Lucas Blogs About Uncharted Territory

What do any of these pictures have to do with each other?

So, what's this book's de–Hey! The title of this blog post and the title on the cover are different,  though slightly similar. What gives?

Well, you may have noticed that the cover also says, "Three Novellas," so I figured I could write up each one independently.

And turn one book into three posts?

Well, since the first two novellas are each more than one hundred pages long, I'd say they'd be better served by being reviewed separately rather than together. Also, you gotta generate content somehow.

I'll allow it.

How kind of you, Hypothetical Reader.

I'm nothing if not understanding.

See, it's a reviewable item, I think.

Anyway, this book's deal is that it's a novella, originally published in the 90s and now collected as part of a new book by Nebula and Hugo award winning writer Connie Willis. It's a sci-fi western about a couple of human surveyors mapping out an alien planet with the help (and occasional hindrance) of an indigenous guide. Drs Findriddy and Carson have a bit of squabbling old married couple dynamic (with plenty of unspoken romantic tension) that's disrupted by the arrival of Evelyn Parker, a temporary addition to the expedition who happens to be a biologist specializing in the mating habits of alien fauna. Carson is initially eager to welcome a woman to the expedition who isn't already sick of him, but it turns out that Evelyn is a man. Meanwhile, their pilot CJ is trying to seduce Evelyn into naming something — anything — on the planet after her, and there's a suspicious prospector trying to bribe their guide, Bult, into showing him deposits of oil and other mineral resources.

Anything else you want to throw in there?

Naw, that pretty much sets the table. The actual story is set in motion when Carson and Finriddy (with Evelyn and Bult in tow) are sent out on an expedition into uncharted territory (see there's the title right there). Their superiors on Earth have noticed something unusual in aerial photography and want a closer look. But that's not what it's really about.

If I had eyes, I'd be rolling them right now.

Well, I mean, that's what the text is about, but the sub—

Yeah, yeah, the story has layers, just like an ogre.

Look, the story is really about how people get along with each other and the ways in which they express affection. Like good-natured ribbing, right, Hypothetical Reader.

Wait, you don't think I'm . . .

No, of course, not, that would be ridiculous.

I mean, would it be that ridiculous.

Let's get back to "Uncharted Territory."

Yes, of course. So, it's kind of a romance?

Kinda, yeah, though less so than the next novella in the book.

Whoa! Spoilers!

I do have eyes and I'm rolling them right now. Be serious.

All right, when you say it's kind of a romance . . . 

Well, without getting into the dreaded spoilarz, let's say that it's more about characters coming to terms with their unspoken feelings than it is about sweeping declarations and a big damn kiss.

Gotcha! How does Willis deploy the other genre elements? Like what exactly is the big sci-fi idea here?


Hmm, I've been giving it some thought. So part of the premise is that Fin and Carson are conducting their survey under the auspices of a Federation-like organization and are subject to any number of restrictions on how they can interact with the flora, fauna, and indigenous population. Supposedly their government wants to protect the natural environment and  ensure that the native populace maintains control of the planets' resources, but the protagonists also (all right, I'm just gonna go ahead and discuss some SPOILARZ) realize that their government isn't just going to sit back if they discover that the planet has valuable mineral resources, so they've been purposefully falsifying reports to exclude shale formations and quartz deposits. So, you know, it's a bit more cynical about the ways in which human beings might behave if we were to colonize space and encounter life on other planets.

So then are the Western elements a bit on the nose?

No, in fact, Willis satirizes what you might expect out of a more standard space Western by having Evelyn be an avid fan of a series of holographic dramas based on the exploits of Carson and Finriddy. In these adventures the characters are more exaggerated and their adventures aren't complicated by ambiguity or moral questions.

Then this is a bit more three-dimensional?

Def-o! Willis is a talented writer and although the world she's describing is more or less analogous to the American Southwest, she manages to incorporate a lot of little details that make the world feel like a real, distinct place. Part of this is due to the fact that while Finriddy is the narrator, the audience stand-in character is Evelyn. There's very little in the way of initial exposition. Fin already knows why, for example, the large nomadic herbivores are called "luggage," but she doesn't reveal it until she has to explain to Evelyn that the native word for them sounds like "suitcase."

Oh, that's a neat detail.

It makes the whole thing feel more immersive.

All right sounds like we have an outright recommendation on our hands.

We do, although it drags a bit here and there. It took me a surprisingly long time to finish. But overall, it has a lot going for it.

Close enough.

"Uncharted Territory" from Terra Incognita: Three Novellas by Connie Willis, Del Rey trade paperback edition, 2018 (originally published 1994), 133 pages, pairs well with water from your canteen and contemplation of your country's colonial legacy

Links:

Here's Connie Willis's website, if you're into that kinda thing.

As you can see from her Wikipedia page, Willis is a frequent award nominee and winner.