The Shape of Silence

by Stephen Leigh

Originally Published as 'Thunder Rift.' *** "Replete with adventure, mystery, and sociological conflict."-Publishers Weekly *** First contact was never supposed to be like this. * A sudden rift appears in near-earth space, causing electronic components to permanently fail and cause total chaos. As Earth's fragile technological society disintegrates, no one can answer the obvious question-what is the rift, and who or what has created it. * A new generation comes to age attempting to answer these questions, and Taria Spears, an anthropologist, is selected as part of the crew on the exploratory ship Lightbringer. Lightbringer's mission is to investigate the worm-hole like Rift and, if possible, to pass through it to find out what lies on the other side, and to seek some answers. * But what if all they find is an alien culture where sound, not sight is the primary sense?

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction

318 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Stephen Leigh has been writing science fiction since he was in grade school. He sold his first story in 1975 and has been publishing regularly ever since then.

He has been nominated for and won several awards for his fiction over the years. He has written and published the occasional poems and non-fiction pieces, as well.

Steve teaches Creative Writing at Northern Kentucky University in the Greater Cincinnati area. He also plays music, and studies the Japanese martial art Aikido, in which he holds the rank of Sandan.

Stephen Leigh also writes as S.L. Farrell and Matthew Farrell.

Reviews

[Kevin Phyland]

Taria was conceived the night that the alien wormhole, nicknamed Thunder, appeared in the sky over New Zealand. As an adult her life course has been shaped by Thunder and her aim to be on the first ship to traverse the wormhole is finally achieved, despite reservations by the military in charge. She has been a maverick and her relationships have been warped by the death of her mother due to a failure to understand the language of a foreign country and this drives much of her actions. The reason for the mission is to find the Makers of the wormhole but upon arrival they find a single moon around a gas giant but no sign of any technologically advanced civilization. They do find the Blues - humanoid but almost blind, who communicate and navigate mostly by sound. Taria convinces her commander to send her down to the moon, Little Sister, and there she finds that communication is almost impossible without shared experience. She also discovers a warrior caste who are physically different and the amazing Singers who can conjure effects through sound. Stephen Leigh, writing as Matthew Farrell, has crafted an anthropological piece in the style of Michael Bishop, and the revelation that humans have greatly misunderstood the nature of the aliens is quietly and logically revealed. (AKA The Shape Of Silence.) This is a rewarding and entertaining read.

[razec]

As far as first contact stories goes this is pretty good and as many others point out the aliens and their society are original and well sketched.


Beyond the story and the flaws of the characters and what-not, what I really liked about this story is the way in which it looks at our attempts to make everything fit within the patterns created by our previous experiences. We all act at times based on our gut-feeling, instinctively making decisions more often than not based on assumptions built on top of those already existing experiences but is operating in this mode really valuable in a universe where more often than not common sense has no place?

[Juan Sanmiguel]

A space warp forms nears Jupiter. An expedition is sent to investigate the other side. There we find a very primitive alien society which rely on sound and smell rather than visual stimuli. We follow anthropologist Taria Spears studying the aliens. Nothing really new or noteworthy about this first contact story. There are some revelations but they seem ho-hum.

[Miss Mairi Mackenzie]

Wonderful

This is one of the best first contact books ever. Clever, imaginative and really well written. Hope this bloke has more.

[Lee Pfahler]

Really 3 1/2 stars. A good first contact story brought about through the use of the big dumb object trope mixed in with some fairly complex alien biology and linguistics.

[Craig]

This novel is frustrating because it's a pretty-good first contact story that could have been a -great- one. The aliens are well-constructed and convincing, with a complex and interesting culture and civilization. Unfortunately, the main human character is continuously thrown into a series of flashbacks that detail her failed relationships in far too much detail. Also, one of the main mysteries of the plot is that she is sent down to the planet initially to try to find out what happened to a previous human visitor, Ensign Coen. He's frequently mentioned, but there's no resolution ever offered, which was a big disappointment. Nonetheless, the good parts outweighed the bad, and it was a pretty good book overall.

[John]

Unlike some other books of his, the ending of this was not too abrupt which was nice.

My main problem was that the characters that were supposed to be mysterious and wise just came across as vague and obnoxious to me. Largely because of that, far too much of the conflict in the book could have been avoided if characters just said what they meant earlier on rather than dancing around everything. I understand why some authors do that, but for science fiction stories that are based around ideas, it seems like a poor way to create conflict.

Still enjoyable.

[Cristian]

I really enjoyed this book, I've always been a sucker for first contact stories, and this one doesn't disappoint. The aliens are alien enough to be interesting, being almost blind and having developed a culture around sound. It reads like a combination of Contact, Dances With Wolves, a bit of Clarke's 2010 and some Lovecraft thrown in for good measure, and in the end it's like a really good episode of Stargate SG-1.

[glitrbug]

I expected great things from this book. The heroine is a civilian on the spaceship making first contact with an alien race. She begs to spend time on the planet learning about the aliens, leaving behind the man that loves her. Great set-up, interesting story, feisty heroine, but somehow it left me cold. Just didn't connect with the characters. Not sure how you could fix it, but I didn't feel any passion.

[Ehirgelt]

Very imaginative first contact story. The alien culture as truly alien. Characters were well drawn out and reasonably portrayed. I think this is an excellent science fiction tale and well worth reading.

[Peter Tillman]

An impressive novel. I came to this cold, and left very impressed. 4.5 stars, just after finishing.

Mind, the mysterious super-powered Defense Whales (now with Ancient Wisdom!) might not hold up to close scrutiny -- but the pages flew by. Advanced technology as magic is always a good choice.

[Ian]

An unexpectidly good read.

[Jamie]

Finally a great first-contact alien sci-fi novel! Wasn't too far fetched, I really enjoyed it!

[Andy Janes]

Pretty mediocre, but it definitely gets better near the end. Some good twists.