James Nicoll Reviews

Nina Kiriki Hoffman’s 2006 Catalyst: A Novel of Alien Contact is a science fiction novel of alien contact. No doubt some might slide Catalyst over into the YA SF category, but I myself would not be putting this particular novel into little Timmy or Tammy’s Christmas stocking.

Thanks to his father’s involvement in illegal schemes, Kaslin’s family had to flee. Flight led the family to Chuudoku, a world whose Gini Coefficient is high and whose absence of the rule of law is utter. Impoverished Kaslin was attracted to wealthy, alluring Histly Mapworth. To quote:

Kaslin saw Histly and thought, yum. Histly saw Kaslin and thought, prey. After that first day, Kaslin saw Histly and thought, run.

As relentlessly sadistic as she is immune from any repercussions, Histly devotes herself to persecuting Kaslin. Kaslin’s life, already lamentable, soon becomes a living hell. Not only is Histly cruel and rich enough that nobody will ever risk helping Kaslin, Histly is augmented… from her strength-enhanced legs to her envenomed claws. Eluding Histly requires cunning.

Fleeing Histly once again, Kaslin takes the risk of hiding in an unfamiliar cave. Better the unknown risks ahead of him over the quite familiar risk bearing down on him from behind.

The ancient, highly advanced aliens who chose that cave as a redoubt in which to slumber away the millennia are intrigued by their visitor. After subjecting him to an unrequested and quite intimate examination, they make some minor biochemical adjustments and set him free. Histly is deemed less satisfying and stored for the moment.

Returning home, Kaslin discovers that the changes worked on him were sufficient that the family autodoc perceives him as seriously ill. Despite the machine’s alarm, the alterations appear to be beneficial, conferring among other things resistance to local behavior-modifying parasites. Perhaps for once in his life, Kaslin got lucky.

Not wise enough to leave matters well alone, Kaslin retrieves a now completely starkers Histly. She too was subjected to an intimate examination and a few alterations. Histly is still fixated on Kaslin, but now as a potential sex toy rather than as someone to hurt. Kaslin’s preferences in this matter are still irrelevant.

The aliens are ancient, powerful, enigmatic, and willing to communicate only via Kaslin. This makes Kaslin valuable. It does not make Kaslin powerful. In short order, he is indentured to the Mapworths (most of whom are at least as creepy as Histly and possibly more so). Kaslin’s life has been mapped out for him. Who knows? Perhaps someday he will be free.

~oOo~

I miss the days when SFF books got eye-catching covers like Catalyst’s.

Whatever happened to giant eyeballs on the cover of books? Was it the Thor Power Tools decision?

If Catalyst were published today, its 170ish-page length would probably get it classified as a novella. In my day, 170-odd pages were enough for a novel! In the case of Catalyst, 170 or so pages were more than enough.

What’s The Worst That Could Happen was originally dedicated to reviewing SFF books that are ​“notorious for being terrible or for being so extraordinarily opaque as to be unreadable.” An insufficiently precise search through my Old Reviews folder turned up Catalyst and I realized that there’s a whole other category of SFF books I’d overlooked: books you set down and think ​“what the helling hell?”

I remember my sensations as I read Catalyst for the first time. My eyebrows raised so high as to cross over the top of my head and crawl down my back. Catalyst has many of the surface features of a stock YA SF novel: an alien world filled with danger, an unsympathetic society, providential discovery of the means by which the protagonist can better himself. The execution is abundantly NC-17 without being much fun for poor Kaslin¹.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough just how creepy this novel is. We’re talking levels of squick that reminded me of John C. Wright’s² teen-BDSM fantasy novel, The Orphans of Chaos. Hoffman is a better writer than Wright. This may not be a plus. It means the novel more effectively conveys images, characters, and situations that I have no desire to have in my head. I’m sure the novel accomplished exactly what the author intended.

If I had to come up with the elevator pitch for this, it would be ​“imagine an Andre Norton YA as written by Tanith Lee on a particularly bitter and cynical day.” Catalyst is the Bear³ of YA SF novels. One may read a description and think ​“surely some level of exaggeration is involved.” It is not.

Catalyst is available from its publisher, Tachyon Books. Otherwise, booksellers don’t seem to carry this novel. I wonder why.

1: Getting banged like a cheap tambourine by a libidinous hot teen cyborg might sound like fun, but Kaslin can’t say no and because of Histly’s augmentations, she could inadvertently kill Kaslin.

2: You know, I bet I still have a copy of Orphans of Chaos kicking around. If there was ever an author made for What’s The Worst That Could Happen, it is John C. Wright. However, I fear reminding people he exists could improve his sales. 

3: Not any author named Bear, and not the TV show about the restaurant, but rather the Governor General Award-winning CanLit novel, Bear.