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Title: Fool's Run
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 221
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Seven years ago Terra Viridian turned a laser array on her own location at a military base in the desert, killing 1500 people. Afterwards, she was found alive and babbling about the dark and visions. She was sentenced to life in the Underworld, a high security, solitary confinement prison on the moon.

Aaron Fisher's pregnant wife was just about to get out of the military seven years ago. She was one of the victim's of Terra. Aaron has been working on hunting down Terra's twin sister Michele to find out from her why Terra suddenly snapped and destroyed Aaron's world. So far, Aaron has had no luck.

Aaron is friends with Sidney Halleck, the owner of a bar where musicians play. One of these musicians, Roger Restak, known as The Magician, has the disturbing ability to get lost in his music and to ignore literally everything around him while playing. He and Aaron have become unlikely friends. A world weary cop and a genius musician.

A Dr. Fiore wants to study Terra and her “visions” that she has continued to talk about. He brings up a new machine to the Underworld that can visualize what Terra is thinking. What he finds is baffling and incomprehensible. He asks the Warden of the Underworld, Jason Klyos if he can bring up a band to see how music affects Terra. He hopes that by understanding how her visuals change in regards to the music that he can begin unraveling what the images of her “visions” means.

Sidney is contacted and puts The Magician up for nomination. The Magician assembles a band, only to find out that his “cuber” not only can't stand heights, but can't travel off the ground without becoming deathly ill. The Magician is at a loss until a former friend, the Queen of Hearts comes back into his life and she volunteers. Aaron and the Queen of Hearts strike it off immediately. Even though Aaron knows she is going to the Underworld and then a tour of the solar system, he opens his heart to her.

The Band makes it to the Underworld, where The Magician meets Terra and while everyone else is looking at the machine where her “visions” come out, The Magician is given a glimpse directly into her mind. This somehow transfers the vision to him. It is also revealed that the Queen of Hearts is Michele Viridian, Terra's twin sister. The Warden calls up Aaron, as he's suspicious of everything going on.

Terra breaks loose and with help from The Magician, flees the Underworld. The Magician takes his own band hostage, locks down the Underworld and begins seeing visions himself. Aaron and the Warden give chase in the only available ship, only to find that Terra has hidden away and has a laser rifle trained on them. They are in contact with the Magician and he must convince them that he and Terra are not crazy. It turns out that both The Magician and Terra were psychic and picking up the emanations of an alien being born. It is born and Terra dies. The Warden pulls his weight and convinces everyone that The Magician was not a criminal terrorist intent on breaking Terra free. The band goes free, Aaron lets go of his hate and hooks up with The Queen of Hearts.

The book ends with The Magician telling both Aaron and Sidney that the alien is now here and watching them.

My Thoughts:

This has got to be the weirdest book I've ever read. When I read it in '07 I was pretty mesmerized by the use of poetic language that McKillip is so good with, but this time, I was just weirded out the entire time. If my time had been a Smallville episode, Allison Mack would definitely have this on her Wall of Weird.

I gave this 4 stars instead of 5 because every time that The Magician would start to explain what was going on, either Aaron Fisher or Jason Klyos the Warden would interrupt him with exclamations of usually disbelief or anger at the subject, ie, aliens. It was super frustrating to read. Magician was trying to put into words something that he had no words for and these 2 idiots just kept making it harder and harder. Thankfully, they finally did shut up and things moved forward.

My initial reaction when I finished this was to simply read it again to make sure I had read what I thought I had read. If I could have written this review and use the word “weird” and nothing but that, I think that would capture the essence.

Quite enjoyable for the trippy experience but unless you're a hardcore McKillip fan, I wouldn't recommend this.

★★★★☆ ( )

Slightly strange, it's not at all apparent to start with where it's going. But about a third of the way through you suddenly realise this is an Oedipus retelling, with extra aliens. Works surprisingly well.

Cerberus (of course this is everyone's favourite character) is replaced by the head of the guards in a remote prison installation. He's slightly physics (or neurotic) and follow's his hunches when it comes to unexplained coincidences, and deviations from normal routine. He's in charge of looking after some of the most dangerous people in the solar system, and the Free World Government (the acronym doesn't get expanded until quite late), is not going to understand any lapses.

It's not clear how benevolent the FWG is. But bars and musicians are ubiquitous, and this far down the timeline bach is as contemporary as anything else. And unlikely quintet get asked to provide a musical background for the longterm prisoners in person, and - well you can see where it all goes from there.

Surprisingly it all just works, there are almost dreamscape like visions which I wasn't keen on but hte rest is good. There's chemistry between the characters, the world is believable, and the consequences startling. Even though i think this is one of her earlier works, and it was first published in the era of pulp SF, it's still something to watch out for. ( )

http://tamaranth.blogspot.co.uk/2016/11/201658-fools-run-patricia-mckillip.html ( )

What McKillip has done for her fantasy novels, she does for scifi. Incredible vivid words. Swirls, colors, thoughts, emotions. All dancing, colliding, drawing away and in the end telling a good story. ( )

this is McKillip's only sf work, and the publisher hedges all bets by describing it as "science fantasy". and it does in some odd way belong in a genre category all by itself - though possibly Samuel Delany's early sf works, of which this book reminded me, might scootch in there beside it. the book doesn't entirely work, i think, but it's full of marvellous ideas, and often beautiful language to describe the indescribable. a poet's work, really. or a musician's. and it's worth the ride, to see where it chooses to go, all the way through mystery and dream to an eerie and disquieting last line that could have inaugurated a whole series. her fantasy works are brilliant, but i could wish McKillip had written more to this side of the genre too. ( )