Superheroes in prose fiction, or characters with abilities that are like those of superheroes have been a growing subset of Science Fiction and Fantasy largely since George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards saga. Over the past few years, there have been quite a few of these types of stories mixed with alternate history from fine writers like David Mack, Kay Kenyon, and Ian Tregillis. Add to that rank of writers Michael J. Martinez who launched a Majestic-12 with MJ-12: Inception, a welcome addition to the superhero prose sandbox.
It is a new world, stunned by the horrors that linger in the aftermath of total war. The United States and Soviet Union are squaring off in a different kind of conflict, one that’s fought in the shadows, where there are whispers of strange and mysterious developments. . .
Normal people across the United States have inexplicably gained paranormal abilities. A factory worker can heal the sick and injured. A schoolteacher bends emotions to her will. A car salesman alters matter with a simple touch. A former soldier speaks to the dying and gains their memories as they pass on.
They are the Variants, controlled by a secret government program called MAJESTIC-12 to open a new front in the Cold War.
From the deserts of Nevada to the palaces of Istanbul, the halls of power in Washington to the dark, oppressive streets of Prague, the Variants are thrown into a deadly game of shifting alliances. Amidst the seedy underbelly of nations, these once-ordinary Americans dropped in extraordinary circumstances will struggle to come to terms with their abilities as they fight to carve out a place for themselves in a world that may ultimately turn against them.
And as the MAJESTIC-12 program will soon discover, there are others out there like them, some with far more malevolent goals. . .
As World War II is coming to a close, strange phenomena, balls of light and energy, are found in Germany and Japan. People exposed to this phenomena begin to exhibit powers and abilities far beyond those of a normal human. The energy coming off of these balls of light are reaching far across the globe, granting (seemingly) random people with powers who come to be known as Variants. That’s what the American government labels these people who they attempt to gather and train in the use of their powers. Frank Lodge, the American soldier who Martinez introduces early, has the ability to absorb a person’s memories and skills as that person dies. Other members of the Majestic 12 program include Cal, who can heal people with a touch, which unfortunately ages him. Maggie, a school teacher who can control the emotions of those around her and bend them to her will. A mechanic, who is referred to by the name of Ellis, can transmute objects (for example, he can turn steel to glass) and unfortunately has a strong racist streak which naturally sets him at odds with Cal. There’s also a character who is basically X-Men’s computer Cerebro, he can find those people who exhibit enhanced abilities.
Martinez has a lot going on in this series starter; he’s trying to lay down the foundation for a new world to explore, introduce characters, play as accurately with historical elements as possible, and through those elements and everything else, tell a well-balanced story. There is so much potential tension in a story set in this timeframe: external tension from the Cold War and more internal tension like racism and sexism. Mixing those tension together – the sexism of a woman being an authority figure in the Majestic 12 program and another woman possessing extremely powerful abilities is a great deal for a man of the late 1940s to swallow. Cal, a black man, is immediately disliked and looked down upon by Ellis, which makes for some great tension throughout the novel. By the end of the novel, Cal was my favorite character.
With his Daedalus series, Martinez showed a flair for playing with history. Here his ability to play with history comes across as a fun reshuffling of the historical deck that translates quite well to this particular reader. I’ve also come to enjoy novels that work as “training” novels; books that are often the first in military sf or fantasy sagas that throw the characters together as they try to become a team. Think books like Heinlein’s classic Starship Troopers, the first installment of Myke Cole’s Shadow OPS saga, Control Point, Jonathan Mayberry’s Patient Zero which launches his Joe Ledger series, or the first in Marko Kloos’s Frontlines saga, Terms of Enlistment. Though there is less of a military feel to Martinez’s novel, he captures the spirit of those “team building” novels quite well. Well enough that I want to continue reading about these characters and this world as a whole.
The final word(s): MJ-12: Inception is an extremely fun novel and an excellent series starter for Mike Martinez’s Majestic-12 series. Next up: MJ-12: Shadows.
Recommended
© 2018 Rob H. Bedford
June 2017 | Night Shade Books
Mass Market Paperback | 336 Pages
https://michaeljmartinez.net/
Sample: https://michaeljmartinez.net/writing/majestic/mj-12-inception/
Review copy courtesy of the purchased
