The Long Forgetting

by Edward A. Byers

Human colonists travel too far into space and encounter aliens who impose an eight-hundred-year wave of total ignorance over an entire galaxy, causing all its inhabitants to struggle for centuries to restore their intellect.
Google Books

Genres: Science Fiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1985

Reviews

[Sarah Brehm · Rating 4 out of 5]

I grabbed this book out of the free bin at my local used book store. When I got home, I discovered a letter folded up inside the book. And then I realized the letter was written by Orson Scott Card. Here's what it says:

Dear Ms. Mitchell,

I'm serving on the Nebula Jury this year, and I am asking the other members of the jury to read, and consider adding to the Nebula final ballt, The Long Forgetting by Edward A. Byers. I admired his short fiction for years: his first novel is a powerful and seamless work that engrossed me from beginning to end. I think it's one of the best novels this year. However, because it is a first novel, it is not likely to get the kind of attention from Nebula voters that goes to works by better-known authors.

Would you be willing to send copies of The Long Forgetting to the other members of the jury? Their names and address are on the enclosed list.

Of course, only one novel can be added to the ballot by the Nebula jury, and it is impossible to guess whether the jury will choose this one to add. But I want very much for this novel to get as much attention as possible. As the jury members read novels, they also nominate the ones the admire through the regular nomination process. I expect that when they read this book at my request, and discover (as any person of taste and discrimination surely will) that it is an exceptional work, not just as a "first novel," but in comparison with any work in the field, it is possible that they will add their nominations to mine on the Nebula Awards Report, and encourage other members of the SFWA to read it and consider it for the Nebula award.

I don't think anything's more exciting than discovering that a new writer's first novel is better than most of the books published by established names this year. But nothing's more discouraging than having nobody else notice it. I thank you for publishing a book that game me such pleasure; I hope you can help me let people know how good it is!

Sincerely, Orson Scott Card

[James]

"The Fugue swept human-occupied space, wiping all knowledge from the minds of men and leaving them helpless in a new Dark Age. The long climb back to intelligence take eight hundred years. Yet all memories of their parent civilization are lost. The Church rules the stars...and controls all artifacts of the forgotten time. When respected archaeologists Waverly Brennan uncovers evidence that the Church's gods are no more than men of the old age, he is warned to silence. To speak would mean galaxywide upheaval..."--Back cover.

[Scout Who · Rating 2 out of 5]

I do not recommend. Too many characters appear, disappear, and either reappear or not.
Too much jumping around in time and space, with no clear indicators of when or where the setting is.
Too many questions left unanswered, especially the most important one.
(by that, I mean all the questions about the dark plaque thing)

[Cheryl]

Dave does not recommend. Too many characters appear, disappear, and either reappear or not.
Too much jumping around in time and space, with no clear indicators of when or where the setting is.
Too many questions left unanswered, especially the most important one.