Riding the Torch / Tin Soldier

by Joan D. Vinge, Norman Spinrad

two books in one, very cool

Genres: Science Fiction

182 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1990

About the author

Joan D. Vinge (born Joan Carol Dennison) is an American science fiction author. She is known for such works as her Hugo Award-winning novel The Snow Queen and its sequels, her series about the telepath named Cat, and her Heaven's Chronicles books.

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the 23rd Tor Double book, printed in the format and tradition of the venerable Ace line, consisting of two stories printed in opposition to one another in tête-bêche format with a front cover on either side. The two stories are both novellas first printed in 1974, the Vinge from the 14th volume of Damon Knight's Orbit series and the Spinrad from an original anthology edited by Robert Silverberg. Both were nominated for awards, but George R.R. Martin's A Song Lya swept both the major awards in that category that year. (Yes, kids, he wrote lots of cool stuff other than about dragons with cold weather on the way.) The two stories are very different yet concern the same themes, and so it's one of the best pairings of the whole Tor Double run. Tin Soldier was Vinge's first published story and is strangely linked to the old Looking Glass song Brandy (as, curiously, was an Alex Bledsoe novel) and illustrates the problems of long distance (both space and time) romance. Spinrad's Riding the Torch is significantly longer and is more difficult to read due to his liberal use of future-slang/terms. It was also reprinted in 1978 as half of the first book in Dell's abortive attempt to field a double line, accompanied by Fritz Leiber's 1945 parallel worlds novella Destiny Times Three, but it's much more fitting here. It's modeled more after The Book of Job than anything else and illustrates the problems and frustrations of slower-than-light interstellar travel. They're both good stories that complement each other pretty well.

[Tomislav · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is Tor Double #23, of a series of 36 double books published from 1988 to 1991 by Tor Books. It contains two novellas, bound together tête-bêche in mass market paperback – back-to-back, inverted, with two front covers and both titles on the spine. The novellas are listed here alphabetically by author; neither should be considered “primary.” Both of these were published in 19674, and are set in a distant space-faring future, but that’s where the similarities end.

Riding the Torch, by Norman Spinrad (1974) ***
This was originally published in Robert Silverberg’s 1974 anthology Threads of Time: Three Original Novellas of Science Fiction It was also published in Dell’s Binary Star #1 (Destiny Times Three / Riding the Torch) in 1978, before being picked up again in the Tor Doubles series. It was nominated for 1975 Hugo Award and 1975 Locus Award in their novella categories, but did not win either. This is the story of a transformation of human society, full of explicit symbolism, and speculative slang. Certainly, it is a very ambitious work, but lacking human depth.

Tin Soldier, by Joan Vinge (1974) ***
This was originally published Damon Knight’s 1974 anthology Orbit 14. It can also be found in Vinge’s 1979 collection Eyes of Amber and Other Stories. This is an unlikely love story, between a cyborg barkeeper and a visiting starship crewmember. Their relationship is challenged by time dilation, and told episodically when they can be together. It has some human depth, but the concept and setting are well-worn and unambitious.

[John Defrog: global citizen, local gadfly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this up mainly for the Spinrad half, but it also presented an opportunity to try Joan D. Vinge for the first time. And since I can’t split these up into two separate entries, that may complicate the star rating. But then it’s not like I’m accountable for these reviews.

Riding The Torch: A 1974 novella in which Earth is long gone and the rest of humanity is riding a fleet of 2,000 torchships in search of another planet to inhabit – a thousand years later, they’re still looking. Most humans live decadent lifestyles, while the voidsuckers who pilot the scoutships hunting for Earth II keep to themselves. Jofe D’Mahl is a famous creator of pretentious but popular sensos (VR films that play in your head). When news that a possible planet has been found upstages the premiere of his new senso about the void, D’Mahl is goaded by one of the voidsuckers to join him on their visit to the new planet to see what the void is really like and make a senso out of it. Short version: he finds out and wishes he hadn’t.

This is typical Spinrad in terms of the free-wheeling hallucinogenic life of D’Mahl’s crowd, the surreal imagery of D’Mahl’s sensos, and the mystical reflections on the infinite universe and man’s place in it. But the story itself is also interesting, and Spinrad describes the overwhelming emptiness of the universe so vividly you can imagine what it would be like to be floating in it all alone. Short but sweet, and one of his better works.

Tin Soldier: Also from 1974, this is Vinge’s first published work, a novella that started as a space-opera riff on Glass House’s “(Brandy) You’re A Fine Girl”. The backdrop: space travel is common, but only all-female crews are allowed, as men are physiologically unable to cope with extended space travel (except as cargo). At the spaceport on the planet Oro, a bar called Tin Soldier is a regular hangout for spacers, run by a former soldier and current cyborg called Maris. New spacer Brandy enters his bar one night, and a relationship ensues. The twist: every time her ship leaves, her next visit with Maris is three years later for her, but 25 for him.

It’s an interesting premise with some interesting ideas embedded in it, and despite some awkward dialogue, the relationship between Brandy and Maris develops well enough that even though it’s not hard to guess what the climactic plot twist is going to be, it still packs an emotional punch when it arrives.

Also, extra credit for pairing these two stories in one volume – two entirely different styles, but they do complement each other well as SF stories more concerned with humans than technology. If I could separate the star ratings, I’d give 4 to Spinrad and 3 to Vinge, but I’ll give 4 to the package.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Two novellas in one book. Turn the book right-side-up to read Riding the Torch, turn the book upside down and backwards to read Tin Soldier.

Riding the Torch:
This story has quite a bit of droog-speak in it. I appreciate the idea of dialect changing in the future, but it was hard to get my bearings when dropped in the middle of a barrage of future-slang. Still, this novella was fascinating in its prescience - predicting in the 1970s the inventions of virtual reality and the way we would use the Internet. It also deals with themes of ego, connection and art, and asks the question: what will happen when the Earth is no longer habitable?

Tin Soldier:
A debut sci fi novella by Joan D. Vinge about a nearly immortal cybernetic ex-soldier who falls in love with a space explorer. It's set in a universe where only women can travel in space. The laws of near-light travel means that she ages three years in space while he waits 25 years on his planet. The story captures the moments they are together, over 100 years. A meditation on immortality and gender roles.

The stories are very different--Riding the Torch an intellectual exploration of human industry and the role of an artist, Tin Soldier the story of love and loneliness. But both feature the vast distances of space, of isolation, and of what it means to be human.

[Larry James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the Tor doubles. paperback books that either republished or initially published novellas that would not ordinarily be available by themselves or would be too long for a short story collection. Both good stories, very imaginative. Some very sad bits. Recommended!

[Susanne]

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