32 | New Scientist | 31 August 2019
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THE pulp novels of the 1950s are
best remembered for their sense
of wonder. This is exactly the
feeling that billionaire tech funder
Stanislaw Clayton tries to create
in The Return of the Incredible
Exploding Man, the latest novel
by Dave Hutchinson, author
of the deservedly praised
Fractured Europe series.
The 1950s were also a golden
age for social satire: for Pohl and
Kornbluth’s The Space Merchants,
and Vonnegut’s Player Piano.
Hutchinson’s new book is, in
truth, more this sort of science
fiction. It bites.
The novel follows down-and-
out journalist Alex Dolan as
he agrees to write a book
documenting the history of
Clayton’s latest project: the Sioux
Crossing Supercollider. What
Clayton has in mind is a PR
exercise designed to build support
for his struggling project. He gets
a lot more than he bargained for.
The bulk of the novel is a
slow-burn account of Dolan’s
investigation into the mysteries
surrounding the project, part le
Carré spycraft, part Crichtonesquescientific thriller. There is
something of Stephen King, too,
in the book’s close focus on the
inhabitants of Sioux Crossing,
ordinary folk transformed by
Clayton’s regeneration of their
town. For better or worse, they
need him to succeed. If the project
fails, it will take the town with it.
In the finale, we might expect
this book to live up to its pulpytitle, but by now Hutchinson has
become more interested in the
politics than in the science. Some
readers might feel deflated, but
Hutchinson’s point is well made:
that we ought to be suspicious
of technocrats bearing gifts.
The Warehouse by Rob Hart is
similarly interested in the effects
of a billionaire’s ambitions on
everyday people. In it, Gibson
Wells, an American entrepreneur
peddling a dangerous brand ofA surfeit of snake oil Ordinary lives hang in the balance when self-appointed
industry disrupters roll into town. Let’s hear it for novelists who puncture and poke
fun at a business culture disconnected from its people, says Helen Marshall“ The Cloud has become
the only game in
town: a vast system of
warehouses sustaining
a mini-ecosystem”Books
The Return of
the Incredible
Exploding Man
Dave Hutchinson
REBCAThe Warehouse
Rob Hart
Bantam PressHelen also
recommends...Books
The Silver Wind
Nina Allan
Titan Books
A haunting collection of
uncanny time-travel stories.World Engines:
Destroyer
Stephen Baxter
Gollancz
Follow a strange object on
its 500-year orbit of Earth.ultracapitalism with folksy charm,
creates The Cloud. In the wake of
climate change and a ravaged
economy, The Cloud has become
the only game in town: a vast
system of warehouses supporting
a mini-ecosystem with its own
living spaces, restaurants, social
ratings and credit system. Think
Amazon, but on steroids.
Paxton, a former entrepreneur
whose company failed after The
Cloud undercut his business, has
found work as a security officer,
charged with stopping the flow
of illegal drugs into The Cloud’s
compound. Zinnia is ostensibly
a picker, one of the redshirts
running a daily marathon to locate
cheap goods for drone delivery to
the outside world. But she isn’t all
she seems. A competing company
has offered her a life-changing
sum of money if she can ferret
out The Cloud’s secrets.
The Warehouse depicts a
world of systemic abuse, petty
corruption and a callous disregard
for the things we need to be
properly human. But while Hart
spends a decent amount of time
exploring Wells’s justification for
The Cloud, Paxton’s complicity is
the main point: will he buy into a
system he knows is fundamentally
broken or will he risk his relative
comfort to tear it down?
Ultimately, is The Warehouse
a novel that puts the capstone
on post-industrial capitalism?
Not really. Rather than trusting
his own story, Hart relies on
references to Orwell, Atwood,
Bradbury and Le Guin to
explain his ethical stance. The
result is an entertaining, almost
cinematic read, but one that is
content to let others do the
intellectual heavy lifting. ❚DA
VIDALANHARV
EY
/M
AG
NUMLife in a one-horse town
teaches you there is no
such thing as a free lunchThe science fiction column
Helen Marshall is an editor,
award-winning writer
and senior lecturer at the
University of Queensland,
Australia. Follow her on
Twitter @manuscriptgal