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FICTIONAL HISTORY
Flying mother nature's silver seed. . . The Bold As Love sequence boldaslove.co.uk concludes (so far) with the turbulent founding of a Chinese-ordered World State. The strand about neurophysics and the breaking of the mind/matter barrier: new science that produces a fearsome superweapon, was always meant to lay the foundations for Peenemunde Buonarotti's prototype instantaneous transit. Where else would a rock and roll fantasy end, if not on the stairway to heaven? In the Aleutian Trilogy the topics are gender politics and colonialism, with a recurring motif of rape -starting with the actual rape of Johnny Guglioli, an alien-chasing US newsman, in White Queen. The Aleutians do not understand death, they have functional, effective reincarnation. They do not understand human gender, but try to fix it, and manage to make a bad situation much, much worse, as colonial powers tend to do. In counterpoint there's the Buonarotti Transit, symbol of hope and reconciliation: the first true means of faster than light travel. The Aleutians have no such technology. Successfully tested the night that First Contact hits the news (that's torn it, says the disappointed inventor). Lost for a hundred years, rediscovered by a "halfcaste" spy and a crippled Aleutian librarian in North Wind; secretly developed in an immersion games arena by the Human Renaissance movement. . .
On one level, WHITE QUEEN is a
moving story of love, betrayal,
and reconciliation, which happens to be set in A.D. 2038. However, on
another level, the novel is a thought-provoking picture of the dystopic
world which could exist just four decades away from the present. Jones
shows third world countries filled with ruined buildings and disease-ridden
people, while the once-proud, overpopulated cities of Europe, such as
London, are made up of rabbit warrens reeking of sewage. The United
States is convulsed by race riots and revolution. Meanwhile, throughout
the world, there are bloody battles called the “Eve-wars,”
because they are initiated by angry feminists. Not surprisingly, when
aliens appear on a planet seemingly so bent on its own destruction,
they are welcomed as potential saviors. .
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NORTH WIND, 1994 UK; 1995 US; nominated for the Arthur
C. Clarke award. "'North Wind' is Jones'
most exciting novel. It's got something for almost every reader: interesting
intellectual puzzles which may hold the key to humanity's future, a
fascinating main character whose many secrets gracefully unfold as the
plot progresses, an exotic religion which is intelligently self-consistent,
and even an interspecies love story."
PHOENIX CAFE, 1997 UK; 1998 US "The author's portrayal of Earth two centuries down the road may be the most brilliant element of Phoenix Café. . . In spite of some inconsistencies, the background is vividly realized, and often convincing exactly because it manages to be disturbing. The characters are equally rich creations, at ease with their cultural antecedents, and shaped by their respective milieus. In presenting them, the author displays a finely honed intelligence and a talent for insight rarely found among science fiction writers . ." Jean-Louis Trudel, Sfsite See also: Lisa
Du Mond "Not on this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, Buy now?: for all three titles go to booksales
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