McDevitt and Ancient Shores

For some reason, I really do not like beginning a sentence or blog post with "I".  There isn't a reason I can think of, but it's a quirk of mine.  Perhaps it's because some portion of the writing teachers I had over the years discouraged it.  When I sit down to write, however, the first word that comes to mind is often "I".

One of my teachers used to count the number of times the students used "I", and  post the number encircled on the front page.  She always said that people weren't particularly interested in reading about the writer, but were more interested in what he or she had to say.  She may be correct; it's obvious that some part of her lessons have stuck with me.

The book I began yesterday waiting while waiting on the car to be repaired is weighing heavily on my mind.  Well, heavily may portray a stronger image than intended.  After completing it this afternoon, I sat in the recliner and thought about it for a long while.

The book, another one of Jack McDevitt's, is Ancient Shores. [1996, Harper Collins, New York].  It's different from any of the other Jack McDevitt science fiction novels I've read over the past weeks.  For one thing, it's set in the present time, somewhere around when it was published.  I think I enjoyed this one more than any of his others.

It wouldn't be good to lay out the plot.  Essentially a a portal to another world is discovered on Sioux land in North Dakota.   Eventually, naturally, the government is trying to take it from them and destroy it, "for the good of the economy".  They decide not to let the government take their land again, and want to fight.

The lead up to that fight is great.  McDevitt describes a series of people across the nation who have different reactions to the discovery.  It's almost too easy to identify some of the leaders of interest groups.  The main characters are beautifully drawn, flaws and all.  And the national and world reaction to the discovery is, I believe, very accurate.

The last chapter and Epilogue are absolutely perfect.  I'll give away a part of it here.  The portal is saved by a group of famous people.  They are a pantheon of science, literature, and ethics.  Stephen Gay Gould, paleontologist; Charles Curran, theologian; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr, historian; Harry Markowitz, economist; Scott Carpenter, astronaut; Gregory Benfield, astrophysicist and novelist; Richard Wilbur, poet; David Schramm, astrophysicist, Stephen Hawking, physicist; Walter Shirra, astronaut; Carl Sagan, Astronomy; and Ursula K. Le Guin, novelist.

Ashamedly, I admit to not recognizing the name of Gould, Markowitz, and Schramm.  I must assume that since they are included with the others they are real, and prominent in their fields.  And, I didn't know Benfield is an astrophysicist.  I only know him through his science fiction novels, and I believe McDevitt is the better writer.

This is a book worth reading.  The way he develops how the world would accept such a discovery is wonderful.  The characters are fully developed, and react exactly as many of us would.  I suggest you visit your nearest used book store and find a copy.