Echo Round His Bones

by Thomas M. Disch

First UK and First Hardcover edition bound in gray boards. Very Good, some shelf wear and dust staining to the upper edge of the page blocks. Two corners lightly bumped. DJ has a little fraying to the edges and a one inch closed tear on the rear panel. Presentable copy.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Speculative Fiction, United States

156 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Poet and cynic, Thomas M. Disch brought to the sf of the New Wave a camp sensibility and a sardonicism that too much sf had lacked. His sf novels include Camp Concentration, with its colony of prisoners mutated into super-intelligence by the bacteria that will in due course kill them horribly, and On Wings of Song, in which many of the brightest and best have left their bodies for what may be genuine, or entirely illusory, astral flight and his hero has to survive until his lover comes back to him; both are stunningly original books and both are among sf's more accomplishedly bitter-sweet works.

In later years, Disch had turned to ironically moralized horror novels like The Businessman, The MD, The Priest and The Sub in which the nightmare of American suburbia is satirized through the terrible things that happen when the magical gives people the chance to do what they really really want. Perhaps Thomas M. Disch's best known work, though, is The Brave Little Toaster, a reworking of the Brothers Grimm's "Town Musicians of Bremen" featuring wornout domestic appliances -- what was written as a satire on sentimentality became a successful children's animated musical.

Reviews

[Nate · Rating 3 out of 5]

So a scientist creates a matter transporter a la Star Trek, BUT…every time someone transports a ghost echo of them is left behind. This echo person can only eat food and drink water that’s been through the transporter and they are invisible to the rest of the world. That means they could be watching you take a shower among other things. I apologize to those who are disgusted by that thought and intrigued by those that are aroused by it.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a short, early novel by Disch with some quite amusing bits, a New Wave flavor, and a strongly satiric anti-war message. It features a teleportation device that creates a "ghost" version of the individual who's being teleported, a concept that Frederik Pohl and Jack Williamson used to good effect (with a bit of a spin) in their Cuckoo Saga. Disch's novel is clever and entertaining, but lacks the gravitas of his better-known novels.

[Cheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Underappreciated. Disch is intelligent, and there are some brilliant bits of both wisdom and satire squeezed into this short novel. (And by bits, I mean overlookable single lines or even phrases). The anti-war message is strong enough, and interesting enough, I compare it favorably to the more famous book that I just finished, The Forever War. The 'main' story, of the lives and roles of the ghosts caused by the 'teleporter,' I'm not sure about... I was confused by which ghost and which 'original' of each character each 'sub' was.

To the reviewer who said the second half reminded them of Heinlein, good catch! I knew there was something odd and yet familiar about the family scenes; I can definitely see aspects of Jubal Harshaw echoed in the professor, not too mention all the beautiful 'girls' who are also good cooks and good shots....

[Manny · Rating 2 out of 5]

The basic premise is unforgettable. They have these transporter beams à la Star Trek, but it turns out that there are unexpected angles to the quantum physics that powers them. Every time someone is transported, an echo of him is created. It's just like the original person, except that it's a ghost-like creature that can walk though walls, unless they're made of a really hard substance. Then there's a echo of the echo, which is even more ghost-like, so much so that it sinks through the floor and suffocates somewhere on the way to the centre of the Earth. And further echoes beyond that, each one equally doomed.

The story itself is nothing special - the main character is an echo who uses his strange powers to do something prosaically heroic - but every time I see a transporter beam in an SF movie I think of those poor echoes.
_______________________________________

Transporter beams also play an important part in Kraken. I wonder if Miéville's unusual take on them didn't owe something to this little-known book...

[Temucano · Rating 3 out of 5]

En esta novela Disch explora una novedosa idea sobre universos paralelos, ecos residuales convertidos en identidades que descalabran el mundo real y fuerzan la imaginación. Al principio lamenté lo corto de la novela, más al avanzar añoré el desenlace, ante el aumento progresivo de peso en cada página. Serán los ecos que se apilan sin descanso en la trama.

Interesante, con bastante crítica al militarismo, se vislumbra al joven hippie detrás de una de sus primeras novelas.

[Patrick Scheele · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first part of this book deserves 5 stars. The hero uses some kind of matter transmitter machine to go to Mars, but a ghostly copy of himself ends up staying behind. Apparently, this happens every time the machine is used. A bunch of soldiers try to kill him, but he escapes (not that hard when you can pass through walls). He eventually figures out that, to survive here, people have to resort to cannibalism, which is why they tried to kill him.

After this brilliant setup, our hero is found by the stereotypical brilliant, eccentric scientist and his beautiful, spunky wife. From there on, it gets Heinleinian. The scientist wants the hero to marry his wife for some reason. Of course, he's so brilliant, his original version figured out ghost copies would be created, so he keeps sending supplies through a transmitter. Suddenly all worries of food, drink and general survival are over. The creepiness of the situation is negated when we learn that the originals of the scientist and his wife still regularly use the transporter themselves and are pretty laconic when they end up in this ghostly state, even though every new arrival means one of the existing copies must kill herself.

Although this book has a 5 star start, the end is barely 3 stars, making the book a 4 star one. Someday, someone should read this book and write a better version. I'm looking at you, Stephen King!

[David Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The anti-war message, and anti-Vietnam War message in particular (in 1967 no less), is commendable. The explanations of the matter transmission and the "echoes" it creates are pretty much impossible to follow, and Disch's authorial voice as narrator is intrusive. Interesting, but neither here nor there: too complicated for light entertainment and too cheerful for literary fiction.

[Linus · Rating 3 out of 5]

#2 THOMAS M. DISCH - 3/5

Nathan Hansard, Captain of the US Army, is transferred by matter transmitter to his new command station on Mars. But the transmitter, the latest technical achievement of a famous physicist, which has been appropriated by the military and is now primarily used for wars and more wars (on Earth and the next planets), has a serious flaw...

The transmission creates two Nathan Hansards, one who appears on Mars as planned (with no time delay) and delivers orders from the US President. In six weeks, the world-destroying nuclear strike is to be unleashed from Mars, putting an end to the war between the USA and Russia.

Another Hansard remains on Earth, albeit in a completely different form: He is invisible to normal humans, can walk through walls and the ground, but can no longer eat normal food; he generally cannot touch anything from the normal world. How is he supposed to survive? A short time later, other military personnel appear who share this strange, unreal appearance with him. Everything that passes through the transmitters is palpable and edible for the “ghosts”, but nothing else. What is left? For the rough military, only cannibalism. Hansard, on the other hand, finds unexpected allies with whom he tries to prevent the extermination order...

The premise is promising and the story remains enjoyable throughout the rather short book. Disch combines the intriguing idea of a matter transmitter with a Cold War scenario which is of course a bit outdated, but one can imagine any other conflict from which the world has many nowadays. He also describes the side effects of a new technology that mankind has not yet understood. The description of the so-called echoes or duplicates which arise whenever a person goes through the transmitter is successfully portrayed. In the end, it is an engaging read, but it rather falls short of the expectations which I had after reading "The Genocides".

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thomas M. Disch (1940-2008) was one of the more interesting science fiction writers who emerged from the Sixties. As well as an SF author, he was a poet and writer of opera librettos and plays. As an SF writer, he had a rather dark and satirical view that informed his writing and became one of the leading voices in "The New Wave" of the late Sixties. In this one, our hero Captain Hansard is assigned to the US military base on Mars. It's 1990 and the Cold War is still going on, but the US has a plan to end it with a nuclear attack on Russia. This is a world where a genius named Dr. Panofsky invented the "matter transmitter" or manmitter. So the captain can be teleported to Mars almost instantaneously. However, while the captain is on Mars, his "echo" remains on Earth, a ghost. As a ghost, he must try to prevent nuclear war--but how can he do it???

[Perry Whitford · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nuclear meltdown has been predicted by the super-computer Cass-9, sending Captain Hansard to Mars, where the American weapons are stored and ready, alongside the instructions of when to press the button.

Hansard gets there via the matter transmitter invented by Dr. Panofsky, a Strangelove surrogate who takes every opportunity to demonstrate his dedication to his adopted home by the use of pseudo-American slang terms, such as "fantabulouse", much as Strangelove tried to conceal his Nazism by subduing his zeig-heiling arm!

However, the matter transfer process creates a sublimated version of the subject - or an "echo" - each time objects are moved, the science of which Disch extrapolates from for the plot of his story, with the sublimated Hansard joining multiple copies of Panofsky and his female assistant Bridget in an attempt to save their "real" selves from the fate of nuclear meltdown.

Another short novel from my Science Fiction Book Club collection, this time around a Cold War catastrophe black comedy, clearly inspired by the aforementioned Dr. Strangelove, with Disch grabbing your attention with his opening line, "The finger on the trigger grew tense"...

This is good knock-about fun from Disch. The fate of the world is at risk here, yet Disch plays it for laughs, where the future of monogamy within a world of duplicate "echos" occupies more concern than the future of the world at large.

However, in the end the confusing (for me) science surrounding the matter transmitter got in the way of the laughs.

[Rog Petersen · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fine concept, a confusing plotline, uneven pace, jumbled action and an ending that possibly saves it, but I can’t be certain of that. Disch’s powers of description can’t quite keep up with the torrent of ideas he’s pouring out. He seems to want the reader to feel disorientated more often than not.
I can’t identify the cover artist, and though the cover is nice it features a spaceship, which I’m sure was how books were sold back then, but has nothing to do with the story.

[Traummachine · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars:

This author was recommended to me, and I picked this novel because I liked the weird plot. It's about a matter transmitter that creates an "echo" of a person when they're transported. The echo-people can't communicate with the Real World, can only breathe transported air, etc. The story mostly follows a newly-created echo person.

Another thing this book had that was strange was a narrator-as-a-character, yet it was 3rd person. What I mean is, there would be comments like "The reader might be wondering how Our Hero adjusted to this so remarkably well." I've seen this in offhand remarks before (King's done it a couple times), but never consistently throughout the book. Not off-putting, but it did pull me out of the story. The book I checked out was an omnibus of 3 of Disch's early novels, and I didn't notice anything like this flipping through the other two books. *shrug*

So far I've just said how this was weird, but I did like it. Disch is a good writer, and he's obviously willing to experiment and try things that most seem to think are bad ideas. This had the feel of pulp science fiction, but was a lot smarter than that. I'll definitely read something else by him soon, probably from later in his career for comparison.

[Conrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Guilty pleasure, but I'm inexorably drawn to Disch ever since I came across Fun With Your New Head. His brand of science fiction is more Vonnegutian than strictly genre, perhaps due to a better-than-average prose style, but also because both authors use the thought experiments of their science-fiction novels as morality tales, exploring the ethics of humanity when juxtaposed against the non-normal. Unfortunately, just as in The Genocides, Disch is again preoccupied with cannibalism. I, needless to say, am not. This may be due to the fact that Disch protagonists seem to share a common power of endurance, but...gross. I've already decided that if I'm lost at sea, my companions don't have to draw straws, I'm volunteering my body as sustenance.

[Isidore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disch described this early novel as "a resolutely cheerful science fiction adventure as traditional in all its trappings as a khaki fatigue uniform", and it is indeed slight by comparison with his later work, but it's not without merit. The premise is clever, and if the story lacks profundity or emotional intensity, it is nevertheless told with grace and charm that elevates it above the sf norm.

[Esther (La ingeniosa hidalga) · Rating 2 out of 5]

La historia es bastante enrevesada, hasta el momento es el peor libro que he leído de Disch pero creo que buena parte de la culpa la tiene la traducción, que es de los 70 y es pésima. Como toda la obra de Disch, esta novela ganaría bastante con una reedición (*guiño a las editoriales de género de España*).

[Mieczyslaw Kasprzyk · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's an image in this book that has stayed with me in the long years that have passed since I read it. The book essentially deal with a possible side-effect of teleportation... and what happened next. Very entertaining.

[Susan Butcher · Rating 4 out of 5]

I recently read a couple of early Disch stories in Fantastic, and thought I'd try "Echo..." (published 1967) which has an intriguing idea as the basis of the story. As the Cold War continues into the 1990s, the US military has appropriated a matter transmitter and arrested its pacifist inventor, and is using the device to transport soldiers and nuclear weapons through space. What they don't know is the transfer process is leaving behind ghost-like living "echoes" of the soldiers, barely interacting with the real world, who are forced into a brutal struggle against other echo ghosts for survival. On top of that, the real world is scheduled for nuclear annihilation thanks to stubborn politics on both sides, an ineffectual President, and a General who is in love with death. (Kubrick fans may note some similarities to "Dr Strangelove".) This is all quite black stuff, but the story then escalates to a pulp SF conclusion as a new world of miracles dawns; I suppose this is why Disch, as narrator, has framed the book as a fable. It's a little incongruous, but I enjoyed it all the same.

(This story was intially serialised in New Worlds 1966-67.)

[Ruskoley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Captain Hansard and his men perform a “jump.” A “jump” is a trip through a matter transmitter. In this case, Hansard and crew jump to Mars Command Post. The mission is to deliver, by carrying a briefcase containing an envelope, orders to the commanding officer. We learn the disturbing fact that every jump creates an echo (hence the title). This is the difficult part. I love the boldness with which Disch writes this. However, the science (or whatever we would like to call it) is really challenging.

Overall, this is a very interesting novel. It has some challenges for the astute reader, but the concepts and the storyline are worthwhile. Disch’s overwhelming intelligence shows through in his writing and more than makes up for any holes in the plot or errors in the story. His characters are developed without seeming melodramatic. Vintage science fiction readers will enjoy this. Readers with big imaginations will be worrying about the echoes along with me.

[Ian Banks · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has a mind ending premise that is almost impossible to follow and I think Mr Disch keeps his own authorial tone mercurial and sardonic in order to prevent us from realising that. But it has an entertaining premise and a lot of wit so that we can just go along for the ride. This is an early novel so it doesn’t have the same rigid discipline that we see in Disch’s later novels but it is entertaining. Just check your intellect - not your brain - when you read it.

[Igor Gligorijevic · Rating 4 out of 5]

Međ' zidovima neće više duša čista
Da čami, što mi sad kroz telo blista:
I neće zidovi od gline i blata
Ni tavanice od drveta
Ni okna kristalna da mi oko koče
Uživanja će sad kroz njih da zrače
Nebesa, dosad granica
Mog veselja i blaga,
Radosti što je trajnije draga
Sama će postati uzdanica:
Dok se od središta do krajnjeg kruga
Bogatstva moja množe svuda

Thomas Trahern, "Hosana"

7/10

[rndgmoat · Rating 4 out of 5]

A quite underrated work of new wave sci-fi (even if Disch hated that classification) with some horror touches. The central conceit is quite clever and well-executed, with much of Disch's trademark wit and humanism. Overall, a very enjoyable little novel even if it does start to get lost in the metaphysical rabbit hole at the very end (with much pseudo-scientific babble).

[Pete · Rating 4 out of 5]

This early novel by Disch has a jumble of ideas, and they do not always mesh well. First and foremost, this is a hard SF novel on theoretical ramifications of matter transmission, and it owes a debt to Algis Budrys' Rogue Moon. Not surprisingly, Disch also has a strong anti-war message in his novel. I can't go into any detail because this would spoil the pleasures of this short novel. Suffice to say, while no masterpiece, this is a quick read with some audacious ideas, seasoned with concerns that were foremost at the time it was published.

[Stephen Rowland · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½. The best I've read by Disch so far.

[Stijn · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sci-fi comedy with echoes of people.

[John Langley · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a re-read of a book I enjoyed a lot in the past. It hasn’t aged well. Not Disch’s best. It’s an intriguing premise though.

[Skallagrimsen]

Mediocre sf novel about a man rendered insubstantial by a teleporter. A reminder that great writers aren't always great.

[Unai · Rating 4 out of 5]

No se ni que decir. Me duele la cabeza de pensar en ello.

[Peacefulbookery · Rating 4 out of 5]

Disch is always a good time. Thought-provoking and poignant, though a little less polished than his later stuff.

[Adam Clark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading Disch is like taking your favourite new wave writer and throwing in a dasch (sorry) of hardcore brutality and it’s so good.

[Nico · Rating 5 out of 5]

the best Philip K. Dick novel