BOOK REPORT: SLOW GODS by CLAIRE NORTH

 

 

FROM SLOW GODS  by CLAIRE NORTH*

 

THE SCENE: Former lovers Gebre and Mawukana unite briefly as Gebre's world, Adjumiri, draws closer to destruction by a celestial event, a supernova that is set to envelope the planet in a few years. Billions have become refugees in the decades prior to the expected catastrophe while 800 million remain who cannot be lifted off-world in time. Currently, Gebre’s institute on Adjumiri is being raided by Shine forces looking for a communication headset that may help them communicate with their far-flung starships more readily. Gebre's  museum is dedicated to the preservation of Adjumiri cultural artifacts they hope can be saved. They work to preserve the past even as the future arrives, rendering all their plans for nought.

Gebre tells Maw (who is now only partly human, having been transformed by the “Dark”, an entity or force inhabiting “arc-space” where interstellar ships enter to travel light-years in a short span of time. There is also a countervailing entity to the Dark in real space that people call “The Slow”, which is a mysterious, giant, black sphere, apparently a machine, that moves around from planet to planet, star system to star system, sometimes communicating, most times remaining silent. It has been around for centuries, for as long as anyone can remember, and like the ancient Greek Oracle at Delphi, when it does speak, everyone listens. But, what Slow's purpose is, who built it, are answers no one has.

 

MAW HAS POWERS gifted to him during his transformation by the Dark, including virtual immortality, which can be wildly destructive and bloody, for he can not—or will not—always control his impulses, but Gebre, in their final communication before he is killed by the Shine military officer, Theodosius Rhode and his henchmen, urges Maw to act with compassion and kindness for his fellow humans:

 

“We are the seeds of the forest, we blaze so bright, no life is special. No life is special. No life is special and all of them are. No love matters more than any other, no story is more important, nothing matters more, nothing matters less, so choose, choose, we choose every day to be more than just ourselves, to live for more than just ourselves because it is beautiful.” ( P. 199.)

 

IN ANOTHER PASSAGE, a number of years after Gebre's planet is consumed by radiation and gamma-rays given off by the approaching edge of the supernova, killing hundreds of millions, Cuxil, the “Consensus” ambassador from a group of worlds and peoples that share, telepathically, a single consciousness, comments to Maw when war looms on the horizon against “The Shine”, an uber-capitalistic confederation of planets that oppresses many worlds with its system of dominance and exploitation. [Sound familiar? Just sayin’. Ed.] Ambassador Cuxil responds to Maw when he asks what is the point of the war, what is the point of his life, what does any of it mean, why should any of it matter? Cuxil's  reply echoes Gebre’s speech when she says to Maw:

 

“This life will be gone soon” she breathed. “It will not be remembered. It will not be, as the Adumiris say, sung in the stars. We are the seeds of the forest, are we not? Where we fall, others may grow. So live Mawukanan a-Vdnaze. Before all is dust: live and blaze bright.”  (P. 307)

 

👉IT SHOULD BE NOTED that these prayers or acknowledgements, or hopes or wishes make the distinction that we are of the forests, are earthly creatures, and the songs that will be sung will be from our earthly existances, not as the Adumiris say, from "the stars". 

 

    CLAIR NORTH (aka Catherine Webb)

ANOTHER EXAMPLE of this—prayer? perhaps—occurs as the war with the Shine nears its end. As a Pilot of starships within “arc-space”, a realm/non-realm whereby vast distances of hundreds, even thousands of light years can be traveled nearly instantaneously, Maw is determined to bring his vessel into position where he can contact the trapped human Pilots of The Shine's shadow fleet, who remain in a state of suspended readiness, poised to attack and destroy planets that would turn against The Shine’s oppressive rule. However, the crew aboard his ship want Maw to return to their recent battle site to rescue comrades they were forced to leave behind. Maw chooses to continue his journey to contact the Shine pilots (several thousand, I believe, who are entombed in “Black" ships equipped with planet-killing armaments. To contact them he must overcome the mutineer, Maolcas who holds a knife to his throat, demanding Maw turn the ship around. Maw disables the anti-gravitation system, which returns a heavy gravity in the room and flings Maolcas against the back wall, probably killing him.

Maw then whispers:

 

“We are the seeds of the forest. No life is special and all of them are. No love matters more than any other, no story is more important, nothing matters more, nothing matters less. Where we fall, others may grow, so live. May your song be sung, may you name be whispered among the stars.”  (P. 339)

 

He goes on to say he didn’t think Maolcas heard him. 

MAW MADE THE CHOICE, to reach out to the trapped Shine Pilots, their existence a living hell, akin to being strapped to a chair, blind-folded with headphones screaming nothing but white noise. Awake and alert they stand ready to receive their activation codes to attack and destroy a planet The Shine deems an enemy. It should be noted that “arc-ships” traversing the void between stars need human Pilots, specifically human brains, to accomplish this task, something like the mutated human “Navigators” in Frank Herbert’s Dune books. 

Here, North’s Pilots have a short life expectancy and are good for only a few missions before they descend into madness and become useless for further piloting of inter-stellar vessels. Maw, because he has been partially transformed into ‘something else’ by the Dark, retains the ability to pilot ships and does not suffer any damage to his brain. His services are highly sought after, even with his, at times, rages from his “Dark” nature. Most people tend to walk on eggshells around him. Gebre and ambassador Cuxil (and some others) are exceptions to the rule.

Maw finally contacts the stranded Shine pilots who are dying. "The Accord" forces (Maw's side) have located the Shine's shadow ships and are destroying them one by one. Even though the Pilots are part of The Shine’s forces and technically enemies of Maw, he reaches out to each of them in a communion spanning hundreds of light years:

 

“I stayed with the Pilots as they perished, easing their minds to sleep.

It was not necessary, not especially important.

It just seemed like something I should do.

‘We are the seeds of the forest,’ I whispered. ‘We blaze so bright, and no life is special. No life is special and all of them are. No love matters more than any other, no story is more important, nothing matters more, nothing matters less so choose, choose, we choose every day, to be more than just ourselves, to live for more than just ourselves, because it is beautiful.

You have been loved, and you are beautiful. May your song be sung in the great forest that is growing still.'” (P. 392)

 

After the war, Maw is confused and conflicted about his wartime activities, the choices he made, the consequences he must accept. But he is tired of what it is to be wholly human, with his Dark side kept mostly at bay. During Maw’s final conversation with the victorious Consensus ambassador, Cuxil speaks to Maw’s confusion:

 

“After, Cuxil said: what would you like to do?

I would like to back to Reneki, I said [an AI Maw once had that had controlled the arc-space ship he piloted. It had also been a companion and guide]

On whatever ship is most likely to need a Pilot.

I want to go into the dark.

I want to go into the dark.

I want to go into the dark

Things are simpler there. 'All right, Cuxil replied. Let’s get you home.'” (P. 392)

 

I was reminded of Paul Gaugin’s famous 1897-98 painting on which he wrote three questions: “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?” Foundational questions such as these are at the heart of what it is to be human. And they are also part of the questions we ask the of cosmos as we try to grasp the enormity of the universe, a seemingly impersonal expanse of time and space, and our place in it. The choices we make during our microscopic existence and the ‘choices’ the universe makes are really two halves of the same coin. Go figure.

 

AFTER THE WAR with the Shine is over, Maw pilots arc-ships for the ascendant “Accord” federation of planets. During this period, he ponders what he has accomplished, whether the choice to go to war on one side and not the other had meant anything. Confused and unsure whether any choice he makes is more relevant than any other, Maw asks the “Dark” for answers:

 

“In the dark, I callout to my creator.

Are you there?

Do you see me?

Am I interesting to you now? Did you mean for me to become this?

Nothing answers.

Nothing ever does.” (P. 397)

 

 SOME TIME AFTER the war’s end, Maw seeks the advice of the “Lordat”, a class of priests or spiritual guides, asking them why, when he opens his arms and mind to the Dark, asking it if it still finds him interesting, it does not reply. The Lordat then gives a good summation (with a bit of ‘cheek’ at the end) of what the Dark is and what it represents:

 

“The Lordat say that the dark is interested in things that are not of itself. That it is fascinated by life unknown, minds that twinkle, souls that shine. There is nothing malicious in its curiosity. It has no sense of right or wrong, good or bad. Rather, like a soft-winged bug drawn to the flame, it flitters and flits towards the warmth of a soul as it blazes through the night.

Does this mean, I ask, that I do not have a soul? [Because the Dark does not answer him]

Possibly, one Lordat replies: But honestly, your question is a bit above my pay grade.” (P. 401)

 

👉WE SEE in these passages a growing sense of compassion in Maw for life, even for an enemy’s life. Killing, for example, as Maw sees in the ending chapters is ultimately boring. There is no more information to be garnered from a corpse, a mind grown dark. But a life blazing in the now of its existence remains full of possibility and interest. North, I think, presents the macrocosm, the giant sweep of humanity throughout the impersonal galaxy, where one decision can save or destroy billions through coping with natural disasters (a supernova), or war and galactic conflict thousands of years in the future. She also posits a universe that is (almost) entirely indifferent to humanity, whose existence is neither more important or interesting than anything else. The mysterious Slow sphere represents, perhaps, a ‘nod or a wink’ in the direction of humankind as it evolves within an otherwise indifferent universe.

 

👉SHE ALSO PRESENTS the microcosm of a single human life, a single love, like Maw’s love for Gebre, or Maw’s friendship with ambassador Cuxil and others who are close to him despite his unpredictable, chaotic, Dark-spawned powers. Thus, the cosmic and the earthly are counterpoints to each other. [As I think, The Slow and the Dark are to each other, as well. Ed.] In the end, Gebre’s dying plea to Maw is recalled—to live a life that is more than just for himself—and the reader feels Maw has finally learned this lesson. He does what he can, saves who is able to save. In the grand scheme of things, to the Dark, inhabiting arc-space, nothing matters more than anything else, everything is of equal interest or not. On the other hand, the Slow, inhabiting 'real space' teeming with life brightly blazing, seems to be a more ‘hands-on’ type of God or guide or seer from time to time choosing to intervene when it wishes, like warning the Shine planets of the impending supernova event. 

But The Dark, after it examines its latest specimen, when it is understood fully in all its constitutent parts, when it is broken down to the molecular level, then the specimens are discarded because they are unable to provide The Dark with any new information.

👉No life is more precious or more significant than any other, and yet some lives do matter more, some choices are more relevant to the choice-maker that others, some loves are more important in the puny microcosm where we live. We make choices all the time. Maw learns that choosing always comes with a price. Some choices more costly than others. It’s a complicated business, choosing this or that in the tiny space and time we share with an all but indifferent universe.¹  

I think there has to be a balance between the innate selfishness of a life lived solely for its own purposes, like the self-centered world of the infant demanding its needs be met above all else, and the indifference we see in a cold and uncaring universe. A balance is needed. And an awareness that with each choice made there may come pain.²    

 

CHEERS, JAKE. _____________________________________

 

[Jake left out all the events, journeys, conflicts, wars, loves and hates, violence and peaceful times from his book review. He doesn’t want to spoil the ending or the beginning for the reader. Ed.]

 

* If you want some compelling Sci-Fi reads check out Catherine Webb’s novels. Under her given name (Webb) she writes young adult/children’s fantasy. Under her pseudonym, Claire North, she writes adult fantasy and speculative fiction, and as Kate Griffin she writes urban fantasy and magical noir for adults. I’m most familiar with her Clair North novels and recommend any because of her remarkable world-building skills and the fantastic storylines she develops in her novels. Incidentally, she published her first book at the age of fourteen! She is truly a gifted writer, who just turned 40 this year. Expect more from her in the coming years.

 

1. Check out Philip K. Dick’s 1957 novel, The Cosmic Puppets, to get a traditional sci-fi story that has a similar theme of macro/micro being two halves of the same coin. 

 

2. One character I'd like to mention here: Theodosius Rhode, an elite Shine officer who escaped Accord forces and disappeared after the war. He was responsible for much bloodshed and was directily responsible for Gebre's death on Adjumiri. Rhode eventually ends up at Maw's island residence on the planet Tu-Mdo. It is Rhode's indifference around his personal fate (i.e. will Maw go full psycho and rip him to shreds.) He is ready and perhaps hopes for this ultimate experience. Otherwise, he is empty, a hollow man who lives solely for himself and has little interest or care for anything else. We recall the scene where Rhode comes into possession of a communication device that might prove useful for the war against the Accord. He  attempts to use it and nearly dies in the process. Later he examines the headset, then crushes it in his hand, indifferent and uninterested in something he can no longer use. (Incidentally, it was his raid to capture the device, at Gebre's institute on Adjumiri, that resulted in the death of  Maw's lover.)

ON MAW'S ISLAND HOME on Tu-Mdo, Maw asks Rhode why he attempted to use the headset and Rhode replies he simply wanted to experience it. In other words it was just another self-involved 'adventure' for him, nothing more. After that Maw says he finds Rhode uninteresting, his homicidal nature  boring, as is his indifference and incuriousness  to anything that isn't functionally controlled by him like, on a cosmic scale, the same can be said for The Dark that finds no difference between one experience of the living universe and another. The living soul "blazing brightly" is not something sacred to either Rhode or The Dark, rather it is something to analyze and then discarded once their utility has been exhausted.

👉Rhode might be happier inhabiting the non-living universe of arc-space with The Dark. It's certainly seems a place where he should spend eternity. 

AFTER CONTEMPLATING WHETHER TO KILL Rhode or not, Maw finds his death as uninteresting as his life and says he is going to sleep, exhausted by his trip home. Rhode can do whatever he wants. Of course this is intollerable to the Shine officer who blubbers about Maw's imperitance in finding him of little interest. [He is dead inside; it's as if he lives in his own arc-space along side his cosmic buddy, The Dark. Ed.] Maw closes the bedroom door and sleeps for a long time. Rhode is gone when he wakes.  

 

North, Claire. Slow Gods. Orbit Hachette Book Group.  New York, New York. 10104. 2025.

 

Dick, Philip, K., The Cosmic Puppets. A. A. Wynn Inc. Ace Books Berkley edition (1983) The Berkley Publishing Group. 200 Madison Avenue, New York, NY, 10016.

 

 

 

 

RANT: A PRINCIPLED STAND

 

    MACKLEMORE

THE OTHER DAY there was a bit of a spat in the music world when English singer, Ed Sheeran, during his American “Loop” tour dismissed his opening act, Macklemore, because the rapper uttered the verboten words: “Free Palestine” during his September 5-6 performances after which he sang his “Hind’s Hall” song, which honoured Columbia University students for their on campus protests against the genocide in Gaza.*

 

MACKLEMORE put his foot in it for daring to utter those (so-called) “anti-Semitic” words during his MetLife New, Jersey, stadium performances. The backlash was instantaneous, with billionaire Zionist Robert Kraft, owner of the Gillette stadium in Foxborough Massachusetts where Sheeran and Macklemore were scheduled next to perform, refused to host the musical event if Macklemore remained on the ticket. The Israeli-American Council (IAC) was in high dungeon over Macklemore’s public support for the Palestinian cause. They started a petition which garnered tens of thousands of signatures for the rapper’s removal from the show. 

 

THE GIG IN MASSACHUSETTS was canceled altogether, ostensively because of a severe weather warning. Other rich, Zionist billionaires and stadium owners followed suit, threatening to pull the plug on the show if Macklemore was not dropped from the tour. And so, the American rapper was let go by Sheeran, who is a friend and long-time musical collaborator with the rap star.

 

     Mackelmore at MetLife Statiium, New Jersey Sept. 5

With Macklemore’s removal from the tour, it's Oopsie time! Ed's the one who’s stuck in doo-doo now, facing a backlash from his fan base.

Subsequently Sheeran and his billionaire buddy, Rob Kraft, offered to donate 2-million-dollars each to Palestinian causes. Wha-wha… Talk about ham-fisted damage control! As for Macklemore, he's currently putting together a “Free Palestine Tour” with gigs in Dublin, Paris and London, and all the proceeds will go to Palestinian relief agencies. Quite the contrast, don't you think between neutral Ed and principled Macklemore?

BEFORE THIS, I had only heard of Ed Sheeran. I knew he was a musician, but that’s all. I had never heard of the rapper, Macklemore.¹ But, between the two, I think I know who is standing on the right side of history.

 

AFTER HIS DISMISSAL, Macklemore posted a long Telegram post which I include here:

 

“I’m not sure how to start this. So, I’m going to speak from the heart and share the truth. Ed Sheeran and his team have made the decision to remove me from “The Loop” tour. But before I get into it, I want to say something that should be obvious. In this moment I think it matters. I am not a victim. Ed Sheeran is not a victim. Pink [A 80s singer well past her sell-by date who expressed public criticism of Macklemore’s pro-Palestinian stance. Ed] is not a victim. We have careers, money, opportunities, safety and audiences around the world. Whatever consequences any of us face for what we say, we get to go home to our families.

The victims are the Palestinian people. The men, women and children who have been killed, starved, displaced and forced to live through unimaginable violence. More than 20,000 children have been killed in Gaza alone. People are being killed today, and people will be killed tomorrow. I want to make sure that as I tell this story, we don’t lose sight of that.

Ed is my friend. I’ve known him for 13 years. We’ve shared late nights, studio sessions and stages. He has this infectious magic about him that I’ve grown to love. I consider him a brother. And because of that, we’ve had some difficult conversations this past week. The type of talks rooted in love and respect for one another that still end in a place of fundamental disagreement. Nothing I’m writing here is out of spite or because I want to tear down his character. But, as I told Ed multiple times on the phone, our friendship can’t change my responsibility to tell the truth about what happened.

Last Monday, in the middle of all the media attention surrounding Pink and what I said at MetLife, Ed told me that Robert Kraft called him. We were scheduled to play Gillette Stadium later this month, which is owned by the Kraft Group. Ed told me that Kraft said I would not be allowed to perform in his stadium. Ed also told me that Kraft had rallied some of the other stadium owners and collectively they gave him an ultimatum: if Macklemore stays on the tour, you will not be allowed to play in our venues.

Ed was in a fucked-up position. He knew it. His typical apolitical stance was being challenged in a way it never had before. He told me that the words “Free Palestine” and the image of the Palestinian flag were hurtful to a lot of people he spoke with. I told him that if those words were more offensive that tens of thousands of Palestinian children being killed by Israel, then there was a fundamental disconnect between where those people stood and where I stood. But he couldn’t get past his public facing, “I don’t take sides”.

And I get why people don’t. taking a side can cost you. Money, brand deals, sponsorships, festivals, private shows, relationships and access. I’ve lost all of those things. But there is no neutral position between the oppressor and the oppressed. When one side has the bombs and bottomless financial and military support from America, refusing to take a side doesn’t leave you in the middle.

What I said at MetLife I have been saying on stages around the world for almost three years. So why is it an issue now? Because now I’m sharing a stage with one of the biggest artists in the world, in some of the biggest stadiums in America. At a certain level of exposure, “Free Palestine” becomes too much of a risk. If I kept doing the shows, saying Free Palestine, with Ed implicitly supporting it, the crowd getting loud and showing undeniable support for Palestinian liberation, what artist might speak out next? The stage becomes resistance. Maybe that’s why this time it became so important to silence me.

And one of the most effective ways to enforce that silence has been to weaponize the accusation of antisemitism. Antisemitism is real. And that is exactly why the word matters too much to be used as a shield against criticism of the Israeli state. When criticizing Israel, opposing Zionism or saying “Free Palestine” gets conflated with hatred of Jewish people, it doesn’t protect Jewish people. It protects Israel from accountability.

I hope this isn’t the end of my relationship with Ed. Thirteen years of friendship doesn’t disappear because of one painful disagreement. I hope we both continue listening, studying what is happening in Palestine and wrestling with what neutrality means in a moment like this. My door will always be open to continuing that conversation.

When my brother Omar was doing the subtitles for the video I posted from MetLife, I thanked him. He told me there’s a phrase in Arabic: “La shukra ala wajeb” (“There is no thanks for a duty”).

That stayed with me. Because that’s what this has become for me and millions of others around the world. A  duty. Not something deserving of praise or gratitude. Not brave. Human.

Who is winning the internet, who is getting canceled, who gets to play the stadium and who doesn’t, all of it becomes so small when held against what we are actually witnessing in Gaza and the West Bank. An entire people being displaced, starved and killed while the world debates which words we are allowed to use to describe it, how those words make us feel, and whether our discomfort matters more than the people living through a genocide.

I didn’t need 10 shows from Ed. I needed 2. Two chances to stand in front of 90,000 people and say the words that somehow became too dangerous to say, “Free Palestine.”

BUT if those words cost me the stage, while turning the conversation back to Palestine, then it was the most successful tour I’ve ever been on.”

 

 

CHEERS, JAKE. ______________________________________________________________

 

*

    HIND RAJAB

IN APRIL 2024, ON THE CAMPUS of Columbia University (New York), students protesting the genocide in Gaza took over Hamilton Hall, renaming it “Hind’s Hall” in honour of the five-year-old Palestinian girl, Hind Rajad, who was murdered in cold blood by Israeli troops earlier, on January 29. Reader’s may recall the horrific event where Hind, trapped in her uncle’s car, herself wounded and surrounded by her dead relatives, pleaded for over six hours for help from Red Crescent Society (RCS) on a cell phone last used by her fifteen-year-old cousin, Layan, who had called the RCS for help before dying of his wounds. She remained on the line until Israeli troops killed her some hours later in a hail of bullets. The IDF troops, which included a tank that fired its heavy machine gun into the car, also fired on the RCS ambulance as it approached the vehicle to rescue Hind, killing the two paramedics despite the fact that the Red Crescent Society had gotten an ‘all clear’ signal from Israeli authorities for their ambulance to enter the fire zone. But they were attacked anyway. In army lingo that’s called a “double tap” strike—killing the primary target and then first responders to the scene. Two weeks later, when Israeli forces had moved on from the area, rescue workers and Hind’s family recovered the bodies of Hind and six of her relatives along with the two first responders who gave their lives coming to Hind’s aid as she pleaded for help over her dead cousin’s phone.

Amusingly, if anything can be remotely amusing about this disgusting incident, the IDF have recently announced it is ‘investigating’ the death of Hind as well as the World Food Kitchen murders done by Israeli drone operators on April 1, 2024. [Some April Fools joke! Ed.] Recall reports that a WFK convoy of three vans, clearly marked with the WFK logo on their roofs, when returning to their warehouse came under Israeli drone attack, along a route it had earlier been granted clearance from the IDF to use. Seven aid workers were killed, including one dual American-Canadian citizen. We’ll see where these investigations will go. Nowhere, I imagine. And they’ll come with buckets and buckets of whitewash.

1. One rapper I do listen to is Britain’s Low Key who is an articulate and thoughtful voice both in his policial analysis and his music. He appears on various podcasts including Double Down News.