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Zeta Base
As the galaxy celebrates a half-millennium gala, Antiquity, Earth's venerable science-philosopher, announces an ominous finding about the Earth's sun. But, esteemed though she may be, her warning is received with skepticism, especially by Marcus Vinkle, chief technician of the sun-computer SOLCOM - because Antiquity's theories rely entirely on the readings of outmoded instruments.Antiquity's three brilliant protegees have reunited for the free-spirited Morgan, who has brought performance art to unprecedented daredevil heights; Deirdre, nurturer of Earth's animals, a gentle and loving woman who yearns for an earlier era; and Jaffey, master engineer, whose systems-check of SOLCOM will determine the truth of Antiquity's findings... or will it?Morgan and Jaffey rekindle an old rivalry over Deirdre... And a fierce love triangle plays out against a background of deepening intrigue and impending disaster. For, as Antiquity battles time and the increasing odds against Earth's very survival, her own formidable mental powers appear to be failing...
191 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1991
30 people want to read
About the author
Judith Alguire
9 books3 followersJudith Alguire is a Kingston, Ontario writer, whose novels include Pleasantly Dead, The Pumpkin Murders, A Most Unpleasant Wedding, and Peril at the Pleasant, all of which are part of the continuing Rudley Mystery series. Her short stories, articles, and essays have appeared in such publications as The Malahat Review and Harrowsmith, and she is a past member of the editorial board of the Kingston Whig-Standard. A graduate of Queen’s University, she has recently retired from nursing.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 22, 2021
I thought this was going to go on my garbage-but-I-loved-it shelf, but honestly, it wasn't as garbage as reviews led me to suggest! There were absolutely redeeming qualities, the main redeeming quality being "I had fun reading it."
I wouldn't call it good, but I've certainly read worse. The prose was plain, sometimes repetitive, and sometimes confusing, the characters weren't particularly well-characterized, the science was laughable and the plot was convoluted and hard to follow. All of the characters were absurdly good at what they do, the Best at what they do. And the ending was wildly abrupt and difficult to follow - I read the last 20 pages, and then went back and had to re-read them again to parse what had actually just happened.
And the story was kind of ridiculous. A 153-year-old woman insists that the high-tech computer that monitors the sun's energy output is wrong, the sun is dying, and the solution is to launch a nuke into the sun to start it up again, and she wonders why no one believes her (and her three proteges are too busy having a love triangle to pay much attention).
But there were parts I liked, including:
- every major character was a lesbian. The word "lesbian" was never used used but nearly all the characters were women except for one cartoonishly evil man and one Token Dude Best Friend who got like, one scene. And all the women were just, constantly either pining over or propositioning at least one of the other women. It would have been ridiculous if there weren't a surprising amount of variation in everybody's dramatic lesbian pining relationships that made this network of absurdly competent women feel fun, friendly, and welcoming.
- Morgan Quade's high-stakes performance art/photography was honestly always fun to read.
- That time Morgan and some random fan banged on a zeppelin in the middle of a tornado, For Art.
- Antiquity started off as kind of a charicature and ended as still kind of a charicature but in the middle there was a little bit of interesting stuff with her as far and away the oldest person around and one of the last people who cared about the Earth as a place.
- As abrupt, confusing, and kind of unsatisfying as it was, the ending was bold in that
In conclusion, it's not good exactly but I had fun and was glad to have read it.
I wouldn't call it good, but I've certainly read worse. The prose was plain, sometimes repetitive, and sometimes confusing, the characters weren't particularly well-characterized, the science was laughable and the plot was convoluted and hard to follow. All of the characters were absurdly good at what they do, the Best at what they do. And the ending was wildly abrupt and difficult to follow - I read the last 20 pages, and then went back and had to re-read them again to parse what had actually just happened.
And the story was kind of ridiculous. A 153-year-old woman insists that the high-tech computer that monitors the sun's energy output is wrong, the sun is dying, and the solution is to launch a nuke into the sun to start it up again, and she wonders why no one believes her (and her three proteges are too busy having a love triangle to pay much attention).
But there were parts I liked, including:
- every major character was a lesbian. The word "lesbian" was never used used but nearly all the characters were women except for one cartoonishly evil man and one Token Dude Best Friend who got like, one scene. And all the women were just, constantly either pining over or propositioning at least one of the other women. It would have been ridiculous if there weren't a surprising amount of variation in everybody's dramatic lesbian pining relationships that made this network of absurdly competent women feel fun, friendly, and welcoming.
- Morgan Quade's high-stakes performance art/photography was honestly always fun to read.
- That time Morgan and some random fan banged on a zeppelin in the middle of a tornado, For Art.
- Antiquity started off as kind of a charicature and ended as still kind of a charicature but in the middle there was a little bit of interesting stuff with her as far and away the oldest person around and one of the last people who cared about the Earth as a place.
- As abrupt, confusing, and kind of unsatisfying as it was, the ending was bold in that
In conclusion, it's not good exactly but I had fun and was glad to have read it.
May 11, 2020
Wow, this was a lousy book. The characters were one-dimensional, the plot convoluted, the science terrible, and the prose, well, nearly non-existent. It’s another short lesbian sci fi novel from the early ‘90s, but this one had no redeeming qualities. Usually I can see some good in a book. Even some of the ones I’ve read recently, while amateurish, were still fun. This one wasn’t fun, or even so bad you’d call it campy. Somehow, this was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Sci Fi/Fantasy in 1992, back when the gay and lesbian categories were separate. It must have been a dry year for this subgenre.
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Come visit my blog for the full review…
https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspo...
November 29, 2015
Really bad lesbian romance novel with an inept SF gloss. Not worth reading.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews