, a biography, and other works.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Karen Rohmer Guerreri is writing an SF novel -- working title,"Preternatural" -- by taking dictation from telepathic ET jellyfish in her head. "Talking jellyfish!" sneers her soon-to-be ex-husband Ray. "You'll never sell this!"

Ray's a jerk, but he's understandably upset -- he's been seeing jellyfish too. As have most of the characters in the book. It's not the sort of thing you, um, share with family & friends...

More plot summary than this really isn't going to help -- think "Wine of the Dreamers" meets Phillip K Dick, with all *kinds* of genre, literary and TV/cinematic references and in-jokes (I'm pretty dense about picking these up -- you'll likely catch more than I did). In the world of Academic Lit. this is "self-referential deconstruction" and a Big Deal --

-- but in plain language it's an astonishing juggling act. Round and round, up & down they go: autobiography, the writer's craft, how your kids grew up while you weren't looking, Trekkie fangirl turns pro, midlist writer goes to SF conventions, Hollywood business deals ("trust me"), exposition by transposing characters to alternate timelines(!), crystal healing, bilingual puns (the aliens' Linnean name is S. oteri: sound it out & groan...), a Capt. Kirkish actor who can't get it up & blames the jellyfish...

My full review (1999) : https://www.sfsite.com/02a/pret50.htm
Very likely the best SF novel you've never heard of. Full 5 stars! Definitely worth hunting down a copy. Author, sadly, is deceased. Kindle copy is $5.

I have no idea why Preternatural has attracted so little attention. This is a remarkable book. Don't miss it. Trust me.

[Eric]

This is a reading group pick. As is the case with so many books, I would not have picked this one up on my own. One of the great things about reading groups is that is allows you to stretch out and find other books in this way.

I tried. I did. More than once. I've not been able to get past the second chapter. I am missing something - and the menstrual cycle bit in there did not help me relate. The scramble of view points just didn't work.

Filing this one under DNF and moving on.

[Douglas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this book up solely because I liked the author's Star Trek books. This book is...different. It's weird and oddly written. I'm not sure who I would recommend this book for or even how to describe it, really. It's different, probably in good way, but I won't swear to that.

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are some quite funny parts in this book, equally there is some lameness and misplaced cheese, giving the author a chance rating of successful humour. Essentially unless there was a gigantic meta-in-joke I was missing reading this the book only earns a single star.

Sure there is a fair dose of originality in the frenetic pace and jaded Hollywood characters, but in the end I found myself relatively unattached to characters, world or even punchline.

Am I allowed to say I suspect this book is just a victim of the 90's? (Oh no I just noticed sequels as I searched this book to place my review ;(

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bonanno is an interesting writer...just not interesting to me. Yes, this book is VERY ambitious, but I also find it pretty self-indulgent. Also, I don't relate to any of the characters...her writing style lends itself better to a female audience, I think.