Look
at that cover—yes, look at it. I feel like a high school graphic
design student could have done better. But don't let it fool you.
Look at the editor's name. Where so many of his contemporaries are
unable to get variety from their commissioned authors, Ian Whates is
consistently able to deliver themed anthologies with enough material
that strays beyond the core to make things interesting. Such is
2015's Total Conflict.
But
the anthology does not open without giving readers what they expect
based on the spacetroop—ahem, space marine “gracing” the cover.
When a valued space marine falls in combat, his comrades hold an
appropriate wake, complete with whiskey in “The Wake” by Dan
Abnett. Abnett capturing grunt vernacular very nicely, the story
still pans average—classic/generic sf, depending on your
perspective. Largely the same as Abnett’s story (space marines
wielding futuristic guns, engaging in bro talk while shooting at
alien stuff), but without the style, “Psi.Copath” by Andy Remic
ensures the cover image has been thoroughly dealt with.
More
political vignette than military sf, “Unaccounted” by Lauren
Beukes shifts the tone of the anthology. Beukes describes an army
outpost on an alien planet along the same lines of the US occupation
of Iraq or any other similar situation, the edginess of the
exposition its calling card. Cyberpunk meets The War of the
Worlds, “The New Ships” by Gareth L Powell is the story of an
operative who goes undercover to bring in an informant. It begins
innocently enough, that is until it escalates suddenly, converting a
simple capture into an international incident. A story that doesn’t
really seem to know what it is (maybe schoolhouse steampunk droid
attack?), “The Harvest” by Kim Lakin-Smith shows how far stories
must reach in order to attempt to be “original” these days. It
would have been better off as a novel or novella-to unpack the
story’s concepts in non-rushed fashion.
Perhaps
more scene than story, “Proper Little Soldier” by Martin McGrath
starts as McCarthy’s The
Road and becomes Wells'
The War of the Worlds
(seems a
recurring theme). Short but defined, McGrath sets the
thermostat to chill, making for one of the best pieces
in the anthology. “The War Artist” by Tony Ballantyne is
a bit of futuristic Hemingway. A
war photographer is dropped into firefight in Italy with a sergeant
and his battalion to protect the locals from a group of violent
hackers, but I dare say Ballantyne’s
message about war is a little different. Space
adventure that twists and turns in unpredictable ways, “The Maker’s
Mark” by Michael Cobley tells of Cornelius, black market dealer of
extraordinary items, and the fate of one of his bolder ideas to have
an ancient alien mind gestate rare objects. Fast paced, it is perhaps
the most colorful, dynamic story in the
anthology.
A
classic story, “Occupation” by Colin Harvey tells
of Hue and his friend Emilio as they
are enjoying their day, when an alien ship,
part of an ongoing war among several species, crashes nearby. A
panther-like alien surviving, they take him in, learning about the
Other in the process. In “Sussed”
by Keith Brooke a code hacker attempts to escape his malevolent boss,
but despite the false trail, still ends up in a place he’d rather
not after awaking from suspension. In another
retro sf entry, “The Soul of the Machine” by Eric Brown tells
of a man who allows an Android—an
andoird who has demonstrated free will—to
join their group of
space scavengers. The android’s owners coming for it
as the group heads to a space wreck,
battles ensue. This story is as vanilla as sf can possibly be...
The
most subtle version of conflict in the anthology, and coincidentally
one of its best stories, “Extraordinary Rendition” by Steve
Longworth tells of two near future “zen masters” and their battle
of minds, alone, on the moon. There is no Five Tiger Claw of Death,
but the story’s alternative suits it even better. (My
personal favorite in the anthology.) “The Legend of
Sharrock” by Philip Palmer is the true warrior's
tale. It's very Greek, very Oedipus, and
very space opera, all without being cliche thanks to a human
ending. Feeling like a cheap video game,
in
“The Cuisinart Effect” by Neal Asher space marines fend
off dinosaurs with laser rifles and blaster cannons. Some really
uninspired stuff... More
inspiring is Adam Roberts' “The Ice
Submarine”. About an Arab army in a submarine
beneath the oceans of Antarctica while WWIII rages is
an odd combination of ideas—aka a breath of fresh air in an
theology counting on vanilla. More a conflict of the soul than
military or political (though that certainly exists), Roberts puts
into sharp contrast the long term interests of knowledge/ teleology
vs the short term interests of war and conflict with a unique
premise.
From
the macro view, Total Conflict
is practically a one-note melody. Most
of the stories are space marines enforcing stereotypes. From
the micro view, however, their is a fair amount of nuance. Several
of the stories are well worht reading—whether for the scene,
substance, or the story itself. Thus, it may seem a niche
anthology, and for many readers it will deliver (look at that
cover!!!), but for others, little gems will make picking this up
worthwhile—Whates' talent.
The
following are the eighteen stories anthologized in
Total Conflict:
“The Wake” by Dan Abnett
“Psi.Copath”
by Andy Remic
“Unaccounted”
by Lauren Beukes
“The
New Ships” by Gareth L Powell
“The
Harvest” by Kim Lakin-Smith
“The
War Artist” by Tony Ballantyne
“Proper
Little Soldier” by Martin McGrath
“The
Maker’s Mark” by Michael Cobley
“Brwydr
Am Ryddid” by Stephen Palmer
“Occupation”
by Colin Harvey
“Sussed”
by Keith Brooke
“The
Soul of the Machine” by Eric Brown
“Extraordinary
Rendition” by Steve Longworth
“The
Legend of Sharrock” by Philip Palmer
“The
Cuisinart Effect” by Neal Asher
“The
Ice Submarine” by Adam Roberts
“War
Without End” by Una McCormack
“Welcome
Home, Janissary” by Tim C Taylor
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