Walter Mosley, best known as a mystery writer, makes his second foray into science fiction with FUTURELAND, a set of related short stories. Far less linear than a standard narrative, these nine stories nevertheless share characters and a future dystopia marked by a brutal economic system, carefully censored news, and an influential church ruled by one of the planet's most evil men.
Into this world, Mosley inserts his cast of characters --- a female boxer taking on the men at the sport's highest levels, a prisoner stripped of his citizenship and controlled by a frightening device, and a detective on the trail of an assassin, among many others --- each of whom is struggling to subvert the rules of the system. They do so with varying degrees of success, but it is this common theme of individuals trying to rise above adversity that makes these stories successful to the extent that they are. Most of Mosley's protagonists are black, and despite all the changes he envisions in the future, historical prejudices are still central to life and provide much of the conflict found in the stories.
The best of the stories feature well-executed, if not entirely original, storylines. "Angel's Island," for example, tells the story of Bits, a hacker sentenced to a prison where everyone is controlled by "snakes" attached to their arms. Part adventure story, part exploration of the moral aspects of prisons, "Angel's Island" works on a number of levels. "Little Brother" is a similar story in which a defendant seeks to outwit his computerized judge and jury. Questions of what constitutes a fair trial are at the heart of this story.
The book's strongest story, however, is "Voices," a stunning consideration of mind/body dualism that would have made Philip K. Dick proud. Medical ethics, a most timely topic in this new age of cloning and other scientific breakthroughs, are the foundation for this beautifully rendered tale about brain transplants and where personality resides.
Unfortunately, many of the stories, while rich in ideas, are stylistically impoverished, relying too heavily on almost academic discourses on the socioeconomic nature of the future. In addition, Mosley occasionally serves up hackneyed writing reminiscent of the worst of pulp science fiction. The first flaw is admittedly difficult to overcome, as only the very best science fiction writers consistently immerse readers in future worlds without resorting to lengthy explanatory passages, and then sometimes at the cost of clarity. The second problem, however, which results in sentences like, "Now he had a five-pound X-ray flasher under his red parka designed to save all of the black people of the world," is more serious if an author seeks to escape the stigma of producing mere genre fiction.
At his best, Mosley offers up snatches of "literary" science fiction, but FUTURELAND falls short of consistently reaching that lofty goal and is, as a result, an uneven book.
--- Reviewed by Rob Cline (RJBCline@aol.com)
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