donn@utah-cs (08/04/85)
From: donn@utah-cs (Donn Seeley) Michael Bishop's new novel ANCIENT OF DAYS (Arbor House, c1985, 354 pp in hardcover) is an extension of his very good novella 'Her Habiline Husband', originally published in Terry Carr's UNIVERSE 13. Bishop's Nebula-winning novel NO ENEMY BUT TIME dealt with the reactions of a modern human being living among his hominid ancestors in the Pleistocene. 'Husband' and DAYS turn this premise on its head, asking what would happen if an ancestral hominid suddenly appeared in our times. The novel is narrated by Paul Loyd, the proprietor of the only reputable restaurant in the small town of Beulah Fork, Georgia. One fine day, his ex-wife, RuthClaire, calls him up at work because a prowler is wandering around in the pecan orchard behind her house. A small town in Georgia is the last place anyone would expect the only surviving specimen of Homo Habilis to make an appearance, and it takes a while for the oddity of the situation to sink in... The fun (and eventually the tragedy) begins when Loyd foolishly gives away the secret, and he, RuthClaire and their mysterious guest find themselves in the center ring of a circus of anthropologists, television reporters, gossipy local townspeople, slick city folk, bible-thumping fundamentalists and the Klan. This is some of the funniest material that Bishop has written, yet it still manages to maintain the sensitivity that marks his best writing. The climax of the novel is rather curious -- the link it draws between our ancestors and ourselves is theological rather than scientific (so theological, in fact, that I expected to see a giant aerosol spray can appear...) and leaves much food for thought. I did have a few qualms about the story; they are much the same qualms that I had about ENEMY, and they mostly have to do with scientific plausibility. I do thoroughly recommend the book, though, especially to readers who like well-drawn characters and enjoy subtle satire. Donn Seeley University of Utah CS Dept donn@utah-cs.arpa 40 46' 6"N 111 50' 34"W (801) 581-5668 decvax!utah-cs!donn