White Light

by William Barton, Michael Capobianco

In 2083, with the Earth poisoned beyond repair, two renegade families abandon their hopeless self-destructive society to venture into the heart of a mysterious alien culture that could represent the key to humankind's survival. Reprint.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

352 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

William Renald Barton III (born September 28, 1950) is an American science fiction writer. In addition to his standalone novels, he is also known for collaborations with Michael Capobianco. Many of their novels deal with themes such as the Cold War, space travel, and space opera.

Barton also has written short stories that put an emphasis on sexuality and human morality in otherwise traditional science fiction. His short fiction has appeared in Asimov's and Sci Fiction, and has been nominated for the Hugo Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Award, the Sidewise Award, and the HOMer Award, and three of his novels (The Transmigration of Souls, Acts of Conscience, and When We Were Real) have been nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award.

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Reviews

[Friedrich Haas]

I always loved that SF could encompass any other genre, but this one is Soap opera, devoted to who is screwing whom. When an alien called the humans droll, I should have bailed on the book. Now I read a page and struggle to go on just to finish it. I don't know what the hell the authors have done with the science. I hate the characters. They make me hate humanity. Maybe that's the point? I dunno. Kill me, kill me now.

[Eileen · Rating 1 out of 5]

Interesting settings but clearly written by men for men. Explorations of "human nature" were how the back cover publisher's description and a Locus review put it - ugh, I wish I hadn't believed the hype.

[Robert (NurseBob) · Rating 1 out of 5]

I have a 60-page rule when it comes to books. If an author hasn't grabbed my attention by page 61 I move on. I made it to page 90 with this one mainly because I liked Barton and Capobianco's use of language to create a scene. But even that couldn't keep me from nodding off in the middle of paragraphs or else becoming annoyed with the fact that none of the characters get around to finishing a sentence: "You mean if we...?" "Yes, but it's not like..." "I remember what happened the last time you..." ad nauseam. Plus it's just not that interesting especially with the tawdry 4-way love affair and everyone moping and emoting across the cosmos.

[Thompson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too vulgar for my taste.

[Lilith · Rating 1 out of 5]

The writing is so bad I couldn't even get half-way through.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Apparently read it. Don't remember much of it, except not liking it all that much...

[Alice Sabo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This has been praised as being different. I think it's too different in too many ways. The use of language and the story are both hard to deal with. I gave up only a couple chapters in.

[Kyle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not an interesting premise. Didn't finish, so maybe it got better then the first 100 pages.