Review (#15): "Distant Colonies" (Távoli kolóniák), an anthology edited by Sándor Szélesi (2016)

By Péter MARTON
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Published by Ad Astra (a Hungarian SF publishing house that operated from 2012 to 2018) as the third volume in a series of similar, thematically organised collections, this is a much weaker anthology of Hungarian authors' works than the one I wrote about here during the holidays. Whereas that one was world-class, this one feels more like the output of a distant colony of the SF universe... with due respect to some exceptions to this mentioned below.

Even so, it is very interesting to read a volume like this, because the dividing line between good and bad is very strongly visible here (this also shows the importance of editing, I guess). Some authors just don't take what they write seriously enough and what they publish feels like they just wanted to get it over with, even if that took finding the cheapest, stupidest cliché one could think of in the given situation they plotted for themselves and their characters. At times, even stylistic errors creep in, alienating the reader from these texts, Further, even though several female authors are featured in this collection, that doesn't improve the count of strong female characters in the book (which is basically zero). But perhaps the most annoying thing, to me, exactly with the abovementioned dividing line in mind, is that three stories that might otherwise have amounted to something all founder on the same idiotic plot twist: that there is a BIG SECRET kept from the masses and known only by a select few who base their power on it, until someone comes along who is determined enough to single-handedly find out about what was hidden up till then from everyone else around them. This reflects a "naively cynical" conspiratorial mindset that is quite widespread in Hungary, manifest in laymen's interpretations of the world and world politics. People just don't seem to understand the transaction costs involved in secrecy, and the implausibility of world orders resting on big secrets known by a few and kept from the masses... Dear authors: just think a little, for goodness sake... you will find examples of fundamental truths ignored by the masses and acknowledged by only an enlightened few much more easily, trust me.

Now that I got that out, I can breathe somewhat more easily, at least.

In the end, three stories remain, for me, that are worth mentioning here as good or decent works.

Csaba Királyházi: Az első állomás - The First Station

This story is so crazy it cannot possibly work, but it does. And it focuses on a character who wants to achieve the impossible, which he obviously cannot, but then... he does? Without giving it all away, the sole survivor of a disaster is working here on his final feat of engineering so implausible that you can't help but laugh at it at first, to eventually face the tragical backdrop against which the protagonist's breakthrough attempt takes place -- after which you're suddenly taking everything he's done much more seriously.

Péter Michaleczky: Membrán - Membrane

A multicultural detective story with a rather unnecessary female auxiliary character -- who is at least there, nonetheless, and this might be reason to celebrate in a volume like this. The central characters are otherwise male, including the "navigator" whose navigational role you understand fully only with the ultimate plot twist to which the story leads up really smartly. A very well-paced narrative, with a captivating atmosphere in an actual distant colony that is not merely an excuse in the story so it can feature in this anthology. The narrative is complete, but there is life after its conclusion: it would be very interesting to see it expanded further, firstly in order to see how the distant colony fares in what is, for it, surely a new historical era to come -- and perhaps also to build that female character a little further, to give her a more meaningful role maybe... 

Gábor Képes: A talajszint lakói - Grassroot Inhabitants

Short, written with real inspiration compared to most of the stories in the volume, and smart. This story rocks, literally. Juxtaposed plots give you a sense of different timescales. My only complaint is that the human plot should have been more than just an alibi to set up the emotional effect of switching to the others' perspective -- it should be more elaborate at least.

Previously reviewed here in EUtopias and Other Futures: Vladislav Surkov's fiction