Gene Pozniak's The Music of Distant Spheres

The other night, at a meeting of the Philadelphia Science Fiction Society, I got a chance to meet another up and coming novelist by the name of Gene Pozniak. He wanted someone from the club to read his new novel, The Music of Distant Spheres but he couldn't garner much interest. I went up to him after the meeting and discussed Rome's Revolution with him. We agreed to swap books and reviews.

I think I got the better end of the deal. Gene's novel is only 178 pages and I was able to finish it in about two evening's worth of reading. When he received his copy of Rome's Revolution, his first comment was "Got it! Wow! 500 pages!"

Gene's book is very interesting with some genuinely novel ideas about physics, the Big Bang, string theory, entanglement and the nature of the universe. In the end, I gave him four stars because the prose was a little dense to wade through. Here is my review:

At first, this book doesn’t seem like science fiction. There are no stereotypical little green men or ray-guns or spaceships but it is hard science fiction nonetheless. The author has clearly thought up a novel concept in physics and worked through the ramifications of such a concept both on a very personal level as well as on a cosmic scale.

The protagonist, Barbara Smith, has had a very rough life. So much so that her entire personality is encased in layer upon layer of protection mechanisms. However, as she envisions a new way of postulating reality and the structure of the universe, she is forced to become more and more engaged with other humans. Her entry into the real world and interactions with people lead her to salvation. Her inner demons are slain in a very satisfying conclusion but not remotely in the way you’d expect.

It’s hard to not go into more detail without spoiling the tiny joys each page brings. The author takes a great deal of time in describing the microscopic events leading up to Barbara’s macroscopic epiphany. The physics behind Barbara’s journey are rock solid, as far as I can tell, making this the hardest of hard science fiction. Equal attention is paid to the psychology and motivation behind each of the main characters and they act very consistent with their background.

The writing is very polished, perhaps even a bit dense but I assure you that wading through it is worthwhile. If you are looking for some science in your science fiction, you’ve come to the right place.

If you get a chance, check out Gene's book. (After you've read Rome's Revolution, The Ark Lords and Rome's Evolution of course!)