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A Different Light
The artist Jimson Alleca has a simple choice: either he can remain restlessly on his home world, receiving constant medical treatment, and live out a comparatively normal life; or he can do what he desires and travel the galaxy, knowing that he will be dead in a year. When he meets Leiko, a starship crewmember, his mind is made up, and he follows her to Nexus, centre of galactic commerce. There he meets again his former lover Russell, now a starship captain, and both Jimson and Leiko are enlisted as crew on a dangerous and illegal voyage. Russell has been hired by a wealthy art collector to travel to the distant world Demea and to steal one of the fabulous crystal masks which are made there. It is a journey which confronts them with immense problems and perils - and one which turns into a race against time for Jimson.
Elizabeth Lynn is one of America's most promising new sf authors, a nominee for the John W Campbell Award as the best young writer of 1977. A Different Light, her first novel, is an absorbing tale of love and high adventure.
Elizabeth Lynn is one of America's most promising new sf authors, a nominee for the John W Campbell Award as the best young writer of 1977. A Different Light, her first novel, is an absorbing tale of love and high adventure.
175 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1978
19 people are currently reading
545 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth A. Lynn
53 books95 followersElizabeth A. Lynn is a US writer most known for fantasy and to a lesser extent science fiction. She is particularly known for being one of the first writers in science fiction or fantasy to introduce gay and lesbian characters; in honor of Lynn, the LGBT bookstore "A Different Light" took its name from her novel.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 49 reviews
June 30, 2019
Hm … how to rate this?
When I'm impartially honest it isn't much of a story. So for readers looking for a compelling SF story this book probably isn't the right one.
Yet on a personal level it meant so much to me when I first read it at the age of 15. I wanted to become an artist, I already lived for 4 years with the omnipresent shadow of cancer and discovering love and sexuality, a love that didn't care for gender seemed the only sensible thing to me. So reading this book which tackles all three of these issues was a game changer for me. I kept quoting it to anybody who wanted to hear it (and a lot of folks who certainly didn't want to hear it).
Nowadays the topics in this book are rather common in SFF novels, but back then Elizabeth A. Lynn was among the very rare ones and therefore "A Different Light" became immensely important to me.
When I read it now I see the shortcomings both in writing as in plotting, so it would turn out a 3 stars for that. But the 4th star is for everything this book meant to me and for the bittersweet, melancholic journey of an artist who chooses the prospect of death over stagnation.
When I'm impartially honest it isn't much of a story. So for readers looking for a compelling SF story this book probably isn't the right one.
Yet on a personal level it meant so much to me when I first read it at the age of 15. I wanted to become an artist, I already lived for 4 years with the omnipresent shadow of cancer and discovering love and sexuality, a love that didn't care for gender seemed the only sensible thing to me. So reading this book which tackles all three of these issues was a game changer for me. I kept quoting it to anybody who wanted to hear it (and a lot of folks who certainly didn't want to hear it).
Nowadays the topics in this book are rather common in SFF novels, but back then Elizabeth A. Lynn was among the very rare ones and therefore "A Different Light" became immensely important to me.
When I read it now I see the shortcomings both in writing as in plotting, so it would turn out a 3 stars for that. But the 4th star is for everything this book meant to me and for the bittersweet, melancholic journey of an artist who chooses the prospect of death over stagnation.
May 31, 2009
If I told you the plot of this book it would sound like a space opera, or possibly a romance, but it doesn't entirely have the feeling of either. It's sort of noir, and it's sort of...langorous. The protagonist is a visual artist, and Lynn pulls it off so I got a pretty clear picture in my mind of what he was seeing and depicting.
I really liked that the main characters were bisexual and non-monogamous and that no big deal was made out of this -- it was just how they behaved naturally. I really liked that the relationships among the main characters were emotionally complex and that the characters gave each other emotional space.
Yes, I mostly read this book for the atmosphere and relationships, and I didn't read carefully enough to comment critically on the science or the plotting.
I really liked that the main characters were bisexual and non-monogamous and that no big deal was made out of this -- it was just how they behaved naturally. I really liked that the relationships among the main characters were emotionally complex and that the characters gave each other emotional space.
Yes, I mostly read this book for the atmosphere and relationships, and I didn't read carefully enough to comment critically on the science or the plotting.
April 27, 2013
Second book for the readathon!
This isn't really a science fiction story that's about the science. It's about what science can give us -- and what it can't. The main character, Jimson, had cancer, which is entirely controllable as long as he stays on his own planet. Which is fine for some time, but his art is stagnating, and he wants to see new worlds, see things in a literally different light, the light of other suns. And this book is about his journey, the people he meets. There is a plot in the background, but compared to -- say -- Iain M. Banks' work, it's almost incidental. What matters are the people brought into contact with each other, and what they take away from each other.
It's almost a quiet little story: the action doesn't ring as loudly as the awkward silences, the quiet moments of pain.
This isn't really a science fiction story that's about the science. It's about what science can give us -- and what it can't. The main character, Jimson, had cancer, which is entirely controllable as long as he stays on his own planet. Which is fine for some time, but his art is stagnating, and he wants to see new worlds, see things in a literally different light, the light of other suns. And this book is about his journey, the people he meets. There is a plot in the background, but compared to -- say -- Iain M. Banks' work, it's almost incidental. What matters are the people brought into contact with each other, and what they take away from each other.
It's almost a quiet little story: the action doesn't ring as loudly as the awkward silences, the quiet moments of pain.
February 6, 2012
As an illustrator, I'm sorry to report the author doesn't seem to understand the artist's experience, or what it takes to be an artist. There are many misleading premises about "patterns in the mind" that artists supposedly see. That's just not true -- quite the opposite. Drawing is the ability to see without the symbolic shorthand our brains normally use. However this is only a vehicle to move the story along at one point, and probably not that crucial a matter.
The characters are likeable and colorful except for the main character who must have been left vague on purpose so the reader can relate to him. It is more of a character driven story than a "sense of wonder" story, though there are a few moments that flirt with wonder in a low key sort of way. I am glad science fiction has made itself respectable by becoming more artistic and character driven, but if I wanted strictly that I could just read mainstream and be done with it. I like a little more gosh-wow in my science fiction.
The characters are likeable and colorful except for the main character who must have been left vague on purpose so the reader can relate to him. It is more of a character driven story than a "sense of wonder" story, though there are a few moments that flirt with wonder in a low key sort of way. I am glad science fiction has made itself respectable by becoming more artistic and character driven, but if I wanted strictly that I could just read mainstream and be done with it. I like a little more gosh-wow in my science fiction.
June 28, 2022
"Tears were running down Russell's face, in the furrows that anguish was scoring there. He sat down on the edge of the bed and bowed his head into his hands, crying silently, body shaking.
"How long will it take?" Jimson asked.
"Till there is nothing left," Goryn said quietly.
I will do it, Jimson thought. He was almost content. He stroked Russell's hair.
Ysao spoke for him. "Goryn, he is ready for you now."
"How long will it take?" Jimson asked.
"Till there is nothing left," Goryn said quietly.
I will do it, Jimson thought. He was almost content. He stroked Russell's hair.
Ysao spoke for him. "Goryn, he is ready for you now."
December 16, 2009
In a distant future, Jimson, a celebrated but dying artist, and Russell, a starcaptain, former lovers, meet again after a 14 year hiatus. After experiencing adventure on another planet and a strange death that's not death, they come together again for a hopeful future.
It is nice to read books in which who you love is irrelevant to the story.
It is nice to read books in which who you love is irrelevant to the story.
March 8, 2013
In an age when disease has been all but eradicated, Jimson has cancer. If he stays on New Terrian, it can be treated; if he makes a faster-than-light jump through the Hype, he can visit new worlds and rediscover old lovers, but the cancer will metastasize and kill him. A Different Light is a looseknit travelogue composed of small, vivid details rendered in Lynn's deceptively terse style, seemingly undirected but with a distinct focus: the nature of one man's identity as formed by his relationships, his body, his mind, and his choices--the persistence of self for a man whose self is especially limited by the standards of his society. It's an uneven effort: forgettable plot, Lynn's brevity fails to invoke Jimson's identity as artist, the worldbuilding is both patchy and heavy-handed; it's also a dense and intensely thoughtful little book. Lynn writes racial and sexual diversity with grace; Jimson's illness is not so deftly handled, but his mortality and social isolation is convincing--and so while his attempts to achieve persistence are often disposable, the desire which motivates them resonates. There are stronger and more successful books, and while this has many of Lynn's trademarks it is not her best, but A Different Light lingered with me, if more for the thoughts it has than the actions it commits, and in that regard I consider it a success and recommend it.
February 18, 2015
Elizabeth Lynn's 1978 novel A Different Light is science fictional in form and content, but it is at its core a novel about the artistic vision.
Jimson Alleca is one of the great artists of his time. His work is shown and sold across the known galaxy, but he is trapped on his home planet. In a future where almost all physical illness is treatable and people can live for hundreds of years, Jimson is dying from a rare incurable cancer - one that will almost certainly mutate and kill him even faster if he tries to travel in hyperspace ("the Hype").
Eventually his yearning to see and create art in the light of a different sun leads him to take that risk and to make a new, if temporary, home for himself on Nexus - where he is also reunited with his former lover, Russell, now a starcaptain known as Pirate. Russell had been hired by a wealthy art collector to traverse a dangerous section of the Hype and steal an artifact from a world unlisted on any starmap. Jimson decides to go with him and his crew, even though the adventure will kill him.
Lynn's ability to put visual art and the sight that inspires it into words is remarkable, and the story she tells about art, love, longing and identity is a powerful one.
Jimson Alleca is one of the great artists of his time. His work is shown and sold across the known galaxy, but he is trapped on his home planet. In a future where almost all physical illness is treatable and people can live for hundreds of years, Jimson is dying from a rare incurable cancer - one that will almost certainly mutate and kill him even faster if he tries to travel in hyperspace ("the Hype").
Eventually his yearning to see and create art in the light of a different sun leads him to take that risk and to make a new, if temporary, home for himself on Nexus - where he is also reunited with his former lover, Russell, now a starcaptain known as Pirate. Russell had been hired by a wealthy art collector to traverse a dangerous section of the Hype and steal an artifact from a world unlisted on any starmap. Jimson decides to go with him and his crew, even though the adventure will kill him.
Lynn's ability to put visual art and the sight that inspires it into words is remarkable, and the story she tells about art, love, longing and identity is a powerful one.
May 13, 2013
Prose is not something often commented or even complimented in the science fiction genre, but that’s exactly why you should read Elizabeth A. Lynn’s “A Different Light”. The story itself if very compelling, about a planet-bound artist who longs to see the stars, to see the titular “different light” from a new planet. Sending that artist into the dangers of space, including pirates, lovers, psychics, and alien planets, is exactly why this is such a wonderful read. At once lyrical, beautiful, and poignant, I loved every minute of this book, and re-read it often.
February 11, 2022
This is a short book, but it's packed full of character and world building. So much so that it often feels hard to know what this book is actually about. Multiple times I thought I had a handle on where the plot was going, but then it changed. Not so much a wild veering, but a course correction, and it felt like something else.
It's a sci-fi setting but the plot is more a melancholy romance, people learning to live with hope and regret. I imagine for some people it will feel random, a hodgepodge of tropes and characteristics, but to me it came together in that disjointed kind of way that real people do.
It's a sci-fi setting but the plot is more a melancholy romance, people learning to live with hope and regret. I imagine for some people it will feel random, a hodgepodge of tropes and characteristics, but to me it came together in that disjointed kind of way that real people do.
December 14, 2019
I read a post that said this author was one of the first science fiction authors to have gay and lesbian characters in her stories, and I wanted to read how that went. This book, A Different Light, had been most recommended in that post, so I picked it up.
First, I'd like to say that I support any writing that portrays LGBTQ characters well, across genres and plots. It's great to have a story where the fact that characters are LGBTQ is not the focus point: they are characters with other traits, part of the plot, who happen to be LGBTQ. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good LGBTQ love story also, or a coming of age story. But for LGBTQ people to continue to gain acceptance in the real world, than fiction has to portray them as they live in the real world: like everyone else lives.
That said, this book does characterize the main characters as people first who just happen to be gay or lesbian (bisexual in some cases), and that was refreshing. Their sexuality is not forced, nor is it seen poorly by any other characters in the story, big or small. However, I struggled with many plot points in the story and had trouble not feeling something akin to disappointment and disgust with the two main male characters, Jimson and Russell.
Jimson seemed to have spent his whole life oscillating between feeling sorry for himself and pining after a man whose cowardice seemed to be the main cause of Jimson's self-pity. Russell, once we meet him, seems like a careless, cold, calculating individual who on at least two occasions in the story, physically hurts Jimson, his former lover, because Russell seems to have anger issues. One of these times, he seriously hurts Jimson while Jimson is sick, a fact Russell knew. These men spend the majority of the book pussy-footing around their memories of their old relationship. It takes a seemingly gratuitously emotional and violent event between Russell and Jimson to finally bring them physically together, though I felt like emotionally, they never reconnected, leading one to wonder if they had ever emotionally connected. Or was the emotional connection just a figment of Jimson's imagination, colored by the youth he was when he fell in love with Russell?
The other main characters were at points hard to connect with because we as readers had less history with them than the writer loosely describes the other characters having with them. Even the history that some characters have with each other does not always read well. For example,
There were many times in the book where dialogue seemed stilted, sometimes superfluous, and cumbersome. Events were introduced, sometimes without any lead up or clarity on why they even happened, like In some cases, we learn only later in the book why some things happen, which is common in fiction. But because some events that connect only later in the book are portrayed almost randomly, the reader is more likely, in the moment, to be frustrated, wondering why the event or little detail is even being played out. Example Some plot points remain (to me anyway) a complete mystery, like
At the end of the book, the reader is loosely connected to an over-arching theme of the main character wanting to be 1) useful and 2) remembered. This helped make the story seem a little less random and fluffy in its presentation of the tale it was trying to tell to readers.
Will I read another of this author's books? Yes...I would never judge her writing based on one book. Would I recommend this particular book to others? Not really!
First, I'd like to say that I support any writing that portrays LGBTQ characters well, across genres and plots. It's great to have a story where the fact that characters are LGBTQ is not the focus point: they are characters with other traits, part of the plot, who happen to be LGBTQ. Don't get me wrong - I enjoy a good LGBTQ love story also, or a coming of age story. But for LGBTQ people to continue to gain acceptance in the real world, than fiction has to portray them as they live in the real world: like everyone else lives.
That said, this book does characterize the main characters as people first who just happen to be gay or lesbian (bisexual in some cases), and that was refreshing. Their sexuality is not forced, nor is it seen poorly by any other characters in the story, big or small. However, I struggled with many plot points in the story and had trouble not feeling something akin to disappointment and disgust with the two main male characters, Jimson and Russell.
Jimson seemed to have spent his whole life oscillating between feeling sorry for himself and pining after a man whose cowardice seemed to be the main cause of Jimson's self-pity. Russell, once we meet him, seems like a careless, cold, calculating individual who on at least two occasions in the story, physically hurts Jimson, his former lover, because Russell seems to have anger issues. One of these times, he seriously hurts Jimson while Jimson is sick, a fact Russell knew. These men spend the majority of the book pussy-footing around their memories of their old relationship. It takes a seemingly gratuitously emotional and violent event between Russell and Jimson to finally bring them physically together, though I felt like emotionally, they never reconnected, leading one to wonder if they had ever emotionally connected. Or was the emotional connection just a figment of Jimson's imagination, colored by the youth he was when he fell in love with Russell?
The other main characters were at points hard to connect with because we as readers had less history with them than the writer loosely describes the other characters having with them. Even the history that some characters have with each other does not always read well. For example,
There were many times in the book where dialogue seemed stilted, sometimes superfluous, and cumbersome. Events were introduced, sometimes without any lead up or clarity on why they even happened, like In some cases, we learn only later in the book why some things happen, which is common in fiction. But because some events that connect only later in the book are portrayed almost randomly, the reader is more likely, in the moment, to be frustrated, wondering why the event or little detail is even being played out. Example Some plot points remain (to me anyway) a complete mystery, like
At the end of the book, the reader is loosely connected to an over-arching theme of the main character wanting to be 1) useful and 2) remembered. This helped make the story seem a little less random and fluffy in its presentation of the tale it was trying to tell to readers.
Will I read another of this author's books? Yes...I would never judge her writing based on one book. Would I recommend this particular book to others? Not really!
October 29, 2023
Stabiler Retro-Sc-Fi. Kann man an 1-2 Abenden lesen.
October 29, 2025
Great premise for a book, a man chooses to explore the stars and die of cancer then stay on New Terra, but this was full of bad storytelling
November 9, 2022
3.5
Interesting coming at this backwards, that is from the point of view of having read a Becky Chambers or a Simon Jimenez - A Different Light definitely fits into that vein of feel good, exploratory sci-fi where the exploration of human (and alien (and thus human)) emotions and feelings take precedent. Set on weird planets, spaceships, stations, and more all the pieces are sci-fi, but are all set back, in the background, the details unimportant. The story then is very relaxed, mundane, but touching.
This one is a bit odd, in that while it's clearly doing this 'not a story' thing, there's gesture and motion towards a typical space adventure, so you get the 'here's a cute emotional dialogue' alongside 'and here the heroes swashbuckle down to the alien planet...' - only a fraction of it, but it's an odd juxtaposition.
Lynn's also done something pretty cool in that the main character is an artist, but you get a good sense for his artistry (even though it's a visual medium) through the descriptions in the text. A hard thing to pull off.
Overall it's a weird one, a bit messy, and like it's trying a new thing each second chapter, but what it's trying is great, and is generally well done. Definitely worth a try if you're a fan of this style of thing, especially if, like me, you didn't know to think it went this far back.
Interesting coming at this backwards, that is from the point of view of having read a Becky Chambers or a Simon Jimenez - A Different Light definitely fits into that vein of feel good, exploratory sci-fi where the exploration of human (and alien (and thus human)) emotions and feelings take precedent. Set on weird planets, spaceships, stations, and more all the pieces are sci-fi, but are all set back, in the background, the details unimportant. The story then is very relaxed, mundane, but touching.
This one is a bit odd, in that while it's clearly doing this 'not a story' thing, there's gesture and motion towards a typical space adventure, so you get the 'here's a cute emotional dialogue' alongside 'and here the heroes swashbuckle down to the alien planet...' - only a fraction of it, but it's an odd juxtaposition.
Lynn's also done something pretty cool in that the main character is an artist, but you get a good sense for his artistry (even though it's a visual medium) through the descriptions in the text. A hard thing to pull off.
Overall it's a weird one, a bit messy, and like it's trying a new thing each second chapter, but what it's trying is great, and is generally well done. Definitely worth a try if you're a fan of this style of thing, especially if, like me, you didn't know to think it went this far back.
February 16, 2024
I love this book. I will always love this book. I read it for the first time when I was in high school. I can still remember what it felt like sitting in a student desk in a classroom when I first encountered one of the most memorable scenes for me. I love the characters with all their different strengths and weaknesses. It is very short, the writing is unadorned, and the plot is simple. This may not be the best book I have ever read, but it is the book that I can most easily imagine was written specifically for me. Note: for a while The Outsiders was the book that I felt like was written especially for me, and that book is unquestionably amazing, but I kind of "grew out of it" or at least grew out of rereading it on a regular basis. Don't get me wrong, I still love it, but I haven't reread The Outsiders from start to finish in decades. A Different Light I reread parts all the time and the whole thing every few years.
August 10, 2016
Ms Lynn's general writing skills are more than good: one page melts into the other and her style is always smooth; her phrasing is deceivingly simple, sometimes even lyrical. It is a writing made of small touches, light shades, always neat if not always moving.
The problem here lies with the story: hard as I tried, I could not get involved nor get to love her characters.
We have a love sick young artist, doomed by cancer to die early in a world where an intimidating science nearly always guarantees a healthy, long lasting life. This device, if a bit cerebral, could in itself be touching but, in this case, it left me cold.
I wanted to feel for the main hero, his lost lover being another man should have helped me identifying, but I simply never could.
It seems to me that Ms Lynn was absent minded while writing this story: while retaining her usual skill she was not and could not move.
The problem here lies with the story: hard as I tried, I could not get involved nor get to love her characters.
We have a love sick young artist, doomed by cancer to die early in a world where an intimidating science nearly always guarantees a healthy, long lasting life. This device, if a bit cerebral, could in itself be touching but, in this case, it left me cold.
I wanted to feel for the main hero, his lost lover being another man should have helped me identifying, but I simply never could.
It seems to me that Ms Lynn was absent minded while writing this story: while retaining her usual skill she was not and could not move.
March 23, 2013
SlashReaders: Well that was different after the last two books I read definitely heavy on the sci-fi aspect of it but it was a cute little book. While, fun there honestly wasn't a lot there either. The book has some nice touching moments but there were not a whole lot of them.
Overall, a 'Different Light' by Elizabeth A. Lynn was a cute, sweet and somewhat angsty book. There were a few moments where I wanted to smack a certain character--Russel--around but there usual is one of those. I would classify this book as good but not great. I think that the word I used above 'cute', is probably the best one.
If you are looking for something that is heavy on the sex, or anything like that... Go look elsewhere. If you're looking for a sci-fi book that happens to have characters in it who are interested in the same sex, then come on in. :)
Overall, a 'Different Light' by Elizabeth A. Lynn was a cute, sweet and somewhat angsty book. There were a few moments where I wanted to smack a certain character--Russel--around but there usual is one of those. I would classify this book as good but not great. I think that the word I used above 'cute', is probably the best one.
If you are looking for something that is heavy on the sex, or anything like that... Go look elsewhere. If you're looking for a sci-fi book that happens to have characters in it who are interested in the same sex, then come on in. :)
August 24, 2013
A wonderfully crafted tale of meandering in space, in and out of your head, about facing death, love and unfulfilled need. It left me wanting more -more of Jim and Russell, more of Ysao and Leiko, more of the whole universe Ms. Lynn teasingly describes in this story. Subtlety in fiction, especially when there's romance involved, is no mean feat, and in A Different Light she nails it.
Not to mention that the book features same-sex couples without making a big fuss or being weird about it. It is what it is -normal!- and the story rolls on. That is what I'm looking for when I say fiction with LGBT themes. And to think the book was published in 1979. Well done Ms. Lynn. Well done.
Maybe it's time to read the Chronicles of Tornor after all.
Not to mention that the book features same-sex couples without making a big fuss or being weird about it. It is what it is -normal!- and the story rolls on. That is what I'm looking for when I say fiction with LGBT themes. And to think the book was published in 1979. Well done Ms. Lynn. Well done.
Maybe it's time to read the Chronicles of Tornor after all.
May 28, 2020
Jimson has an incurable disease and a short lifespan. If he stays on Las Flores, he'd have twenty years. If he goes out a'traveling, he'll die in about a year. He chooses to travel. Part of it is to see new things and live before he dies, but part of it is to try to catch up with Russell, who left him 14 years ago. I have to say that I can't recommend this one, since the ending is wacky and things just happen in a lightly sketched-in way. To me it felt like an outline of a book. But your mileage may vary.
April 7, 2013
Really interesting read, about an artist with cancer going on one final adventure and broadening his experiences. The landscape of different planets and worlds, the technology, the people are really interesting and engaging. I'd put this book in the sf category with Ann Mccaffrey's The Ship Who Sang series. I really enjoyed both.
July 5, 2014
I've read this book so very many times since it was published in the late seventies and sold a ton of them from my store all through the eighties. Once again, always, forever - this is such a good novel for so many reasons. This time, amidst the inevitable sobbing, I noticed the pacing, especially the chapter transitions which are abrupt and no-nonsense and effective.
December 16, 2018
A fun, short romp with some thoughts on morality. A little undercut by the ending where Jim is still alive in someone else's head!
Elizabeth A. Lynn has such great world building, I want more.
The cover of my book is ridiculous, everyone's in ridiculous matching 70s jumpsuits.
Elizabeth A. Lynn has such great world building, I want more.
The cover of my book is ridiculous, everyone's in ridiculous matching 70s jumpsuits.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 15, 2023
science fiction pure et dure mais tr��s beau roman d'amour et d'amitiés dans le désespoir d'un corps malade qui se détruit et de la vision et la sensibilité de l'artiste peintre qui se réinvente par la réincarnation.
January 30, 2022
In terse, efficient prose, Elizabeth A. Lynn weaves a grim story of a frail artist’s last year of life, in a book that spans interstellar colonies, a lost civilization, mysterious relics that enhance telepathy, and two interwoven love stories. While not a literary stylist, Lynn excels in crafting imagery that is unique, emphatic and memorable. What starts as a bristly narrative of a doomed 30 year old quickly assumes the feel of a classic sci-fi “amazing story,” then transitions into an eerie thriller in the frozen darkness of space before blossoming into an unexpectedly beautiful ending.
Few authors who write about visual artists seem equipped in conveying the complex interplay of imagery, feeling and skill involved in art making. Given no two artists’ creative process are the same, so there’s no one right way to write about it, it’s still the case that most novels I’ve read about artists feel hollow and vague, lacking in specificity other than detailing technical details (the “how it’s done” of art). The constant cycle of immediate feedback between the hand’s movement, the mark it makes on a surface and the inner intention of the artist, the improvisational dance of searching for form and meaning by manipulating materials, and the sensual experience of the materials themselves are rarely included in novels about art (N. K. Jemisin’s “The City We Became,” a multilayered work of genius, being an exception; Heidi Cullinan’s “Antisocial,” at a different level, is another). Lynn’s is an exception, both in successfully communicating the fireworks-like explosiveness of emotion and thought we can get from looking at art (in Lynn’s case, Rembrandt’s “The Polish Rider”) but also in her main character’s art making.
Lynn, a World Fantasy Award winner for her 1979 book, “Watchtower,” was among the first sci-fi/fantasy writers to include same-sex loving people as unexceptional and fully accepted characters in her books. Her “Dancers of Arun,” the sequel to “Watchtower,” was a lifeline for me in my mid-teens. It was the first time I’d ever experienced LGBTQ characters in a novel. The fact that it was treated as both normal and something to be cherished felt like a life-jacket thrown out to me in a sea of misery.
The early LGBTQ bookstore, A Different Light, took its name from this novel, opening in LA in 1979 and then a branch in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1983 (one also opened in the Castro in 1985). The last branch closed in 2011 due to online competition, but the stores were instrumental in getting LGBTQ literature out to the community. As a young person, once I entered the community, A Different Light was rare and precious; just knowing it existed help me feel validated as a gay person.
(I should also note the vital role that bigger chain bookstores played as lifelines for marginalized groups. The long gone Walden bookstores will always hold a special place in my heart. In a far, back corner of one Walden I found “The Joy of Gay Sex.” Perhaps it was a local manager’s decision to stock it, but I thank whomever for allowing me the chance, with my heart beating in my ears from fear I’d be outed, to learn about sex from a positive, humane source rather than the vile, immoral religious claptrap that was all around).
Lynn carries the theme of “a different light” - of seeing things differently under different conditions - through the entire narrative. Forty years after having read her “Dancers of Arun,” Lynn’s writing is still uplifting and magical.
Few authors who write about visual artists seem equipped in conveying the complex interplay of imagery, feeling and skill involved in art making. Given no two artists’ creative process are the same, so there’s no one right way to write about it, it’s still the case that most novels I’ve read about artists feel hollow and vague, lacking in specificity other than detailing technical details (the “how it’s done” of art). The constant cycle of immediate feedback between the hand’s movement, the mark it makes on a surface and the inner intention of the artist, the improvisational dance of searching for form and meaning by manipulating materials, and the sensual experience of the materials themselves are rarely included in novels about art (N. K. Jemisin’s “The City We Became,” a multilayered work of genius, being an exception; Heidi Cullinan’s “Antisocial,” at a different level, is another). Lynn’s is an exception, both in successfully communicating the fireworks-like explosiveness of emotion and thought we can get from looking at art (in Lynn’s case, Rembrandt’s “The Polish Rider”) but also in her main character’s art making.
Lynn, a World Fantasy Award winner for her 1979 book, “Watchtower,” was among the first sci-fi/fantasy writers to include same-sex loving people as unexceptional and fully accepted characters in her books. Her “Dancers of Arun,” the sequel to “Watchtower,” was a lifeline for me in my mid-teens. It was the first time I’d ever experienced LGBTQ characters in a novel. The fact that it was treated as both normal and something to be cherished felt like a life-jacket thrown out to me in a sea of misery.
The early LGBTQ bookstore, A Different Light, took its name from this novel, opening in LA in 1979 and then a branch in New York’s Greenwich Village in 1983 (one also opened in the Castro in 1985). The last branch closed in 2011 due to online competition, but the stores were instrumental in getting LGBTQ literature out to the community. As a young person, once I entered the community, A Different Light was rare and precious; just knowing it existed help me feel validated as a gay person.
(I should also note the vital role that bigger chain bookstores played as lifelines for marginalized groups. The long gone Walden bookstores will always hold a special place in my heart. In a far, back corner of one Walden I found “The Joy of Gay Sex.” Perhaps it was a local manager’s decision to stock it, but I thank whomever for allowing me the chance, with my heart beating in my ears from fear I’d be outed, to learn about sex from a positive, humane source rather than the vile, immoral religious claptrap that was all around).
Lynn carries the theme of “a different light” - of seeing things differently under different conditions - through the entire narrative. Forty years after having read her “Dancers of Arun,” Lynn’s writing is still uplifting and magical.
March 5, 2022
3.5/5 stars.
Well that was a hell of a ride. A sticky hot space mess.
But I was intrigued enough to read 100 pages a day before bed for two days straight, I guess it says more about how much I wanted to like it, but ultimately didn’t.
I didn’t have a problem with the writing style, it was actually quite easy to read fro a book published in 1978, but the execution.
It had so much potential, but something went wrong for me.
Like I said, at one half point, I thought it was an episode of the original Star Trek shows. But than it took another turn to how I imagine “stranger in a strange land” (but not bigoted) will read.
There were too many things that happened because of it was convenient to the plot. And lots of the sci-fi equivalent of ‘a wizard did it’. Also not to my taste.
The relationship between Jim and Russ bothered me, it was almost as if Russ was an abusive partner and Jim kept coming back because he loved him too mush, and was broken up over getting left behind.
I have to say, I saw similarities with “the long way to a small angry planet”. There’s the hype, green skinned humanoid spices that’s more advance than earthlings and are able to calculate difficult mapping patterns for space travel , terrain colonies, a crew charted for a hard job… Might be a coincidence who knows. But certainly this has less of a cozy feel to it.
All in all, I guess I don’t particularly like old school styles sci-fi and space opera specifically, unless it’s Le Guin… It was certainly not what I thought it was going to be, a least it managed to surprise me.
Well that was a hell of a ride. A sticky hot space mess.
But I was intrigued enough to read 100 pages a day before bed for two days straight, I guess it says more about how much I wanted to like it, but ultimately didn’t.
I didn’t have a problem with the writing style, it was actually quite easy to read fro a book published in 1978, but the execution.
It had so much potential, but something went wrong for me.
Like I said, at one half point, I thought it was an episode of the original Star Trek shows. But than it took another turn to how I imagine “stranger in a strange land” (but not bigoted) will read.
There were too many things that happened because of it was convenient to the plot. And lots of the sci-fi equivalent of ‘a wizard did it’. Also not to my taste.
The relationship between Jim and Russ bothered me, it was almost as if Russ was an abusive partner and Jim kept coming back because he loved him too mush, and was broken up over getting left behind.
I have to say, I saw similarities with “the long way to a small angry planet”. There’s the hype, green skinned humanoid spices that’s more advance than earthlings and are able to calculate difficult mapping patterns for space travel , terrain colonies, a crew charted for a hard job… Might be a coincidence who knows. But certainly this has less of a cozy feel to it.
All in all, I guess I don’t particularly like old school styles sci-fi and space opera specifically, unless it’s Le Guin… It was certainly not what I thought it was going to be, a least it managed to surprise me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2017
4½ Stars
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit to get into it, but by the a third of the way in I was sucked in. This book is about the journey of the main protagonist, who is the last man with incurable cancer. Jimson leaves his home planet in search of his long-lost lover, who recently got in touch with him after over ten years, despite the fact that going into space will exacerbate his cancer, giving him only months to live. I liked all of the characters in this book. I liked the fact that the main character's bisexuality was treated as just a regular thing; the author kind of presented it like "yep, he likes men *and* women."
This book definitely focuses on relationships, so if that's not your thing, you may want to pass on this. I, personally, very much enjoyed it. The only negative thing I could say about A Different Light is that it left me wanting more. The ending wrapped most things up (relationships, especially) but left a few others pretty much open (more world-wise). I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a cliffhanger, more just some general things that could be explored. As far I know there is no sequel.
I really enjoyed this book. It took me a little bit to get into it, but by the a third of the way in I was sucked in. This book is about the journey of the main protagonist, who is the last man with incurable cancer. Jimson leaves his home planet in search of his long-lost lover, who recently got in touch with him after over ten years, despite the fact that going into space will exacerbate his cancer, giving him only months to live. I liked all of the characters in this book. I liked the fact that the main character's bisexuality was treated as just a regular thing; the author kind of presented it like "yep, he likes men *and* women."
This book definitely focuses on relationships, so if that's not your thing, you may want to pass on this. I, personally, very much enjoyed it. The only negative thing I could say about A Different Light is that it left me wanting more. The ending wrapped most things up (relationships, especially) but left a few others pretty much open (more world-wise). I wouldn't go as far as to say it's a cliffhanger, more just some general things that could be explored. As far I know there is no sequel.
April 19, 2019
Lynn is one of those 70s-80s writers who published more fantasy than SF and as a consequence kind of passed me by. A Different Light is certainly SF rather than Fantasy, though.
Its main viewpoint character, Jimson Anneca, is an artist with incurable cancer, controllable unless he goes off-world. He is frustrated by this restriction. Given the chance to travel to the off-chart world of Demea to retrieve some Masks for a client, he accepts. Once there he and his companions finds this supposedly uninhabited planet has occupants who object to removal of their culturally significant Masks which turn out to be some sort of mind amplifier. Thereafter the story morphs into a tale about telepathy. A Different Light is pretty run of the mill fare even for its time and shows its age when talking about tapes for recording and playback of brain states.
Its main viewpoint character, Jimson Anneca, is an artist with incurable cancer, controllable unless he goes off-world. He is frustrated by this restriction. Given the chance to travel to the off-chart world of Demea to retrieve some Masks for a client, he accepts. Once there he and his companions finds this supposedly uninhabited planet has occupants who object to removal of their culturally significant Masks which turn out to be some sort of mind amplifier. Thereafter the story morphs into a tale about telepathy. A Different Light is pretty run of the mill fare even for its time and shows its age when talking about tapes for recording and playback of brain states.
June 14, 2019
Jimson, an artist with terminal cancer in a galaxy where cancer had been eradicated and human life prolonged, decides to leave the planet where his cancer is controlled and embarks on an adventure with his ex lover, Russel, who’s basically a space pirate.
There were some interesting ideas in there about mortality, leaving your mark and missed opportunities due to fear. Gosh is Russel stupid...
The ending could’ve been fodder for another book, but I did like the way it ended, despite it being so bittersweet.
I also loved how naturally it’s accepted for men to have sexual and/or romantic relationships with either men or women or both, without it being an issue that needs to be dealt with. If I’m not mistaken this was one of the first non-LGBT books to do this.
There were some interesting ideas in there about mortality, leaving your mark and missed opportunities due to fear. Gosh is Russel stupid...
The ending could’ve been fodder for another book, but I did like the way it ended, despite it being so bittersweet.
I also loved how naturally it’s accepted for men to have sexual and/or romantic relationships with either men or women or both, without it being an issue that needs to be dealt with. If I’m not mistaken this was one of the first non-LGBT books to do this.
April 18, 2018
This book was written in 1978. It was at the forefront of LGBTQ science fiction in that it depicted a relationship between men without much fanfare or sensationalism. It was so celebrated in its time, a small chain of bookstores was named after it. It’s a short book, rather light on plot. Its strength is in the prose and the relationships between the characters. It’s one of the few books I wish was a little longer, with more time spent on the characters.
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