Starship Summer by Eric Brown

Eric Brown’s Starship Summer is a novella about Conway, a man who recently moved from Earth to a colony planet. Although the planet is famous for its Golden Column—religious pilgrims flock to it—Conway has come only to escape the tragedy of his past. Conway buys a spaceship to use as his home, expecting it to be novel and charming, but not expecting what he gets: a spaceship that seems to have been built by some unknown alien race for a purpose hinted at in his dreams. As Conway and his new friends get to know each other, it becomes clear that each of them is haunted by the past. As they begin to resolve their internal conflicts and try to figure out what Conway’s spaceship is meant for, the friends discover something they never expected.

Brown does a great job of characterization, particularly in making us want to find out about the characters. (Why won’t Maddie touch anything? Who is Hawk’s mysterious partner? What’s been happening to Matt? Can Conway get over his past?) The characters are likeable, and their stories are never overshadowed by the greater events. Brown has a knack for balance with regard to them and his descriptions of the setting. Some SF authors are so proud of their ideas that, even in a simple visit to the john, all the specifications of wondrously different future technology are detailed as though in an instruction manual. Brown completely avoids that trap, presenting his vision of the future as simply part of the story and in such an understated way that it makes the story more believable—with the result that the reader pays more attention to such seeming trivia than if he had heralded it with a trumpet.

And yet, Starship Summer never quite works for me. While there are a few minor details that caught my attention—early on, someone is referred to as “African-American,” and while it turns out to be technically accurate, it’s jarring on a colony planet; something is referred to as “the size of a lighter”; there’s no explanation offered for how/why human and alien anatomy would be sexually compatible; and the characters seem to spend an inordinate amount of time drinking—the primary issue is that nothing that happens seems particularly momentous. The secret they learn makes life more convenient, but the buildup to it makes us expect something universe altering to take place. Instead, it’s more like building a better mousetrap.

As for the personal issues relating to people’s pasts, Maddie’s problem is conveniently solved by the resolution of the story, but there’s no reason given for why the solution to her problem should lie within the secret; it seems like an incidental side note tacked on to tie up loose ends. The way that romantic dilemmas are resolved seems improbable and sometimes outright incomprehensible, and Conway and friends are unbelievably trusting. In a way, it feels like Starship Summer was intended to be a longer work with a more satisfying resolution—one that would match all the build-up—but somehow Brown stopped writing too soon.

Publisher: PS Publishing (Oct. 2007)
Hardcover: £10.00 [$20.00 USD]
Limited edition slipcase hardcover: £50.00 [$100.00 USD]