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language: English
country: Canada
year: 1991
form: novel
genre(s): science fiction
dates read: 27.1.24
I picked up a copy of Judith Alguire’s Zeta Base, a lesbian sci-fi novel published by Naiad Press in 1991, at a used bookstore some time last year. the setting is a far-future Earth which the unexpected cooling of the sun is rendering increasingly uninhabitable; the protagonists are an elderly scientist nicknamed “Antiquity” and her three protégés, the rebellious artist Morgan, the zoologist Deirdre, and the ambitious engineer-politician Jaffey.
the plot has two components: first, Antiquity discovers a discrepancy in solar monitoring data that leads her to believe a catastrophe is imminent — and that she can stop it, if she can get anyone to listen; second, a love triangle subplot involving Morgan and Jaffey vying for Deirdre’s affections. the first plot quickly becomes about unraveling a conspiracy to force the final abandonment of Earth (to the economic benefit of the human Colonies); the love triangle subplot is left suspended.
the novel ends very much on a cliffhanger — it feels like it’s setting up a sequel, but as far as I can tell none ever came. in some ways, though, I like this: the action that the ending implies for the sequel would be of potentially galaxy-spanning scope, since it would involve an organized armed rebellion against coup d’état that has seized control of the interstellar government. ending where it does allows Zeta Base to be narrowly focused on its protagonists while still telling an engaging story.
the writing isn’t amazing, but it’s (mostly) not bad, either, and once it hit its stride the (quite brisk) pacing kept me moving in spite of the occasional awkward prose.
this is exactly the kind of thing I wish someone would republish — the partial Naiad Press catalogue at the back of the book is a tantalizing snapshot of the volume of lgbtq small-press publishing, including a number of other speculative books, that’s now essentially lost to the world and largely forgotten even within the lgbtq community — certainly among under-40s.
moods: adventurous, tense