Steven Utley had a rather innovative idea when he began writing this unusual series of stories, in which discovery of a space-time anomaly in the 21st century leads to human exploration in the Silurian Period, roughly 400 million years in the past. In this period plant life was just beginning to get a foothold in the coastal areas of large land masses, and the only major sea life consisted of primitive fish and arthropods. Sounds like a pretty dull setting in terms of story possibilities, right? As Gardner Dozois points out in his introduction, any other writer would have set these stories during the age of dinosaurs, so that the stories could be enlivened by the occasional dinosaur attack. There was no possibility of this happening in the Silurian period, so where are the dramatic possibilities in this setting? Well, Utley surprised a lot of readers by what he managed to accomplish with this seemingly limited concept. That he was able to write 36 stories (collected in two volumes, the second being INVISIBLE KINGDOMS) around this concept is simply amazing.
What Utley discovered was that this rather dull landscape provided a perfect backdrop for character-driven stories, allowing for a huge range of commentary on the human condition. Science, love, religion, politics, and the whole range of human emotions are explored through a kaleidoscope of characters. Utley has a gift for nuanced characterization; the dialogue is convincing and organic, and the speculations involving time travel and the many-worlds theory of quantum physics are fascinating. The background is thoroughly researched and provides a documentary-like verisimilitude, telling the overarching story of the exploration of a new frontier. If you are a reader who prefers action-oriented plots then this book is probably not for you, but for those who enjoy literate, character driven science fiction this book is a feast. If you like this book then you need to also read the second volume of stories called INVISIBLE KINGDOMS, also available from Amazon. The second volume really delves deeply into the underlying quantum weirdness that pervades this series of stories. Steven Utley was a talented short fiction writer who deserved a much wider readership. Although he passed away a few months ago, I hope more readers discover his work through these excellent books as well as his earlier collections, GHOST SEAS, THE BEASTS OF LOVE, and WHERE OR WHEN. All highly recommended!
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Quiet. Subtle. Smart. Mature. A Nearly Perfect Collection. Rated 97% Positive.
THE 400-MILLION-YEAR ITCH: IS RATED 97%.19 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 17 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR /0 DNFIf you want quiet, mature, and thoughtful science fiction driven by very human characters and hard science, Steven Utley’s Silurian Tales are for you. In many ways, these stories remind me of Ray Bradbury’s Martian Chronicles, but Utley chose a ‘boring’ past earth instead of Bradbury’s flamboyant fantasy of Mars.This stories take place in the distant past - the Silurian Era (or an alternate universe almost identical to that era. This is a mundane and boring past without the classic tropes of time travel fiction. Gardner Dozois in his introduction says it best.Choosing such a landscape as the setting for time-travel stories is a move of breathtaking audacity … There’s only the bleak landscape of the Silurian Age, and the peculiarities and paradoxes and intricate workings of time-travel itself, and, set against that plain, pure, desolate background, the characters, who are free to interact in the most subtle and movingly human of ways with little else to distract the reader from them.This is book of subtle and quiet stories. Stories full of real people and their real emotions. As you read this collection, you will find yourself sinking into a comfortable world of Steven Utley’s creation. You may have a bit of culture shock when you put the book down.The Wind Over the World • (1996) The best standalone story in the collection is this complex examination of survivor’s guilt. Through happenstance, one of the two time travelers disappears during the space/time warp. For the woman that is left, what should have been the greatest moment of her life is now saturated with unearned guilt and resentment for that guilt. Superb.***THE 400-MILLION-YEAR ITCH: IS RATED 97%.19 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 17 GOOD / 1 AVERAGE / 0 POOR / 0 DNFAll of Creation • (2008)Good. A man experiences new purpose when he meets his brother and discovers living trilobites.The Woman Under the World • (2008)Good. Story of a woman caught ‘out of phase’ during time travel. Haunting.Walking in Circles • (2002)Good. The experience of time travel is brought down to mundanity by the very human feeling of envy.Beyond the Sea • (2002)Good. A man trades family expectations of a music career for a career in the sciences.The Gift Horse • (2012)Average. Interviewer and subject discuss the difference between time travel and travel into an alternative universe past.Promised Land • (2005)Good. A paleobiologist is dying, contented with his career. Then time travel is discovered and his colleagues are going and he can’t.The Age of Mud and Slime • (1996)Good. A group of sailors on assignment in the past drink beer and argue about the butterfly effect.The Wind Over the World • (1996)Great. A beautifully sad story of survivor’s guilt. A young woman travels back in time, but the person she’s traveling with becomes lost. A deeply layered emotional story.The Tortoise Grows Elate • (2012)Good. Jane Austen and the sexual dynamics of assembling a time travel team of men and women.Cloud by Van Gogh • (2000)Good. A painter-geologist and an astronomer debate the value of art and science.Half a Loaf • (2001)Good. Talking Christianity in prehistory with a priest and a group of scientists.Chaos and the Gods • (2003)Good. Direct sequel to Half a Loaf. Non-Christian religions are brought into the debate.Foodstuff • (2002)Good. On a boat going upriver, the idea of living off the land in prehistory.Chain of Life • (2000)Good. Relationships, romance, pregnancy, and taking chances among scientists in the ancient past.Exile • (2003)Good. A quietly sad story about how one wrong step can leave you inches from your dream with no chance of reaching it.The End in Eden • (2012)Good. ‘Sin enters the Garden” as the integrity of the science is disrupted by old-fashion crime.Lost Places of the Earth • (2009)Good. Senior academics and young female grad students … in the darkness of a planetarium.A Silurian Tale • (1996)Good. Adjustment to life in the present after a year in the Silurian Era. What do you tell young children about why you didn’t see dinosaurs.The 400-Million-Year Itch • (2008)Good. On of the future people who went back to the Silurian is interviewed about the experience and has trouble explaining the mundane nature of it. And the people who were there with her.
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Books arrived quickly and in excellent condition.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2016