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Marcher: The Author's Preferred Text
Marcher is a stunning novel of alternative reality science fiction from Arthur C Clarke Award and Edge Hill Prize winning author Chris Beckett.
Published for the first time in the UK this, the NewCon Press edition, represents the author’s preferred text, extensively revised and rewritten from the book’s original release in 2009.
Charles Bowen is an immigration officer with a difference: the migrants he deals with don’t come from other countries but from other universes. Known as shifters, they materialize from parallel timelines, bringing with them a mysterious drug called slip which breaks down the boundary between what is and what might have been, and offers the desperate and the dispossessed the tantalizing possibility of escape.
Summoned to investigate a case at the Thurston Meadows Social Inclusion Zone, Bowen struggles to keep track of his place in the world and to uphold the values of the system he has fought so long to maintain…
“With its twin themes of boundaries and mirrors, and the dizzying effect of these multiple views of the same events, Marcher… reflect better than any other SF work extant the true complexity of alternate universes.” – Suite 101
Published for the first time in the UK this, the NewCon Press edition, represents the author’s preferred text, extensively revised and rewritten from the book’s original release in 2009.
Charles Bowen is an immigration officer with a difference: the migrants he deals with don’t come from other countries but from other universes. Known as shifters, they materialize from parallel timelines, bringing with them a mysterious drug called slip which breaks down the boundary between what is and what might have been, and offers the desperate and the dispossessed the tantalizing possibility of escape.
Summoned to investigate a case at the Thurston Meadows Social Inclusion Zone, Bowen struggles to keep track of his place in the world and to uphold the values of the system he has fought so long to maintain…
“With its twin themes of boundaries and mirrors, and the dizzying effect of these multiple views of the same events, Marcher… reflect better than any other SF work extant the true complexity of alternate universes.” – Suite 101
240 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2009
4 people are currently reading
172 people want to read
About the author
Chris Beckett
106 books349 followersChris Beckett is a British social worker, university lecturer, and science fiction author.
Beckett was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Bryanston School in Dorset, England. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Bristol (1977), a CQSW from the University of Wales (1981), a Diploma in Advanced Social Work from Goldsmiths College, University of London (1977), and an MA in English Studies from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2005).
He has been a senior lecturer in social work at APU since 2000. He was a social worker for eight years and the manager of a children and families social work team for ten years. Beckett has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.
Beckett began writing SF short stories in 2005. His first SF novel, The Holy Machine, was published in 2007. He published his second novel in 2009, Marcher, based on a short story of the same name.
Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time..." Michael Levy of Strange Horizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures." Tony Ballantyne wrote in Interzone: "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."
His latest novel, Dark Eden, was hailed by Stuart Kelly of The Guardian as "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".
Dark Eden was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel.
On 27 March 2013 it was announced that Julian Pavia at Broadway Books, part of the Crown Publishing Group, had acquired the US rights to Dark Eden and Gela's Ring from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management and Vanessa Kerr, Rights Director at Grove Atlantic in London, for a high five-figure sum (in US dollars).
Beckett comments on his official website: "Although I always wanted to be a writer, I did not deliberately set out to be a science fiction writer in particular. My stories are usually about my own life, things I see happening around me and things I struggle to make sense of. But, for some reason, they always end up being science fiction. I like the freedom it gives me to invent things and play with ideas. (If you going to make up the characters, why not make up the world as well?) It’s what works for me."
Beckett was educated at the Dragon School in Oxford and Bryanston School in Dorset, England. He holds a BSc (Honours) in Psychology from the University of Bristol (1977), a CQSW from the University of Wales (1981), a Diploma in Advanced Social Work from Goldsmiths College, University of London (1977), and an MA in English Studies from Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge (2005).
He has been a senior lecturer in social work at APU since 2000. He was a social worker for eight years and the manager of a children and families social work team for ten years. Beckett has authored or co-authored several textbooks and scholarly articles on social work.
Beckett began writing SF short stories in 2005. His first SF novel, The Holy Machine, was published in 2007. He published his second novel in 2009, Marcher, based on a short story of the same name.
Paul Di Filippo reviewed The Holy Machine for Asimov's, calling it "One of the most accomplished novel debuts to attract my attention in some time..." Michael Levy of Strange Horizons called it "a beautifully written and deeply thoughtful tale about a would-be scientific utopia that has been bent sadly out of shape by both external and internal pressures." Tony Ballantyne wrote in Interzone: "Let’s waste no time: this book is incredible."
His latest novel, Dark Eden, was hailed by Stuart Kelly of The Guardian as "a superior piece of the theologically nuanced science fiction".
Dark Eden was shortlisted for the 2012 BSFA Award for Best Novel.
On 27 March 2013 it was announced that Julian Pavia at Broadway Books, part of the Crown Publishing Group, had acquired the US rights to Dark Eden and Gela's Ring from Michael Carlisle at Inkwell Management and Vanessa Kerr, Rights Director at Grove Atlantic in London, for a high five-figure sum (in US dollars).
Beckett comments on his official website: "Although I always wanted to be a writer, I did not deliberately set out to be a science fiction writer in particular. My stories are usually about my own life, things I see happening around me and things I struggle to make sense of. But, for some reason, they always end up being science fiction. I like the freedom it gives me to invent things and play with ideas. (If you going to make up the characters, why not make up the world as well?) It’s what works for me."
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
October 30, 2014
I really enjoyed this. The author seems to have a good understanding of the truth behind whatever socioeconomic spin is political to use, as well as the long-term issues for both welfare recipients and social workers. (Just checked: yep, he's a qualified social worker with actual experience in the field. It shows.)
We're not hit over the head or drowned with scientific information, nor is there an infodump about the alternate reality (or realities) involved. In short, it feels very much like we're experiencing the story through the eyes of a fairly normal man with a couple of issues of his own, a man who's trying to find his own path through some murky ethics and who recognises the boundaries.
After turning the last page I immediately handed it to someone else to read, and I expect it'll be finished (again) before I have to return it.
We're not hit over the head or drowned with scientific information, nor is there an infodump about the alternate reality (or realities) involved. In short, it feels very much like we're experiencing the story through the eyes of a fairly normal man with a couple of issues of his own, a man who's trying to find his own path through some murky ethics and who recognises the boundaries.
After turning the last page I immediately handed it to someone else to read, and I expect it'll be finished (again) before I have to return it.
December 9, 2009
this is the second of beckett's novels that i have read. a fairly unknown, i suspect, british science fiction writer, i had read a few of his short stories in collections before ever reading one of his novels. marcher is based on a couple of the short stories, early chunks being very much familiar from that material.
set in an alternative earth in 2005, charles bowen is an immigration officer, but not of britain's national boundaries, rather he processes "shifters". one theory is that the universe is like the world tree, for every possible event a new world branches out from the tree, a multiverse kind of deal. shifters swallow a pill and soon find themselves shifting from one version of the world to another. the pills have all kinds of side effects, and the shifters have a variety of impacts on the worlds they turn up.
continuing the theme of norse mythology, there are a group of shifters who follow the cult of dunner, thunder god. they go into the ghettoes and stir up the poor against the rich and cause trouble. as the cult's actions escalate charles finds himself drawn into the heart of events, conflicted as to what the best way forward is, but convinced that he has more experience and understanding of what is involved than his bureaucratic supervisors.
i enjoyed marcher more than i had holy machine, which was a little disappointing. but in both novels beckett is good at establishing interesting ideas and working them through. the book is mixed, given that one might pick holes in some of the cult's logic, but then cult's aren't necessarily supposed to make sense. with marcher beckett keeps the flow going, adds curious details, and never becomes the obvious novel it could, being sufficiently surprising in its build up and conclusion.
set in an alternative earth in 2005, charles bowen is an immigration officer, but not of britain's national boundaries, rather he processes "shifters". one theory is that the universe is like the world tree, for every possible event a new world branches out from the tree, a multiverse kind of deal. shifters swallow a pill and soon find themselves shifting from one version of the world to another. the pills have all kinds of side effects, and the shifters have a variety of impacts on the worlds they turn up.
continuing the theme of norse mythology, there are a group of shifters who follow the cult of dunner, thunder god. they go into the ghettoes and stir up the poor against the rich and cause trouble. as the cult's actions escalate charles finds himself drawn into the heart of events, conflicted as to what the best way forward is, but convinced that he has more experience and understanding of what is involved than his bureaucratic supervisors.
i enjoyed marcher more than i had holy machine, which was a little disappointing. but in both novels beckett is good at establishing interesting ideas and working them through. the book is mixed, given that one might pick holes in some of the cult's logic, but then cult's aren't necessarily supposed to make sense. with marcher beckett keeps the flow going, adds curious details, and never becomes the obvious novel it could, being sufficiently surprising in its build up and conclusion.
April 25, 2010
This was a strange book for me - for quite some time I didn't know if I liked it, but I felt I had to finish it. The book paints a pretty grim future which just seems to be too close to possible... The underbelly of society, the unemployed and poor are not left to their own devices, but concentrated in "inclusion zones", leaving the middle class (and the rich, of course) in relative safety (no drugs, less criminality and, most important, they don't have to see poverty. The main character is an immigration officer, but not of the kind that tries to keep refugees out, but instead of a special branch that deals with travellers from other dimensions, parallel earths which developed differently. Some of these travelers try to bring about some kind of nordic myth influenced, superioriry oriented society with pretty violent means.
So the backstory or worldbuilding is interesting, the plot moves along nicely, the characterazations are well done - you do get to know these people and their motivations. The problem for me was just that there weren't many characters I liked...
So the backstory or worldbuilding is interesting, the plot moves along nicely, the characterazations are well done - you do get to know these people and their motivations. The problem for me was just that there weren't many characters I liked...
Want to read
September 19, 2015This book is copy 48 of 100 copies signed and numbered by Chris Beckett.
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December 25, 2020Marcher is a parallel universes, or parallel Earths at least, story that has some interesting ideas, but unfortunately goes nowhere very new with them. The story takes place in England, at a place called Thurston Meadows Estate, where the unproductive members of society are kept isolated from the productive ones, given living quarters, sustenance and entertainment. Very few ever rise above their circumstances and leave this gilded ghetto.
Charles Bowen is an immigration officer, who began his career with the mundane task of working with your usual immigrants to Great Britain, like the Pakistanis and Somalis and so forth, but when a different type of illegal alien begins to show up, he moves to a new team, dedicated to catching those people from other timelines that use Slip, a mind and universe-altering drug, that moves them from a parallel world into the one he is sworn to guard.
Charles begins, however, to relate more strongly to the shifters than to his own coworkers and friends, and ultimately engages in some very risky behavior.
One interesting quote, from one of the social workers, Cyril, at his retirement party, speaking to the residents of Thurston Meadows :
"All you lot would be gathered together, that was the plan, and given a special status. All all us lot would work with you and help you organize your lives; social services and health and police and everyone, all working together as a team. We would sort out your problems and get you back into the economy again...And suddenly one day it came to me! We're supposed to keep on battling but we're not supposed to win because the government actually needs you lot to be out of work. That's how they keep some discipline in the labor force."
Gives one pause, doesn't it?
Beckett crafts a well-told tale, but if you've been reading SF as long as I have, you'll not find any new slant on things, most likely.
Charles Bowen is an immigration officer, who began his career with the mundane task of working with your usual immigrants to Great Britain, like the Pakistanis and Somalis and so forth, but when a different type of illegal alien begins to show up, he moves to a new team, dedicated to catching those people from other timelines that use Slip, a mind and universe-altering drug, that moves them from a parallel world into the one he is sworn to guard.
Charles begins, however, to relate more strongly to the shifters than to his own coworkers and friends, and ultimately engages in some very risky behavior.
One interesting quote, from one of the social workers, Cyril, at his retirement party, speaking to the residents of Thurston Meadows :
"All you lot would be gathered together, that was the plan, and given a special status. All all us lot would work with you and help you organize your lives; social services and health and police and everyone, all working together as a team. We would sort out your problems and get you back into the economy again...And suddenly one day it came to me! We're supposed to keep on battling but we're not supposed to win because the government actually needs you lot to be out of work. That's how they keep some discipline in the labor force."
Gives one pause, doesn't it?
Beckett crafts a well-told tale, but if you've been reading SF as long as I have, you'll not find any new slant on things, most likely.
January 5, 2024
3 1/2
A very early novel by a writer who has grown enormously over the years - and yet obviously retains some same interests and questions. It's not the most fluid of reads, although it's not badly written - here also he has grown. It feels a bit like he used his life for this one, and mixed it up with a sf theme - that in itself is excellent, reminding everyone that sf elements are typically symbolic: an alien is a foreigner, the Other, the possibly excluded, which matches well here with the topic of social work. Good in itself, better when seen in the light of what was still to come under his pen.
A very early novel by a writer who has grown enormously over the years - and yet obviously retains some same interests and questions. It's not the most fluid of reads, although it's not badly written - here also he has grown. It feels a bit like he used his life for this one, and mixed it up with a sf theme - that in itself is excellent, reminding everyone that sf elements are typically symbolic: an alien is a foreigner, the Other, the possibly excluded, which matches well here with the topic of social work. Good in itself, better when seen in the light of what was still to come under his pen.
January 15, 2018
Truly an interesting book! Beckett obviously has a social worker background, and there are many subtle critiques in here, but the overall theme is much more, leaning into existentialism. 'Shifters' are people who transfer into alternative universes/timelines and almost always are at the bottom of the social ladder. While the idea of parallel universes is not unique, Beckett's treatment of them is. Good character development and the text flows nicely. I did not expect such a good read.
October 21, 2024
Quick, easy, read.
November 19, 2010
Despite finding it a bit hard to start, I tremendously enjoyed this novel -- I would recommend not reading the extract at the beginning of the book. The italicised prologue is a bit heavy too, but provides some context and once you get through it the story gets interesting already, following Charles, an immigration officer dealing with "shifters", people using a drug to move between the worlds, or more accurately alternative timeline our world could have taken. People who have enjoyed Beckett's short stories will recognise the world and happily notice echoes of other stories (I'd recommend reading The Turing Test first, even though you don't need to!).
There's a social comment thread of the story that can't be separated from the main plot, and sometimes doesn't feel so far from home. In this world the poor and unemployed are confined to special "inclusion zones" where they get a chance to "pull themselves together" and benefit from social welfare in the meantime, and as we explore these places and meet the social workers who work in them, we get to see the less-than-ideal reality of this social system's implementation. The tension begins when shifters start appearing in the inclusion zones and hiding there before committing horrible crimes, and shifting away before facing the consequences.
The book is littered with many distracting spelling mistakes, words doubled, "to" instead of "two" and so on. Grr. Bad editing job. Besides that annoyance, the story is fantastic, especially as it picks up when the strange crimes start happening and we follow some events from a shifter's point of view. I read in the bus and was starting to look forward to traffic jams to have more time to read, and eventually had to stay home and get to the resolution of all this! This is very entertaining science-fiction, combined with an interesting look at society.
There's a social comment thread of the story that can't be separated from the main plot, and sometimes doesn't feel so far from home. In this world the poor and unemployed are confined to special "inclusion zones" where they get a chance to "pull themselves together" and benefit from social welfare in the meantime, and as we explore these places and meet the social workers who work in them, we get to see the less-than-ideal reality of this social system's implementation. The tension begins when shifters start appearing in the inclusion zones and hiding there before committing horrible crimes, and shifting away before facing the consequences.
The book is littered with many distracting spelling mistakes, words doubled, "to" instead of "two" and so on. Grr. Bad editing job. Besides that annoyance, the story is fantastic, especially as it picks up when the strange crimes start happening and we follow some events from a shifter's point of view. I read in the bus and was starting to look forward to traffic jams to have more time to read, and eventually had to stay home and get to the resolution of all this! This is very entertaining science-fiction, combined with an interesting look at society.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 21, 2015
"When people were happy time didn't matter. You could almost define happiness that way. It was when things were hard that people needed the faith that tied one minute to the next, like one of those human chains that rescuers make to get people out of floods or burning buildings. And shifters broke that faith."
I really got into this. The atmosphere was greatly British, the concept novel, the whole mirror thing very neat and meaningful and the congruity of disenfranchised youth versus a welfare state corrupted beyond measure was totally gripping. Also, the quote above on faith; I suppose time is the one constant even the most ardent curmudgeonly atheist, or indeed even an equally scientifically-minded apatheist, would not deny.
Sadly, the end of the story totally let the work down, I think; unless there are further happenings to read about there wasn't really a satisfactory denouement to get ones teeth into and the ending fell a little flat as a consequence. Still, I totally enjoyed the majority of the book.
I really got into this. The atmosphere was greatly British, the concept novel, the whole mirror thing very neat and meaningful and the congruity of disenfranchised youth versus a welfare state corrupted beyond measure was totally gripping. Also, the quote above on faith; I suppose time is the one constant even the most ardent curmudgeonly atheist, or indeed even an equally scientifically-minded apatheist, would not deny.
Sadly, the end of the story totally let the work down, I think; unless there are further happenings to read about there wasn't really a satisfactory denouement to get ones teeth into and the ending fell a little flat as a consequence. Still, I totally enjoyed the majority of the book.
March 19, 2010
I enjoyed this novel, but had such high hopes after reading 'the Holy Machine' that I found it to be a bit of a let down. There was plenty of enthusiasm and I enjoyed that half of it (or more) was a knowledgeable depiction of social workers, but numerous plot holes and some obvious filler pages killed it for me. There was some cool hooks and action thrown in, which helped me get through Marcher unscathed. I think a second read down the line will put force me to swing one way for another, but for now I consider it a mediocre showing.
PS: alternate realities and nordic mythology. Spoiler free enough?
PS: alternate realities and nordic mythology. Spoiler free enough?
December 29, 2015
awesome modern sci fi. really cool!!
from the blog: Very cool sci fi that I picked up on a whim at the library. A little further ahead in a grimier version of our modern world, where the immigration problem has become “shifters”, people who take a mysterious drug called “slip” that slips or shifts them into other, parallel universes. Charles is one of the immigration officers involved. Lots of cool thoughts about identity and choices and time and linearity. Very cool!
from the blog: Very cool sci fi that I picked up on a whim at the library. A little further ahead in a grimier version of our modern world, where the immigration problem has become “shifters”, people who take a mysterious drug called “slip” that slips or shifts them into other, parallel universes. Charles is one of the immigration officers involved. Lots of cool thoughts about identity and choices and time and linearity. Very cool!
January 22, 2015
Excellent and fun read. The Novel springs from a number of shortr stories being linked into a novel. the Author then got the chance later to come up with this edition and it was very much worth the wait in so far as the fininshed book now is terrific funwitha social concience some what reminicient of JK Rowling's Casual Vacancy both novels well worht reading.
January 6, 2016
I was obviously going to be hooked after realising from the first page that this was set largely in Bristol. Whilst I enjoyed it, it did feel a bit confused though that might have been deliberate. Sadly the end felt a bit flat. Kind of split between wanting to know more whilst simultaneously knowing this was a deliberately vague ending.
August 29, 2019
"It's not you, Science Fiction, it's me. Literature was my first love, and, you know, we've decided to give it another go. It's been fun but..." Science Fiction shrugs with colossal indifference.
December 12, 2009
OK. A plot that makes me think.
April 1, 2013
I know I have read this book. I found it on my book shelf just now. I have no memory of what it was really about. Hence, didn't leave any lasting impression.
April 8, 2015
A book made up from parts - but in the latest version I read succeeds pretty well. Nearly a 4 star book.
January 24, 2019
Re-read, Jan '19. Or more accurately, read this edition, which is a vast improvement on the typo-ridden first press.
August 1, 2015
An interesting concept. I just grabbed this for a read at the beach and out was quite good.
September 15, 2015
Serendipitously, this book also centres on Bristol. I really enjoyed this until the ending, but a great set up and intriguing style throughout.
October 24, 2016
Some good concepts but ultimately a little insubstantial. The bones here of a much more fulfilling story but not followed through, unlike the authors other work Dark Eden.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews