Subject: PROFITEER by S.Andrew Swann

From: [email-masked] (Wayne Throop)
Date: Wed, 05 Apr 1995 02:52:51 GMT

This is the first of a series of three books, the others to be published
in December 1995 and January 1996, according to information on the
"other books by" page. 

Previously, Swan has written FORESTS OF THE NIGHT, 
EMPERORS OF THE TWILIGHT and SPECTERS OF THE DAWN, set in a post-war
world where genetically engineered combat-critters (called "moreaus"
when derived from non-human stock, and "franks" when derived from
human stock) try to fit into only-human dominated civilian life.

I was very much drawn to those earlier works, despite what I felt was
a bit of a stretch for the main premise.  Despite the problems I saw,
what you get with Swan is a solidly-told adventure story, and a coherent,
detailed, and even (despite my misgivings) plausible and "real-feeling"
world as backdrop.

This work is more of the same.  It is (as far as I know) Swan's fourth
book, and he has gotten gradually better and more polished in each effort
so far.  It is set in an interstellar community that has had a brush
with the Vinge Singularity, and  has hence banned many if not all
autonomous AI, especially self-replicating nanotechnology.  This has
led to a stable but high-tech arena in which to set several stories,
such as this series.  We can also tell that Swan's "moreau/frank" universe
is directly ancestral to this one, but the details don't enter into
the story, and won't disturb anybody who hasn't read the previous books.
Sort of like Heinlein mentioning the Roads, but you don't need to have
read "The Roads Must Roll" to appreciate the later stories.  In this case,
it just provides a sort of exotic background flavor, one of many kinds
of "nonhumans" that populate the story.

Swan's nonhumans are one of his strengths, IMHO.  YMMV, but I found them
much better than the usual human-in-a-slightly-exagerated-
animal-du-jour-suit sort of aliens one usually gets.  The typical
cardboard aliens one gets are cats, see, or centaurs, or reptiles, or
whateverthecase.  And they act like slightly anthropomorphized
caricatures of people's prejudies of their prototype animal.  Bleah. 
Not so with Swan's.  In his frank/moreau stories, it would have been all
too easy for him to fall for that, and he even points out that some
moreau species were based on animals specifically to get animal
psychology: eg: combat teams gengineered from dogs, so that they'd have
a natural "pack" dynamic.  But Swan manages to throw in the bit of
surprise, the bit of complication, the bit of depth that makes it all work. 

For one example, swan has a bird-like alien (depicted on the cover
fairly accurately from the description, BTW).  But he takes pains to
point out that it is NOT a bird, and was evolved independently, and
that calling it a birdlike is only a sort of shorthand for the reality. 
An in that one character, he alludes to a whole culture and social context
of deep-background material for his novel that is part of what lends it
its interesting and complex flavor.

There is also a "Libertarian" flavor involved here, sort of like
Heinlein's _The_Moon_is_a_Harsh_Mistress_, or Vinge's "The Ungoverned",
or F.Paul Wilson's LaNaque Federation stories.  The planet upon which
the action takes place was settled by... well, by anarchists.  You
can form most any kind of organization you want, but if you call it
a "government", your neighbors will turn on you, demolish your works,
and practically salt the earth you contaminated with your heresy.  I must
admit it makes for an interesting arena; not a boring society by a long shot.

The basic plot is laid out fairly early: a CIA-like operation is mounted
to destroy "Godwin Arms", an arms manufacturing corporation on a world
over which the spooks don't really have proper jurisdiction.  And the
manuverings to justify this operation to political oversight, and the
double and triple agendas of the people pushing for and against it are
only the start of the complications.  The person in charge of the operation
has a long-standing grudge against the owner of Godwin Arms; did the
people who assigned him know of this, and want him to pursue his vendetta?
Or were they ignorant, and things are about to blow up in their faces?
Or perhaps a third party slipped the obsessed commander in, and the
blowup is part of somebody *else's* plan.

Wheels within wheels.  And can Godwin Arms' employees anticipate the
future moves of the spooks in time to avert the mysterious "phase two"
of the covert op?  And why *is* that alien so interested in human
military hardware and intra-human covert ops and dirty tricks anyway?

As appropriate in a first-of-series, it ends up with more loose ends
than it answers any fundamental questions.  But you get a rip-roaring
adventure tale to drag you along through the book, so you don't notice
it so much until you are thinking back on the rollercoaster you've just
been on.  A "page turner" as they say, but with some interesting depth
to think about after the last page is turned.  At least, IMHO.

%A S. Andrew Swan
%T Profiteer
%I DAW Books
%C New York
%D April 1995
%G ISBN 0-88677-647-3
%P 349 pp.
%S Hostile Takover
%V Book 1
%O paperback, US$4.99

--
Wayne Throop   [email-masked]
               [email-masked]