Preternatural Too: Gyre

Preternatural #2

by Margaret Wander Bonanno

Karen Guerreri is an obscure writer of science fiction novels. She is half convinced that her invisibility-far from qualifying as a superpower in a world of mad-scientist villains-has simply left her alone and forgotten in the junk heap of literary black holes.

Her first attempt to write "real" books backfired with the unacclaimed Preternatural. In that book, she became confused as to whether she was creating the intergalactic jellyfish, which she was writing about, or if they were controlling her.

Karen addresses the question by writing a sequel and thus begins Preternatural Gyre, quite possibly one of the most improbable follow-ups in history. Skipping in and out of this world and teetering on the edge of sanity itself, Gyre stands like the proverbial shout into the void, raising more questions in postmodern exploration than its predecessor.

Genres: Science Fiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2000

About the author

Margaret Wander Bonanno was an American science fiction writer, ghost writer and small press publisher. She was born in New York City. She wrote seven Star Trek novels, several science fiction novels set in her own worlds, including The Others, a collaborative novel with Nichelle Nichols, a biography, and other works.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Karen Rohmer Guerreri, a lower-midlist SF writer, is having trouble selling a new book. "Maybe you need to write a sequel," her agent advises. "This time, don't make it so autobiographical." Arch meta-fictional milling-about ensues, but don't be put off by the slow start -- soon, Karen has been snatched from her bed at the Days Inn, and dumped onto a straw pallet in Eleanor of Aquitane's Brittany -- the start of a long, strange trip through Julius Ceasar's Gaul, the fall of Berlin in 1945, and several alternate Nows. Preternatural Too: Gyre's unhinging of time reminds me of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five, and Karen's working-out of her predicament is as intricate and recursive as the best of Philip K. Dick.

Readers of Preternatural won't be surprised to learn that it's Fuschia, that naughty S. oteri, one of the telepathic ET jellyfish who inspired and bedeviled Karen in the first book, up to hir old tricks -- the S. oteri live in the Long Now, and have trouble with the idea of sequential time. You don't need to have read the first book to enjoy the second, but if you liked the first, you're probably already headed for the bookstore and I'm preaching to the choir... Anyway, if you're new to Margaret Wander Bonanno, it would make sense to start with Preternatural. They're both pretty amazing books. Sui generis, as Mrs. Becker taught us in HS Latin. . . 😎

In both books, you need to pay close attention to all the balls in the air, but when Margaret Wander Bonanno's running a hot hand, like Joe Slattermill in Fritz Leiber's wonderful "Gonna Roll the Bones," her aim is true and her eye (and pen) unerring. She can be trusted to bring matters to a satisfying conclusion, with tantalizing hints of more to come: "She turned and headed straight for home, but she took the long way, around the world." (With apologies to Mr. Leiber's shade.)

And while you're keeping your eye on the ball, you'll enjoy watching Margaret Wander Bonanno's characters come to life, notably her multiple alterselves and their friends, while she ignores her agent's no-autobiography advice -- or is she just counterfeiting Real Life exceptionally well? It is fiction, after all, isn't it? -- and it's enormously entertaining reading, which is what I look for, and, I'm sure, so do you.

My 2000 review, with notes and links:
https://www.sfsite.com/06b/gy83.htm