Just Over the Horizon by Greg Bear

Published by Open Road Media on April 26, 2016

Just Over the Horizon collects a number of stories (and a teleplay) written by Greg Bear. The volume showcases Bear’s versatility, mixing science fiction, fantasy, horror, and (in one instance) mainstream fiction. The science fiction is more to my taste than the other stuff, but fantasy fans might enjoy the stories that didn’t appeal to me.

My favorite in the collection is “Just Over the Horizon,” a first contact story that takes place on Mars. Its strength is its recognition that alien life is likely to be completely beyond human understanding, at least at first glimpse. Another entry I enjoyed is “Genius,” an unproduced script written for the 2000 version of The Outer Limits. The teleplay involves scientists/mathematicians who are lured into opening a portal to another dimension where shadow creatures dwell. That’s a standard television plot but I liked the autistic child Bear imagined as a main character, as well as the scientific detail that supports the story.

“Blood Music” is well-known for being the first (or at least the first widely read) story to imagine a version of nanotechnology (biology-based rather than machine-based) that changes the body and redefines what it means to be human. It won a Hugo and a Nebula and Bear later turned it into a novel. “Blood Music” is a good story but I don’t think it has the impact now that it must have had to readers who read it more than 30 years ago.

“Tangents,” another Hugo and Nebula winner, is about a boy who has a talent for visualizing things/places/beings in the fourth dimension. I like the setting and characters more than the story. It probably deserved the attention it got for featuring an Alan Turing stand-in who was persecuted because of his sexual identity. The theme was less common in 1986, when the story was published, than it is today.

“Sisters” is too syrupy for my taste. A girl with unaltered genomes is unhappy that she doesn’t fit in with her pretty high school classmates, despite her computerized therapist’s assurance that she is not a freak. The theme of society’s obsession with the superficial is heavy-handed, and the story relies on an obvious contrivance to make obvious points: “we are all the same underneath” and “everyone is important.” Still, the “I’m special even though the cool kids don’t like me” lesson is one that always plays well with the younger sf fans who are the story’s natural audience.

“Schrodinger’s Plague” turns the “Schrodinger’s Cat” thought experiment into a real experiment, but not one that involves cats. The story is a little to abstract for me to appreciate, but I’ve never been a fan of thought experiments. “Silicon Times E-Book Review” purports to be a robot’s review of a novel written by another robot. It’s an amusing diversion.

“Through Road No Wither” is a quasi-religious, quasi-supernatural “revenge against the Nazis” story. There isn’t much to it. “Dead Run,” about a hitchhiker to Hell who is looking for his dead girlfriend, is a better story with a religious theme, although it didn’t do much for me. The ending takes a twist that explains why the story was filmed as an episode of the revived Twilight Zone series.

Science fiction stories about religion tend to extoll the superiority of scientists as compared to everyone else. “The Visitation” is one of those. I’m not religious but I’m also not a fan of hubris.

“The White Horse Child” is a story about a child who learns to be a storyteller. It has a whiff of the supernatural. Bear says it is one of his most popular stories, but it did nothing for me. I’m also not a fan of urban fantasy, which describes “Sleepside Story,” a “photographic negative” of Beauty and the Beast.

“Webster” is about a middle-aged virgin who conjures a man from the words in a dictionary. “Richie by the Sea” is a horror story about a child with a connection to the water who isn’t what he appears to be. Both stories are well-written but again, not the sort of thing I go out of my way to read.

“Warm Sea” could be subtitled “The Old Man and the Squid.” It isn’t science fiction but it is the most literary effort in the collection. The story proves that Bear can unleash some fine prose when he is of a mind to do so.

On the whole, I liked some of the stories in this collection but was indifferent to the majority of them. Again, fantasy fans might view this more favorably. A good story is a good story in any genre but Bear's brand of fantasy didn't work for me.

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