James Nicoll Reviews

1977’s Cluster is the first volume in Piers Anthony’s Cluster science fiction series.

Andromeda plots to steal all of the Milky Way’s energy! Only trans-galactic effort can stymie this perfidious plot!

Alas, there is a serious impediment to a unified front.

In Sphere Sol, humans know of three ways to transport humans to other planets. There is mattermission (instant but phenomenally expensive), cryonic transport (slow and unreliable, with half the colonist lost on route), and generation ship (reliable, but very slow). Obviously, none of these are really sufficient to enable every civilization to unite against Andromeda.

Pnotl of Sphere Knyfh offers humans a fourth method, one that Earth has long known exists, but without being able to duplicate it. Transfer allows minds to be impressed into host bodies. Transfer is far cheaper than another other transportation method. All Pnotl asks for this precious knowledge is that Earth shares it with the neighboring alien civilizations.

Transfer has one serious drawback. Unless the traveler returns to their original body within a length of time determined by the strength of their Kirlian aura, they fade away. Therefore, whichever human is assigned the task of spreading the technology should have the most powerful possible Kirlian aura, to increase the odds of surviving long enough to accomplish their mission.

Flint of Outerworld has a Kirlian rating of 200, the highest known. Flint would be the perfect choice, were it not for so-called ​“spherical regression.” The farther from the home world, the more primitive the technology sustainable on colony worlds. Outerworld, for example, had regressed to the paleolithic. Flint is a Stone-age savage.

Nevertheless, Flint is the best option available. The shaman’s apprentice is drafted, mattermitted to Earth at phenomenal expense, briefed, and dispatched to spread Transfer across the nearer galaxy.

Of course, Andromeda also possesses Transfer. Moreover, they have the ability to track transfers. Thus, not only does Flint have to somehow bridge the profound cultural barriers between humans and aliens. He has to avoid Andromedan attempts to confound or kill him.

~oOo~

Cluster was planned as a Because My Tears Are Delicious To You review (right time period), but it crosses the threshold between ​“aged poorly” and ​“this is fucking terrible.” Thus, its appearance in What’s The Worst That Could Happen?

I think if we were to finagle some hapless SF fan into reading an old Avon paperback of Cluster, an experienced reader would be astounded to discover that this novel was published as recently as 1977. The entire Andromedan plot to steal THE MILKY WAY’S ENERGY! could come straight out of a lesser Edmund Hamilton story. 

On the other hand, the whole Kirlian aura plot point is of more recent vintage. Although the phenomenon behind Kirlian photography is entirely mundane, the dingbat-o-sphere eagerly jumped on Kirlian photography as evidence of psychic phenomena. The moral here is that there are many easily bilked fools out there¹.

This novel being a product of the 1970s, it is no surprise that many of the characters are relentlessly horny. Flint spends much his time getting it on with likeminded aliens. Points for ingenuity on Flint’s part, but the reader suffers from exposure to content that Piers Anthony considers erotic.

So, what makes this so terrible? There’s the relentless male gaze, which to be fair is nothing remarkable for books of this vintage. The supposed scientific content, such as it is, is dire. Anthony’s prose is juvenile enough that even I noticed how dreadful it is. The characters have the depth of oil-slicks. The truly horrifying aspect of the book is that Anthony series as a rule peak with the first novel, each subsequent book being worse than the previous instalment. Given what a dud this novel was, how awful were the later books?

It’s a rare novel that does not offer surprises. Too bad for me that not every surprise is pleasant. In this case, I had completely forgotten about the whole ​“some races are just better off as slaves of superior races” subplot. I have every hope I will succeed in forgetting that subplot, along with the rest of Cluster.

Still, Cluster has one positive quality. Writers often worry that they don’t write well enough to be published. Such authors should take heart from Cluster. It’s very unlikely your novel is worse than this one² and this unmitigated garbage not only saw print, it did not bring Anthony’s career to an end. Take heart!

Cluster is available here (Open Road Media), here (Barnes & Noble), here (Bookshop US), here (Chapters-Indigo), and here (Words Worth Books).

1: USA delenda est.

2: Although I can think of at least two Anthony novels that are worse, one I won’t review at all and the other only for a premium. Nobody really needs reviews of Nazi romance novels.