One of my favourite old movies is When Worlds Collide (1951), directed by George Pal, a movie about Earth being destroyed by a collision with another planet. Reading this novella by Greg Egan reminded me of that movie,* for here Greg gives that old world-in-peril idea a sharp makeover for the 21st century.
At first, the set-up seems like your usual potential-disaster story. From early on we discover that Taraxippus is coming: a black hole one tenth the mass of the sun is about to enter the solar system**, and as it approaches global disasters such as tidal surges and major flooding are possible with it. The story is focussed on Matt Fleming and his friends, who live on a mobile aquiculture rig, the Mandjet, a self-sustaining platform floating in the Southern Ocean.
Considering the enormity of what could happen, the world’s reaction is not what I expected. Instead of global panic, things are strangely subdued. Despite the fact that the Mandjet should cope with the effects of the black hole’s passing, Matt and his colleagues seem to be greeted by a global ennui, which a general feeling that it might never happen or even “what will be will be”. Although the crew have offered, many of their friends, family and associates prefer to take their chances on global catastrophe not happening and stay where they are, on land.
Luckily, the black hole’s effects are not as bad nor as immediate as they could have been. Though what seems like the worst that could happen is mainly avoided, the passing of the black hole has slightly altered the Earth’s orbit, which will lead to a year-on-year change that will be just as damaging in the long run.
The second part of the story is set after the black hole has passed. Winters are colder, summers are hotter. After a brief visit home to his relatively dysfunctional family in Australia, Matt returns to the Mandjet to sail the seas and persuade refugees to come on board and travel to Antarctica where the climate will be less hot and more equitable. This is harder than it sounds. Refugees are struggling to cope, with the countries with tolerable climates such as China closing their borders. The Mandjet becomes part of a flotilla, Battlestar Galactica style, travelling south. As civilisation breaks down on land, Matt’s family are stranded in Perth, which means that Matt has to run a rescue mission to get them. When they and other refugees return, there are other issues, one of which being that the Mandjet has been taken over by pirates. The conclusion of the story brings all these aspects to a resolution.
Greg is an Australian author known for his hard science-based novels, often intimidatingly so to the layman. This is perhaps an attempt by the author to be different, to tell a story that manages to balance the technical with characterisation. As a non-scientist, I found the science not too intimidating and the characterisation engaging. It’s typical Analog magazine-type fare, with the story based around people (some with a scientific background) coping with, and succeeding against, adversity.
This is a people-based story. The focus of the tale is on Matt and peripherally his friends, which gives the story a more intimate perspective. The downside of this tight focus on the story is that there isn’t that global range that similar, bigger stories have – for example, Jim Khalili’s Sunfall, which I read and reviewed recently – and you may not therefore get the full impact of such global changes.
With the emphasis on Matt’s survival and his resilience there is a weakness in that once the main event has passed this is not a story where Matt is ever felt to be truly in peril. Whilst there is danger, generally such issues are resolved without conflict, which some readers will find refreshing whilst others equally irritating. In the end, whilst perhaps trying to show that Matt is an everyman character just trying to do his best, he comes across as characterless.
So, what does this post-apocalyptic story bring to the table that is new? I did enjoy the point that it was a story that was not Europe or American-centred. Writing from an Austral-centric view gave the story a pleasingly different perspective which reminded me a little of Nevil Shute’s On the Beach (1957).
The ending is a little abrupt, although by that point the purpose of the tale seems to be done. In the publishing pattern of such novellas, though, it is possible that this is just the first part of a longer story, with more to follow later.
Whilst there are times when it feels as if it is part of something bigger, the tight focus allows the reader to feel that such events are not only life-changing but personal, and it is the ingenuity and resilience of the Human race to survive, whatever the change in circumstances.
Summing up then, Perihelion Summer is an enjoyable disaster tale that within its limited scope and perspective manages to entertain and engage the reader in a tale that’s short enough to leave an impression whilst not outstaying its welcome. Like When Worlds Collide, the point of Perihelion Summer seems to be that whatever happens Mankind will endure and the future, though different, will be survivable. Which may be an important message for our times.
Perihelion Summer by Greg Egan
Published by Tor.com Publishing, April 2019
224 pages
ISBN: 978-1250313782
Review by Mark Yon
*And yes, it was based on a best-selling novel by Philip Wylie and Edwin Balmer (1932). The novel, and its sequel, have also rather dated.
**An idea I think I first encountered in David Brin’s Earth (1990), although the black hole was in the Earth’s core and artificially created.
