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Pallahaxi #2
I Remember Pallahaxi
I Remember Pallahaxi is the sequel to Michael Coney's classic Hello Summer, Goodbye.
Set hundreds of years after the events recounted in Hello, I Remember Pallahaxi is a mystery story: a murder mystery on one level, and on another level a mystery about the origins of the native aliens. It's also a critique of colonialism... for the human race has arrived on the alien homeworld, with fatal consequences. As lyrical and lovingly envisioned as Hello Summer, Goodbye, I Remember Pallhaxi not only continues but expands the story of life on a far-flung world where many things are familiar, but others are totally bizarre...
Michael Coney established himself in the mid-1970s as one of the leading British science-fiction writers of his day, with a string of novels distinctive for their combination of light readability on the surface and much darker inner depths. Hello Summer, Goodbye first appeared in 1975 while Mike was managing an Antiguan hotel called the Jabberwock, a beachfront nightclub with a few guest rooms. He had left Britain in 1969, after the sort of disengaged career attempts that characterised the early years of so many writers. But Britain was never far from Mike's work and the atmosphere of the west country provided a strong flavour in his novels and stories. It was particularly noticeable in Hello Summer, Goodbye.
Set hundreds of years after the events recounted in Hello, I Remember Pallahaxi is a mystery story: a murder mystery on one level, and on another level a mystery about the origins of the native aliens. It's also a critique of colonialism... for the human race has arrived on the alien homeworld, with fatal consequences. As lyrical and lovingly envisioned as Hello Summer, Goodbye, I Remember Pallhaxi not only continues but expands the story of life on a far-flung world where many things are familiar, but others are totally bizarre...
Michael Coney established himself in the mid-1970s as one of the leading British science-fiction writers of his day, with a string of novels distinctive for their combination of light readability on the surface and much darker inner depths. Hello Summer, Goodbye first appeared in 1975 while Mike was managing an Antiguan hotel called the Jabberwock, a beachfront nightclub with a few guest rooms. He had left Britain in 1969, after the sort of disengaged career attempts that characterised the early years of so many writers. But Britain was never far from Mike's work and the atmosphere of the west country provided a strong flavour in his novels and stories. It was particularly noticeable in Hello Summer, Goodbye.
- GenresScience Fiction
260 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2007
2 people are currently reading
49 people want to read
About the author
Michael G. Coney
120 books27 followersMichael Greatrex Coney was born in Birmingham, England and educated at King Edward's School.
He started a career as a chartered accountant and went on to become a management Consultant. Then he went into the catering business, managing an inn in south Devon with his wife, Daphne for three years and a hotel in the West Indies for another three. He worked for Financial Services in the B.C. Forest Service for seventeen years before retiring .
He Passed away 4 November 2005. peacefully of Cancer (Mesothelioma). He was married with three children and lived on Vancouver Island.
He started a career as a chartered accountant and went on to become a management Consultant. Then he went into the catering business, managing an inn in south Devon with his wife, Daphne for three years and a hotel in the West Indies for another three. He worked for Financial Services in the B.C. Forest Service for seventeen years before retiring .
He Passed away 4 November 2005. peacefully of Cancer (Mesothelioma). He was married with three children and lived on Vancouver Island.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 7, 2016
Michael G. Coney wrote the lovely science fiction classic Hello Summer, Goodbye in 1975. over 30 years later its sequel, I Remember Pallahaxi, was published posthumously. it is a lesser effort, but still equally lovely.
the long winter looms again on the same odd planet, but it is a slightly different people who find themselves threatened. the last ice age changed them: on the one hand, giving them the haunting (and handy) power of recalling through dreams their ancestral memories; on the other, leaving them an even more naively insular and technologically backward people who are nearly powerless in the face of such a dire threat.
the story is, in a word, low-key. the threat is terrible and real, and it is central to the book. but I Remember Pallahaxi is a novel about more down-to-earth things: traditions changing, a boy and a girl in love, rebellion against staid authority. it is also, surprisingly, a quietly intense murder mystery.
Coney writes with an empathetic and loving hand - and one that refuses to coddle. there is a refreshing and often awkward realness to protagonists and antagonists alike. certain characters are villainous, but there is no black & white evil - nothing as banal and uninteresting as that - just foolishness and fear making unwise people do unwise things. characters kill and characters die, and that's that. the author is similarly unsentimental when it comes to resolving the greater mystery of who these odd beings on this odd planet actually are; the explanation made perfect sense and was also perfectly deflating. but despite Coney's sensible pragmatism, the novel is far from dryly prosaic. as with its predecessor, it is sweetly tender without being remotely saccharine or soft.
the long winter looms again on the same odd planet, but it is a slightly different people who find themselves threatened. the last ice age changed them: on the one hand, giving them the haunting (and handy) power of recalling through dreams their ancestral memories; on the other, leaving them an even more naively insular and technologically backward people who are nearly powerless in the face of such a dire threat.
the story is, in a word, low-key. the threat is terrible and real, and it is central to the book. but I Remember Pallahaxi is a novel about more down-to-earth things: traditions changing, a boy and a girl in love, rebellion against staid authority. it is also, surprisingly, a quietly intense murder mystery.
Coney writes with an empathetic and loving hand - and one that refuses to coddle. there is a refreshing and often awkward realness to protagonists and antagonists alike. certain characters are villainous, but there is no black & white evil - nothing as banal and uninteresting as that - just foolishness and fear making unwise people do unwise things. characters kill and characters die, and that's that. the author is similarly unsentimental when it comes to resolving the greater mystery of who these odd beings on this odd planet actually are; the explanation made perfect sense and was also perfectly deflating. but despite Coney's sensible pragmatism, the novel is far from dryly prosaic. as with its predecessor, it is sweetly tender without being remotely saccharine or soft.
September 9, 2024
Check out my full, spoiler free, video review HERE. After finishing Rax (Hello Summer, Goodbye) I couldn’t wait to read this sequel. This has all the things I liked about Rax; well written, great coming of age love story, interesting alien world, small scale political intrigue. This one also adds humans to the mix, stardreaming and a religion vs science showdown. Not only that but we get some mysteries of the Lorin and the origin of the aliens resolved. If you liked Rax (Hello Summer, Goodbye) then you’ll like this one too.
February 28, 2013
Firstly, the above description is actually for Hello Summer, Goodbye [aka Pallahaxi Tide aka Rax] not I Remember Pallahaxi which is the sequel to that book but I understand both stories were originally published in the one volume. I Remember Pallahaxi has now been published as a stand alone book on Kindle.
This book is a must for anyone who has read Michael Coney’s Hello Summer, Goodbye [aka Pallahaxi Tide aka Rax] Although not a direct sequel it does finally provide a definitive answer to what really happened at the end when the Lorin came. It can also be read as a stand alone novel although I am sure it will send readers searching for the hard to find Hello Summer, Goodbye.
I Remember Pallahaxi takes place many generations later on the alien world we first visited with Drove and Browneyes. Society has regressed and changed but the ecosystems and climate are familiar. Humans have arrived too and have been mining for several hundred years. The story is told through the eyes of Hardy, a youth on the verge of adulthood and it is his experiences that serve as our introduction to the people and their way of life. Once again the climate is changing and the long winter is coming and people are getting desperate. Will they survive this time and how did they survive last time? Finally the long awaited answers will be told. This is science fiction at its best.
It is sad to think that Michael Coney died before I Remember Pallahaxi was finally published. He is one of the great, though underrated writers of his time. Make sure you read the Introduction by Eric Brown and the Authors Note by Michael Coney that are included with this Kindle edition.
This book is a must for anyone who has read Michael Coney’s Hello Summer, Goodbye [aka Pallahaxi Tide aka Rax] Although not a direct sequel it does finally provide a definitive answer to what really happened at the end when the Lorin came. It can also be read as a stand alone novel although I am sure it will send readers searching for the hard to find Hello Summer, Goodbye.
I Remember Pallahaxi takes place many generations later on the alien world we first visited with Drove and Browneyes. Society has regressed and changed but the ecosystems and climate are familiar. Humans have arrived too and have been mining for several hundred years. The story is told through the eyes of Hardy, a youth on the verge of adulthood and it is his experiences that serve as our introduction to the people and their way of life. Once again the climate is changing and the long winter is coming and people are getting desperate. Will they survive this time and how did they survive last time? Finally the long awaited answers will be told. This is science fiction at its best.
It is sad to think that Michael Coney died before I Remember Pallahaxi was finally published. He is one of the great, though underrated writers of his time. Make sure you read the Introduction by Eric Brown and the Authors Note by Michael Coney that are included with this Kindle edition.
March 11, 2016
I like Hello summer goodbye.And I was so amazed after reading it. needed to soak
myself into same world.so i took this book. As a result, I'm satisfied.I like this love story as well as Hello summer goodbye.Good read.
myself into same world.so i took this book. As a result, I'm satisfied.I like this love story as well as Hello summer goodbye.Good read.
August 25, 2024
Apparently published posthumously after the death of Michael G. Coney, “I Remember Pallahaxi” is the sequel to "Hello Summer, Goodbye", a science fiction novel that I loved very much. Like the first part, this is again a coming-of-age story, but set several generations after the events of "Hello Summer, Goodbye". Apparently, there has been a technological step backwards since then. In this sequel, the author explains why this is the case, why there are suddenly humans on the planet of the Stilk and what exactly the relationship between Stilk and the ape-like Lorin is like.
The story is interesting and in the end it is also about solving a mystery. However, the magic of the first part has evaporated or only comes up when the book references its predecessor. The concept of the Stilk being able to dream the memories of their ancestors is interesting, but of course Coney also uses it as a technical bracket to create a link to the first novel. For fans of the first book, this is a must-read that at least partially evokes wistful memories. For the rest, it's probably an average read.
The story is interesting and in the end it is also about solving a mystery. However, the magic of the first part has evaporated or only comes up when the book references its predecessor. The concept of the Stilk being able to dream the memories of their ancestors is interesting, but of course Coney also uses it as a technical bracket to create a link to the first novel. For fans of the first book, this is a must-read that at least partially evokes wistful memories. For the rest, it's probably an average read.
May 26, 2024
Wie der Vorgänger "Hello Summer, Goodbye" ein sehr schönes Science Fantasy Buch, das ich nur weiterempfehlen kann.
Auch der Fakt, das Menschen in diesem Buch vorkommen fand ich interessant.
Die ganze Atmosphäre des Buches ist (wie bei Teil 1 auch schon) sehr schön. Das Volk der Stilk erinnert mich persönlich sehr an die Hobbits aus Herr der Ringe, zumindest was ihre Lebensweise angeht.
Und auch das Coney so viele Redewendungen einbaut, die dem Leser zwar vertraut sind, aber in abgeänderter Form vorkommen, trägt meiner Meinung nach sehr zur Atmosphäre der Welt an sich bei. Ich hatte immer ein Schmunzeln im Gesicht als ein Charakter sagte/dachte jemand "soll zum Rax gehen" oder andere Redewendungen :D
Auch die ganze Mythologie des Buches mit dem großen Lox usw. fand ich sehr atmosphärisch.
Werde in Zukunft noch weitere Bücher von Coney lesen und hoffe das auch seine anderen Bücher so gut sind wie "Hello Summer, Goodbye" und "I remember Pallahaxi".
Auch der Fakt, das Menschen in diesem Buch vorkommen fand ich interessant.
Die ganze Atmosphäre des Buches ist (wie bei Teil 1 auch schon) sehr schön. Das Volk der Stilk erinnert mich persönlich sehr an die Hobbits aus Herr der Ringe, zumindest was ihre Lebensweise angeht.
Und auch das Coney so viele Redewendungen einbaut, die dem Leser zwar vertraut sind, aber in abgeänderter Form vorkommen, trägt meiner Meinung nach sehr zur Atmosphäre der Welt an sich bei. Ich hatte immer ein Schmunzeln im Gesicht als ein Charakter sagte/dachte jemand "soll zum Rax gehen" oder andere Redewendungen :D
Auch die ganze Mythologie des Buches mit dem großen Lox usw. fand ich sehr atmosphärisch.
Werde in Zukunft noch weitere Bücher von Coney lesen und hoffe das auch seine anderen Bücher so gut sind wie "Hello Summer, Goodbye" und "I remember Pallahaxi".
December 28, 2018
I hate to say that this sequel to “Hello summer, goodbye” doesn’t measure up. It’s too focused on lame politicking, than anything else. It felt more soap opera ish with its politics and feuding. Totally unlike the first one in too many ways. I in fact, couldn’t even finish this one. To quote Reviewbrah... “my disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined”
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February 14, 2024Long winter over hunted memory
rebilion track simple door
sweet love
but still unwise pep done unwise thing
sweety tender like cloud love
dove drove there thee dream
in ailian world
with cold religon
how will thee survive
float over rever with hole in shep
how thee survive
fire of passion come
tale of old memory return alive
winter will go far in cold blod
still sweet rainbow ring the ear
i love her
rebilion track simple door
sweet love
but still unwise pep done unwise thing
sweety tender like cloud love
dove drove there thee dream
in ailian world
with cold religon
how will thee survive
float over rever with hole in shep
how thee survive
fire of passion come
tale of old memory return alive
winter will go far in cold blod
still sweet rainbow ring the ear
i love her
September 5, 2025
This is recognizably YA, with all the shortcomings that tag entails. There is no sense of alienness here; just an impression of stuff being made up as the plot jerks spasmodically along. And again everything is subervient to an indulgence of dubious sexual fetishes. In modern terms, Coney was perhaps a "furry"? Whatever. Not a bad book; just a bit off.
May 13, 2018
Michael G Coney was a writer of the 1970s and 1980s whose work I remember most fondly. Despite winning a BSFA Award for best novel for Brontomek! he never achieved the wide success and readership he deserved perhaps because his novels tended to focus on the dilemmas and relationships of his characters rather than any SF ideas they might contain. In this regard his influence on the work of Eric Brown (who provides the introduction to this volume) is unmistakable.
Never published in the author’s lifetime, I Remember Pallahaxi is a sequel of sorts to Coney’s 1975 novel Hello Summer, Goodbye but is set hundreds of years after the events of that book. Here we are among the stilk, a humanoid race, inhabiting an unnamed Earth-like planet orbiting a sun called Phu with a giant planet named Rax dominating the system’s celestial mechanics. The stilk inherit their ancestors’ memories up to the moment of their own conception, boys only their father’s line, girls only their mother’s. The resulting hierarchy means those who can trace these memories back furthest become manchief or womanchief of their respective villages. Inheritance therefore falls to the youngest son or daughter – the ones with the most such memories. Gender roles are also rigidly demarcated as are the living arrangements. There are no nuclear families; association of mothers and fathers beyond their initial sexual encounter is looked upon as unnatural. Boys are taken into the men’s house on coming of age, girls remain in the women’s.
The book starts at a time when the crops of Yam village are beginning to fail, the animals the men hunt scarcer, and the chiefs have to make a journey to the fishing village of Noss to borrow food for the winter against future crops. The crude boat young Yam Hardy, nephew of Yam’s manchief, has taken along on the trip for adventure begins to sink under him and he is rescued by Noss Charm, the most eligible girl in Noss. They form an instant attraction to each other despite the long-standing mutual prejudices of each village. The sinking wasn’t an accident though. They find a hole in the upturned boat. A mystery then, along with the SF elements. Subsequently, Yam’s food situation gets no better as the crops fail again and the animals become ever fewer. When Hardy’s father Bruno is murdered on another supplicant trip to Noss Hardy realises he is in danger.
All this is almost by the way to what is really the main driver of the book, the importance of “stardreaming” (the accession to those ancestral memories,) the mysterious creatures called lorin (with apparent telepathic abilities) and the casual discarding of the stilk by the humans, who arrived after the time in which Hello Summer, Goodbye was set, in order to exploit the planet’s resources - albeit with treaty obligations - as humans do.
I note that by the end the conceit that Hardy is relating this to a human (his narrative makes frequent references to this and compares both races’ backgrounds) does not quite stand up. Not that it matters. In most respects the stilk we are shown might as well be human. They behave in the way we would expect humans to. Barring the living arrangements (which in the novel are beginning to break down and are found in some human societies anyway) they have the same flaws, strengths and idiosyncrasies as humans. Most crucially, Coney makes the reader care about them. Along the way he takes a wide swipe at religion and the fervour it can induce, the mask it can provide.
Quite why this novel took so long to be published is a mystery to me. It is quintessential Coney which makes it very good indeed.
October 3, 2023
"I Remember Pallahaxi" is the sequel to "Hello Summer, Goodbye" and I found both books very enjoyable. "Hello Summer" ends in mid-air and, thankfully, "I Remember" answers many of the questions raised in the former. Both books offer up interesting ecology, astronomy, species, and anthropology. They are well-plotted and feature interesting characters.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews