020621c

 

Looking Back

 

From space we see

caravan routes abandoned

these thousands of years

who settled here,

bore their babes

now buried under shifting sand?

their roads remain

and that is all

 

032420b

Antiquities from beyond the Coalsack Nebula




cracking open a bottle of
million-year-old perfume
the heiress drops dead
then immediately rises again
good to know this stuff
works on DNA-based life
next question:
                           how do you turn this flamethrower on?

011120b

Happy birthday to me! Yes, I have been around the sun one more time since last year, just like all the rest of you. And from the perspective of someone digging up the ruins of our civilization, a few short millennia in the future, we were all born at the same time. So happy birthday to you too!

041719

This arcane device
apparently used to scratch religious statements and exhortations
into walls
has the amusing name
of "ottle opene"
our linguists still puzzle
over its meaning

020119

Aliens built a civilization here long ago

Some fool dropped the only skull we ever found of them.  If we had horses, if we had men, if we had kings for that matter, none of that would help. It burst into powder when it hit.

what do they know that we don't know?

stone
tools had
been replaced
high-tech look-alikes
filled the worlds museums; who made
iridium-rich copies of Earth's antiquities?

Can you dig it?

Reynolds, Eric T., ed., 2007, Ruins: Extraterrestrial, Hadley Rille books, Box 25466, Overland Park KS 66225, www.hadleyrillebooks.com. Perfect bound trade paperback, 345 pages, $15.95.


"Nice cover," I thought, though that seems to be typical of this publisher. I enjoyed every story too. There are 23 them, and the theme is obvious from the title of the book.

I have always been fascinated by ruins. Studying them, we catch glimpses of other people, doing other things. Ruins give one a feeling of mortality and also immortality. Here we are, receiving something from those who lived long ago. Some of what we get is passed on unintentionally, and this can be at least as revealing as estimates that are meant for posterity. Considering the past reminds us that we could pass something on too. The fact that we may only have a few crumbs from the biscuit just makes vanished worlds more intriguing. We can take as a premise that ancient people were not so different, really, from us, because varied circumstances have the same basic human material to work with in creating cultures and societies. Could the same be true of ruins left by aliens? Maybe, maybe not. In _Ruins: Extraterrestrial_, a couple of dozen authors consider this question and others

A few excavations.

I'm not familiar with very many of these authors, which may be a function of my ignorance more than anything else. I was quite impressed the quality of writing.

In "stonework" by Wendy Waring, an archaeologist of sorts encounters a relic of a civilization that isn't quite as dead as it seems. This story doesn't answer any questions, but it raises a few.

Justin Stanchfield takes us "Beyond the wall." The concept of a mysterious wall whose far side is unknown is almost a cliché in science fiction. Stanchfield does manage to bring a new twist to the idea. I like the way he like the way he shows, rather than tell, what is going on. And what is that exactly? Is the wall a device that manipulates time? Does it merely manipulate minds? Maybe the difference really makes no difference.

Christopher McKitterick introduces a new riff on the end of humanity theme, so wonderfully played by John W. Campbell and others over the past few decades. "The empty utopia" isn't completely empty, but the last cup is about to be drained when the Martians show up in the nick of time. It is a sweet story.

I don't really mean to say something about every single story in this book, because that would make this review longer than it ought to be. The truth is I like just about every story in this book well enough to tell you something about it. I am afraid that talking about these stories is a bit like eating leaves potato chips. "Borrowed time" by Gustavo Bondoni left me wondering what the ending meant. That doesn't happen too often and I quite enjoyed it.

Harvey Welles and Philip Raines use "The dam" to look back from the far side of a profound cultural transition. Something like the singularity of Vernor Vinge. It's almost impossible for us to understand what the far side of such an event would be like, but this story provides a few clues.

One more. "The fateful voyage of _Dame la Liberté_" by Lavie Tidhar reminded me strongly of RA Lafferty. There's nothing like surreality to enhance a story about archaeology.

The bottom line is that Eric has done something really remarkable in this volume. If you are anything like me, you will like every story. Don't wait until it goes out of print!

In the interest of full disclosure: Eric and my wife are old friends.


The end