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Twenty Planets
Arkfall
Humans live deep within an apparently lifeless planet covered by massive ice sheets. Having to survive in confined spaces has bred a unique culture where deference and non-confrontation make co-existence possible. **** Osaji's opportunities are limited by the need to care for her aging grandmother. But all that is about to change as circumstances push her toward a journey like no other.
108 pages, Print on Demand (Paperback)
First published March 9, 2010
16 people are currently reading
325 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Ives Gilman
86 books158 followersCarolyn Ives Gilman has been publishing science fiction and fantasy for almost twenty years. Her first novel, Halfway Human, published by Avon/Eos in 1998, was called “one of the most compelling explorations of gender and power in recent SF” by Locus magazine. Her short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies such as F&SF, Bending the Landscape, The Year’s Best Science Fiction, Realms of Fantasy, The Best From Fantasy & Science Fiction, Interzone, Universe, Full Spectrum, and others. Her fiction has been translated into Italian, Russian, German, Czech and Romanian. In 1992 she was a finalist for the Nebula Award for her novella, “The Honeycrafters.”
In her professional career, Gilman is a historian specializing in 18th and early 19th-century North American history, particularly frontier and Native history. Her most recent nonfiction book, Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide, was published in 2003 by Smithsonian Books. She has been a guest lecturer at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and Monticello, and has been interviewed on All Things Considered (NPR), Talk of the Nation (NPR), History Detectives (PBS), and the History Channel.
Carolyn Ives Gilman lives in St. Louis and works for the Missouri Historical Society as a historian and museum curator.
In her professional career, Gilman is a historian specializing in 18th and early 19th-century North American history, particularly frontier and Native history. Her most recent nonfiction book, Lewis and Clark: Across the Divide, was published in 2003 by Smithsonian Books. She has been a guest lecturer at the Library of Congress, Harvard University, and Monticello, and has been interviewed on All Things Considered (NPR), Talk of the Nation (NPR), History Detectives (PBS), and the History Channel.
Carolyn Ives Gilman lives in St. Louis and works for the Missouri Historical Society as a historian and museum curator.
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Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
February 22, 2023
I may be getting a little carried away, with my 5-star rating here, but this was just wonderful. Deliciously written descriptions of a very alien seascape, this story is part travelogue and partly a cute little story about three people who found what they needed on an unplanned expedition.
April 30, 2020
Arkfall is a short book that tries to do a lot of things. It has an icy, dark, underwater world, that never sees the light. It has a society that has cultivated biology in the place of technology. It has character tensions, an adventure of uncertainty and hopelessness and a sense that it was written with a specific message in mind.
For me, I liked a lot of these ideas. I wanted to know more about the interesting things the characters found in the black, murky water. I wanted to hear more about their hopeless search on their instruments for any signs of familiar life. I wanted to know more about the biological technology, I wanted to spend more time being familiarized with this culture, and I wanted to see more of the effects of the bleak voyage on the characters. Sadly, each of these elements felt rushed, underdeveloped, or just glossed over all too briefly.
This, coupled with two completely opposite lead characters, who felt thrown together too quickly, and too conveniently, made me feel somewhat frustrated at this book. The concepts behind the main characters aren't bad, necessarily, they just never felt like they had enough chance to settle in before they were off on a predictable character development arc. I felt like I could easily see the gears turning the whole time I was following their story, and this made it hard to get invested in any way.
Ultimately I think Arkfall has a novel's worth of ideas crammed into a novella. Given some more space, some more time for the elements to develop more naturally, I believe I would have enjoyed this book a great deal. It's frustrating when the constant barrage of ideas, changes and character moments feels so relentless that a book ends up feeling both too long and not long enough simultaneously. As it is, this is a much better book for those who like a quick, light read than those who want to get lost in a world for several hours.
For me, I liked a lot of these ideas. I wanted to know more about the interesting things the characters found in the black, murky water. I wanted to hear more about their hopeless search on their instruments for any signs of familiar life. I wanted to know more about the biological technology, I wanted to spend more time being familiarized with this culture, and I wanted to see more of the effects of the bleak voyage on the characters. Sadly, each of these elements felt rushed, underdeveloped, or just glossed over all too briefly.
This, coupled with two completely opposite lead characters, who felt thrown together too quickly, and too conveniently, made me feel somewhat frustrated at this book. The concepts behind the main characters aren't bad, necessarily, they just never felt like they had enough chance to settle in before they were off on a predictable character development arc. I felt like I could easily see the gears turning the whole time I was following their story, and this made it hard to get invested in any way.
Ultimately I think Arkfall has a novel's worth of ideas crammed into a novella. Given some more space, some more time for the elements to develop more naturally, I believe I would have enjoyed this book a great deal. It's frustrating when the constant barrage of ideas, changes and character moments feels so relentless that a book ends up feeling both too long and not long enough simultaneously. As it is, this is a much better book for those who like a quick, light read than those who want to get lost in a world for several hours.
November 15, 2017
Such an interesting novella. A very unique setting, with great worldbuilding that perfectly suited the introspective focus of the story. Osaji was a very, very relatable protagonist: caught between her desires for a different life, and the crushing societal pressures that they conflict with them. Definitely recommend.
September 25, 2011
Recommended by Ann Leckie. I loved it -- loved Osaji and her conflicted relationship with Mota, loved the strangeness of their underwater world. I wondered a bit about the implications of having the very circuitous culture of Ben represented via characters of (apparently) Japanese heritage ... also I thought the American Wild Wild West guy was incongruous. Americans always gotta have Americans in their stories! Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that, of course, but it's a bit odd when they're all in outer space, that space cowboys should be similar to actual (or at least one's idea of actual) cowboys.
April 30, 2023
5 Stars! Wow! I didn’t understand the first few pages; didn’t know what was going on. But then after that, I was blown away. The story just kept getting better and better. Loved it! Such a cool exploration underseas in such a different culture. Enjoy!
Quotes:
- “It’s antisocial to make one’s personal problems into everyone’s problems.” (p21)
- “A dark illimitable ocean without bound, where length, breadth, time and place are lost.” (p29)
- “It’s a belligerent little vintage with a sarcastic attitude. I like it very much.” (p35)
- “If everyone has forgotten us, do you suppose we’ll still exist?” (p36)
- “You don’t have enough to forget. Try living a life like mine. You’ll know then, memory’s a disease… Forgetting is what nature does best. The universe is a huge forgetting machine. It erases information no matter how hard we try to hang onto it. How could it be any different? What if the memory of everything that ever happened still existed? The universe would be clogged with information, so packed with it we couldn’t move. We’d be paralyzed, because every moment we ever lived would still be with us. It would be hell.” (p36)
- “They were all swimming temporarily in a sea of darkness, and then they would be gone.” (p36)
- “Permeable membranes, that’s the key: a constant exchange between outside and in. You’ve got to let the world leak in, and let yourself flow out into the nutrient bath around you. You’ve got to let in ideas, and observations, and… well, affection… or you become hard and dead inside. Life is all about having a permeable self—not so you’re unclear who you are, but so you overlap a little with the others on the edges.” (p45)
- “Some people are too permeable. They spend their lives trying to flow out, and never take in nutrient for themselves. They end up thin and empty inside.” (p45)
Quotes:
- “It’s antisocial to make one’s personal problems into everyone’s problems.” (p21)
- “A dark illimitable ocean without bound, where length, breadth, time and place are lost.” (p29)
- “It’s a belligerent little vintage with a sarcastic attitude. I like it very much.” (p35)
- “If everyone has forgotten us, do you suppose we’ll still exist?” (p36)
- “You don’t have enough to forget. Try living a life like mine. You’ll know then, memory’s a disease… Forgetting is what nature does best. The universe is a huge forgetting machine. It erases information no matter how hard we try to hang onto it. How could it be any different? What if the memory of everything that ever happened still existed? The universe would be clogged with information, so packed with it we couldn’t move. We’d be paralyzed, because every moment we ever lived would still be with us. It would be hell.” (p36)
- “They were all swimming temporarily in a sea of darkness, and then they would be gone.” (p36)
- “Permeable membranes, that’s the key: a constant exchange between outside and in. You’ve got to let the world leak in, and let yourself flow out into the nutrient bath around you. You’ve got to let in ideas, and observations, and… well, affection… or you become hard and dead inside. Life is all about having a permeable self—not so you’re unclear who you are, but so you overlap a little with the others on the edges.” (p45)
- “Some people are too permeable. They spend their lives trying to flow out, and never take in nutrient for themselves. They end up thin and empty inside.” (p45)
May 10, 2018
A novella that I'd be happy to read a full blown novel about
January 16, 2025
It's ok but it's not Halfway Human or Dark Orbit.
April 17, 2025
Sweet story about a neat world and people who live in self sustaining living arcs on the water but not enough tension. Felt flat when it could have easily gone somewhere.
December 6, 2024
I really enjoyed this short story! In just 44 pages, Carolyn Ives Gilman has created a fascinating world, and a remarkable journey. A small part of me wishes there is more to the story, but mostly I think it is so good as it is. Sometimes less is more.
March 5, 2017
I musst have read this in 2008, since it was in the Magazine of F&SF, but I don't really remember it.
It's been EIGHT YEARS since then, and I'm getting a different experience; I'm identifying with the grandmother, Mota, not her daughter Osaji!
Very interesting science: people living on large planets, with heavy pressure under the seas.. which is the only place people believe they can live on those worlds.
A woman and her grandmother are forced to escape a quake in a purloined vehicle, a space "ark" (like on the show LEXX!) with a third guy, a man, a spacer no less, and go thru the phases of grief; denial, anger, etc. and all from the young woman's POV.
They discover amazing thing, including other forms of life and unknown lands, mountains even that no one has seen or even guessed were there.
Short, quick story __ I hope it becomes part of a novel someday.
It's been EIGHT YEARS since then, and I'm getting a different experience; I'm identifying with the grandmother, Mota, not her daughter Osaji!
Very interesting science: people living on large planets, with heavy pressure under the seas.. which is the only place people believe they can live on those worlds.
A woman and her grandmother are forced to escape a quake in a purloined vehicle, a space "ark" (like on the show LEXX!) with a third guy, a man, a spacer no less, and go thru the phases of grief; denial, anger, etc. and all from the young woman's POV.
They discover amazing thing, including other forms of life and unknown lands, mountains even that no one has seen or even guessed were there.
Short, quick story __ I hope it becomes part of a novel someday.
March 12, 2014
I read this without having any pre-conceived ideas of what the story was about, and was pleasantly surprised. The story was low-key but engaging. The world was mysterious and baffling but also, for the most part non-hostile. Osaji, the main character, was very well drawn. She is a woman caught in the confines of her society and family obligation, with frustration and dreams that seemed very real to me.
The world is fascinating, although at times the science seems a bit baffling. How they can go up and down in depth in such a deep ocean without suffering from decompression issues is ignored... having some knowledge of how nitrogen bubbles out of your blood in decompression I could not understand how this could be waved away... except perhaps that the world they are on has extremely low gravity so consequently the weight of the ocean is proportionally less... but still not satisfying.
And living in organic submarines that have NO MEANS OF PROPULSION? Oh, that is just insane. How do they dock the bloody things when they come back from "floatabout"?
Although I found the interaction between Osaji and Mota annoying I guess Osaji got off easy in the end. Although it is part of life, its not particularly entertaining reading.
For me, as much as I had some issues with the story, and the character of Scrappin' Jack was a bit two dimensional, and its not the kind of story I would normally read... still I found the story one I had a difficult time putting down.
December 4, 2016
This is a very short book by Carolyn Ives Gilman that I bought because I was going to Swecon in Stocholm, which Carolyn would attend as a 'Guest of honor'. I was very excited to get to meet her and, obviously, had to have a book for her to sign!
My intention was to buy her better known book 'Halfway Human', but couldn't get it in time for the convention, so this is what I got instead.
It is a cute coming of age story, about a girl rebelling against her confined life and all the expectations surrounding her maturity. The world building, or rather "under water world building" is rather interesting, but the story and the characters are pretty flat and not that interesting. I guess it's hard to build an entire world, several characters and a gripping story in only fourty pages. I did enjoy it though, but wish it had been fourty pages longer.
My main goal was to get the book signed, and that I did achieve!
Caroline was an interesting guest at the con, and a very nice and friendly person.
I really look forward to reading more of her work!
My intention was to buy her better known book 'Halfway Human', but couldn't get it in time for the convention, so this is what I got instead.
It is a cute coming of age story, about a girl rebelling against her confined life and all the expectations surrounding her maturity. The world building, or rather "under water world building" is rather interesting, but the story and the characters are pretty flat and not that interesting. I guess it's hard to build an entire world, several characters and a gripping story in only fourty pages. I did enjoy it though, but wish it had been fourty pages longer.
My main goal was to get the book signed, and that I did achieve!
Caroline was an interesting guest at the con, and a very nice and friendly person.
I really look forward to reading more of her work!
August 26, 2016
This is a very enjoyable novella (if it's even that long -- the download is deceptive, as it includes a substantial preview). The worldbuilding is clever and original, and the characters are reasonably three-dimensional. The story also avoids taking the relationship of the two main characters to the cliched destination it could have reached.
The book reads like a prequel or an accompaniment to some additional stories, which I gather it is not. (While it shares a universe with some other books, I gather they do not take place on the same world.) I was a bit restless about one unanswered question: the discoveries the protagonists make pose a challenge to the world view of the society from which one of them comes, and we see very little to forecast how that society may cope. There is also a sympathetic, indeed pivotal, minor character whose probable fate I would have liked to see acknowledged.
Some members of my book group posited that the female protagonist's personal journey symbolically reflected the situation of women in certain cultures. It may.
The book reads like a prequel or an accompaniment to some additional stories, which I gather it is not. (While it shares a universe with some other books, I gather they do not take place on the same world.) I was a bit restless about one unanswered question: the discoveries the protagonists make pose a challenge to the world view of the society from which one of them comes, and we see very little to forecast how that society may cope. There is also a sympathetic, indeed pivotal, minor character whose probable fate I would have liked to see acknowledged.
Some members of my book group posited that the female protagonist's personal journey symbolically reflected the situation of women in certain cultures. It may.
October 10, 2013
About one fifth the length it should have been. Perhaps if I were Japanese I would have balked at the characterization of Osaji, but as I am not I didn't see her as the same flat sterotype that her wild west partner was. A little more subtlety on his part would have been welcome. It was a little hard to believe that a space-faring civilization would not have known that there was life on the planet before they touched down, but it was a forgivable contrivance for the story. Despite it all, I enjoyed this brief adventure and wished that it were longer.
February 22, 2016
The setting is interesting but the highlight of this story set in a society with odd mores is a bit of situational comedy driven by culture clash.
Much of the word count is devoted to something else however... I won't spoil it except to say it's imaginative but highly implausible and has very little payoff. The story ends with a preachy moral instead.
Also of note: caring for a parent with dementia (or was that something else?) is an important but secondary topic.
Much of the word count is devoted to something else however... I won't spoil it except to say it's imaginative but highly implausible and has very little payoff. The story ends with a preachy moral instead.
Also of note: caring for a parent with dementia (or was that something else?) is an important but secondary topic.
April 6, 2016
I enjoyed "Dark Orbit" so much, I started looking for Gilman's previous work. In Nebula-nominated "Arkfall", she tackles personal issues dealing with deciding what path to take in life, and how much say you have in how you live, from the point of view of a character trapped in a ship which can only follow currents, with little ability to change direction. The ending is a little bit too much on the nose, but not enough to spoil the overall effect.
August 22, 2016
I liked the story, which is about the explorer's spirit and the shackles of familial obligation. I wish that more of the story would have revolved around the locations that Osaji and Jack (and Mota) discover, but then again I'd have preferred this be a full novel. I feel like it could've been, but it's not bad as-is. Definitely recommended if you've enjoyed the rest of Gilman's Twenty Planets series.
November 30, 2012
This story was amazing. It had only 57 pages (at least this is what my ereader showed) but if felt complete. The underwater world was so fascinating ... so many times I was wondering how it will be to have a world self-sustained. Osaji and Jack characters are antagonist, but they complete each other so well. The writing was beatiful, definitely a recommended reading.
January 20, 2013
Arkfall is a surprisingly brilliant 5-star novella. The story centers on a group of three people who are set adrift in an underwater alien world. The peculiarity of the underwater world is fun, and interesting concepts are introduced to explain how humans can adapt to living in the environment. The driving force of Arkfall though is the great character development from beginning to end.
April 11, 2011
Very short (I read it over two days during lunch at work) but very good. I could read scientifically grounded books about the exploration of other planets all day. Especially those with a good plot and believable characters, like this one.
December 3, 2010
This is one of the most literary, yet also firmly science fictional, work I have read yet... Highly recommended!
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November 14, 2011Bounced off the initial framing (Wild West dude, really?), which is a pity because I haven't read any SF in a while and miss it. This one isn't for me.
June 3, 2012
An interesting read with a fantastic main character and some unique ideas.
July 1, 2012
A fascinating world. I liked the writing and unique ideas so much I immediately went onto to read another by Gilman.
August 31, 2012
Too short but it was ok
November 10, 2013
short, but perfect length. loved it.
will add more when its not 1.10am. Well, I had to finish it!
will add more when its not 1.10am. Well, I had to finish it!
January 21, 2016
Fascinating short novella of a deep ocean colony on another planet.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews