From rec.arts.sf-lovers Wed May 8 13:18:57 1991 Xref: herkules.sssab.se rec.arts.sf-lovers:26785 rec.arts.books:11272 Path: herkules.sssab.se!isy!liuida!sunic!mcsun!uunet!wuarchive!uwm.edu!linac!att!att!cbnewsk!cbnewsj!ecl From: ecl@cbnewsj.att.com (Evelyn C. Leeper) Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.books Subject: THE SILICON MAN by Charles Platt Message-ID: <1991May7.114544.6339@cbnewsj.att.com> Date: 7 May 91 11:45:44 GMT Followup-To: rec.arts.sf-lovers Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 34 THE SILICON MAN by Charles Platt Bantam Spectra Special Editions, 1991, ISBN 0-553-28950-0, $4.50. A book review by Evelyn C. Leeper Copyright 1991 Evelyn C. Leeper One of my major complaints with "cyberpunk" (whatever that is) is that it is usually written in something not quite resembling English. (One has only to look at Greg Bear's QUEEN OF ANGELS as a recent example of what I'm talking about.) Now at last someone is writing something about computers, technology, and the future that's readable. James Bayley is an FBI agent investigating the illegal trade in guns (and other more interesting weapons). Unfortunately, he accidentally discovers more than hot guns--he discovers a secret project that some scientists are working on. Well, it's not quite secret; the secret is how far along they've actually gotten. The project involves putting consciousness into a computer, and lucky Bayley discovers that he is going to end up in the forefront of science. Only one catch: the procedure kills the subject. Platt draws an interesting picture of life inside a computer. Whether it's accurate, who knows? But it is original; Platt has not made a carbon copy (silicon copy?) of all the other cyberpunk visions. And he makes it real, makes it convincing, makes it logical. The style is straightforward, without all the "eye hits" that are supposed to characterize cyberpunk. And it has substance as well--Platt makes us think about the consequences of the changes our society is going through. The only flaw is the final chapter-- why on earth this was tacked on to the end of a book that was perfectly fine without it I cannot understand. I suppose someone decided it was more "commercial" or "palatable" with it. I still wholeheartedly recommend THE SILICON MAN--just stop at page 247. Evelyn C. Leeper | +1 908 957 2070 | att!mtgzy!ecl or ecl@mtgzy.att.com From rec.arts.sf.reviews Thu Apr 11 16:26:34 1996 Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written,rec.arts.sf.reviews Path: news.ifm.liu.se!news.lejonet.se!newsfeed.tip.net!news.jos.net!dos.canit.se!seunet!mn7.swip.net!mn6.swip.net!plug.news.pipex.net!pipex!weld.news.pipex.net!pipex!rail.news.pipex.net!pipex!tube.news.pipex.net!pipex!dish.news.pipex.net!pipex!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.kei.com!uhog.mit.edu!news!news From: "Stevens R. Miller" Subject: Review: "Protektor" by Charles Platt Message-ID: Followup-To: rec.arts.sf.written Keywords: author=Stevens R. Miller Lines: 119 Sender: wex@tinbergen.media.mit.edu (Graystreak) Organization: Law Office of Stevens R. Miller X-Newsreader: (ding) Gnus v0.94 Date: Sat, 6 Apr 1996 07:25:16 GMT Approved: wex@media.mit.edu Lines: 119 Xref: news.ifm.liu.se rec.arts.sf.written:143536 rec.arts.sf.reviews:924 "Protektor" by Charles Platt. Review by Stevens R. Miller This review is in the public domain. A backlash has developed, in recent years, against a kind of science fiction protagonist oft-referred to as "the competent man." Robert Heinlein, if not its inventor, was its master craftsman. His hero (or his hero's father figure) always knew the answer, always picked the lock, always hit the target. And, he *always* kept his powder dry. So it is refreshing that Charles Platt's title character, a super-policeman software hacker named Tom McCray, is a flawed fellow. Unfortunately, no one but the reader seems to notice McCray's flaws, until the very end of the book. McCray is an Anomalyst (popularly known as a "protektor"), employed by the pervasive-but-benign "Protektorate" to solve the rare-but-deadly problems introduced into the central control computers of the future's automated worlds. Harking back to the "one riot, one ranger" school, McCray is the sole force of law and order sent to Agorima when a few "system malfunctions" (such as mid-air collisions) raise doubts about that planet's all-important "Mains." He is accompanied by an "auton" named Lee. Lee is a laconic humanoid robot, able to interface directly with nearly any "lek" (electronic) system. (And here I simply must warn those who find gratuitous substitution of "k" for "ch" and hard "c" to proceed with caution; Mr. Platt seems to love this construction.) In a relationship perhaps borrowed from "The Day the Earth Stood Still," it is Lee who actually holds the highest office. Protektor McCray contributes the human intuition Lee lacks. But it is the auton, acting as an arm of the government, that sees to it that the inviolable "Human Instruction Set" (effectively the universal constitution) is enforced. Always helpful, politely inflexible, quietly ominous, Lee is one part Gort, and one part R. Daneel Olivaw. The story, however, is about McCray. McCray, like Lee, is also wired for full multimedia, a feature that permits him to be, virtually, anywhere, or anyone, at any time. For a detective (or "tektive"), this is a powerful tool and the author has explored its possibilities very well. The book's most inventive scene involves the confusion arising from linking McCray's sensory implants to the signals from another similarly equipped person who is, at that time, experiencing a virtual reality. Science fiction's competent man would sort this out by reflex action. McCray, however, is utterly fooled, reacting instead by emotion and impatience. Indeed, impatience seems to be McCray's defining quality and it's what robs him of the competence he might otherwise achieve. He understands the technology he's investigating and uses it effectively. Yet he interacts with every human he meets by shaking his fist, pounding the table, and saying things like, "Look, I don't have time to play these games." Well, all right, he doesn't. The computers on Agorima are degrading faster every day and lives are very much at stake. The planet could no more function without its Mains than Manhattan could survive without its traffic lights. But does he have to sputter so much? It's a frustrating feature of the tale, because so many of those McCray sputters at (Eva Kurimoto, beautiful journalist made reluctant sidekick; Joe Belman, weak-willed do- gooder; and a long list of corrupt businessfolk and other bad eggs) keep telling him (and us) how bigger-than-life he is. But he's not. He is, at times, maddeningly meek. Repeatedly, when confronting witnesses and suspects, he tells them not about the flaming bodies dropping into children's playgrounds, but of "several malfunctions." Okay, "serious" ones. Now, it turns out that this is an aspect of just who Tom McCray is deep down, and of how he came to be a Protektor. But, that is saved for the last three pages of the book. By that time, it's too little, too late. His odd priorities (a squeak in Lee's hip drives him nearly to distraction, for example) make no sense in the face of his mission. Further, the beneficent Human Instruction Set (which owes much to Asimov's Three Laws) would seem to make personal liberty the sole purpose of government. Nonetheless, McCray tramples over privacy, liberty, and property, as he wanders around in pursuit of his villain. When asked to justify his crass behavior, he's likely to deny having time for someone else's tantrum. Before the end, his contradictory ways are admitted, but it's a footnote, at best. Mr. Platt's future world is devoid of both want and mortality. As McCray roams around in it, we can see a vision of what such coddling conditions might yield. And, mostly, it would appear to be masturbation. Platt's "Free Zone" suggested that the best government would be no government; that faith in your neighbors was liberty's best bet. Here, he speculates about life after a world of plenty makes government-as-controller-of-scarce-resources a thing of the past. Endless bounty rids humanity of the need to work. Instead of neighborly harmony, however, Mr. Platt's Utopia is a bacchanalia. It's a striking alternative to the intellectually superior Spacers of Asimov's Dawn, particularly given that author's frequent criticism of humanity as an unsophisticated herd. I don't know if Mr. Platt would want to live in the world he describes, but I find his rendition the more likely, and therefore the more compelling. Overall, "Protektor" was more promise than delivery. It is sprinkled with ideas ranging from the neat, to the fascinating, to the profound. Yet, most of these are never developed because they must make room for each other. The book's most unsatisfying aspect is that it makes up (or tries to) for this lack of development by scattering boxes of pure exposition across its pages. Apparently intended to be excerpts from authoritative texts, they read more like a writer's notes, prepared in order to organize the backdrop against which the actual story might be told. Popping up in mid-sentence, they always contribute helpful information, but they do so in the most extreme violation of the "show, don't tell" rule you may ever see. I would have preferred more story. In particular, I would have preferred more story drawn from fewer ideas. The Protektor gets the job done and, if you find his way of doing it as exasperating as I did, his final moments of self-examination will salve your tortured soul. But, he needs to calm down, think a bit more, and be as competent as everyone keeps telling him he is. If Charles Platt can do that for McCray's next adventure, it will be worth the reading. Two stars out of four. %A Platt, Charles %T Protektor %D February 1996 %G ISBN 0-380-78431-9 %I Avon Books, Avonova %O Paperback, US$5.99 %P 294 pp. -- Stevens R. Miller http://www.interport.net/~lex/