Subject: Review of SIDESHOW by Sheri S. Tepper

From: [email-masked] (David Wong Shee)
Date: 20 Jun 1994 19:48:09 GMT

SYNOPSIS: In a future it is believed that the answer to the Great 
Question i.e. "What is the Destiny of Man?"< will arise from the human 
diversity.  Unfortunately the mysterious Hobbs Land gods have wiped out 
diversity among humanity throughout the rest of the galaxy.  In a last 
desperate attempt to answer the Great Question the last remnants of 
humanity uncontaminated by these Gods have been transported to the 
planet Elsewhere.  They represent humanity's last hope of answering the 
Great Question.  While awaiting the advent of the answer members of the 
Great Question Committee, consisting of the most eminent academics of 
mankind, are disembodied and their identities mapped into an 
indestructible computer Core on Elsewhere.

A party consisting of: Fringe Owldark, Danivon Luze, Curvis (Enforcers 
pledged to the preservation of diversity); Bertran and Nela Zy-Czorsky 
(a pair of non-identical siamese twins); Jory (Prophetess emeritus) and 
Asner (Myth-eater); travel to the province of Panubi to investigate the 
possible arrival of the Hobbs Land gods on Elsewhere. 

COMMENTS: Sideshow extends the exploration of themes touched on in her
1989 novel Grass.  Questions pursued include:  

*    What is the potential role of religion in human affairs as a      
     vehicle for evil?  

*    Are there ethical principles which transcend cultural differences?  
     Under what circumstances (if any) is it legitimate to intervene in  
     another society?  Are there such things as "universal human rights" 
     and "crimes against humanity"?

*    What is the nature of free will and choice for individuals born     
     into societies with long traditions of inequality and oppression?

*    Is it the fate of humanity to constantly repeat the atrocities of   
     the past with successively greater technological amplification?  To 
     create Gods which then turn and threaten to destroy us?

The book successfully combines satire, horror and irony while neither 
succumbing to excessive cynicism, nor, in the end, despairing of the 
possibility that humanity can redeem itself from the sins of the past.

"To all those who ride the great dragon Wonder" Tepper.

%A   Tepper, Sheri S.
%T   Sideshow
%I   Bantam Spectra Books
%C   New York
%D   May 1992 
%G   ISBN 0-553-56098-0 
%O   Paperback, US$21.50