As part of our Countdown to Hallowe’en, our SFFWorld Horror expert, Randy M., gives us his take on an SF/Horror story from an author these days better known for his Epic Fantasy:
“No,” said Royd. “Sociopathic. …”
Karoly d’Branin has used a small grant from his university to hire a ship and crew for a flight to go to the edge of the galaxy to watch the passing of the volcryn, an alien life-form whose slower than light ships should be passing into the Tempter’s Veil soon on a journey that started before Jesus of Nazareth was born and may continue after humanity no longer exists.
Royd, the ship’s captain, keeps a close eye on his passengers but each of Karoly’s crew, while competent, has personality issues, issues that might not have mattered if one of them wasn’t a telepath and if something inhuman did not inhabit the Nightflyer.
In discussing “Nightflyers” in Dreamsongs, Martin calls it “my haunted starship story” and says, “I wanted to see if I could provide a legitimate sfnal explanation for the hauntings.” I’ve read the story three times and each time I’ve found Martin mostly successful, interweaving the search for the volcryn nicely with the internal struggles of the crew to understand what is haunting them and how to protect themselves. It is one of the few stories that I’d like to see expanded to novel length: There are opportunities here, I think, to strengthen the characters, to make the story more suspenseful, and to further explore both the idea of the volcryn and the basis of the haunting. That said, it’s entertaining as is.
For s.f. written and published in the 1970s and 1980s “Nightflyers” is notable for featuring a young Black woman as protagonist. From Martin’s description of Melantha Jhirl you can easily imagine her as somewhat like Serena Williams, so it was one disappointment in a disappointing film version (Nightflyers, 1987) that it starred a white actress who wasn’t physically imposing. That actress’ potential for stardom popped an airlock with this movie, but really she was not the worst of its many problems. I strongly recommend sticking to the novella. (Did I mention the movie is disappointing?)
Other sf/horror from Martin: “Sandkings” (also in Volume 1 of Dreamsongs) and Fevre Dream. Note, Martin wrote a fair amount of horror, some of which I’m still catching up to. Besides “Sandkings” and “Nightflyers,” the horror section of Dreamsongs includes “Meathouse Man,” “Remembering Melody,” “The Monkey Treatment” and “The Pear-Shaped Man.”
“NIGHTFLYERS” by GEORGE R. R. MARTIN (Analog, 1980; Dreamsongs, Vol. 1, Bantam Spectra, 2007; for further publishing information see, http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?49769)
