Something Coming Through

In the early 2000s, Paul McAuley wrote a series of novels - Whole Wide World, Players and Mind's Eye - which tended towards the techno-thriller end of the science-fictional spectrum, with a large pinch of police procedural thrown in. He then turned back to hard science fiction with the Quiet War sequence. But the techno-thriller procedural seems to have quietly gestated until in 2015 he produced this clever novel of first contact, Something coming through.

The planet Earth's political situation has spiralled downwards and out of control, culminating in the Spasm, where parties unknown unleased suitcase nuclear weapons on a number of world capitals, including London. In the aftermath, we are contacted by the alien Jackaroo, who come show more bearing gifts - advanced technology and materials to help us reconstruct, and wormholes to fifteen new planets, all ready for us to colonise. The Jackaroo - who communicate with us remotely, via avatars - ask nothing in return. The alien planets turn out to have been occupied by other races before us; they have disappeared, but left relics. Some of these have value to us, either legitimately or through criminal enterprise.

In a London changed by the Spasm attack and now under reconstruction, Chloe Millar chases down alien influences for a French tech billionaire. One of her leads brings her into contact with two orphaned children, who disappear. Chloe begins to try to trace them.

Meanwhile, on the colony world Mangala, a police investigator takes a murder case. He has to work against a background of a potentially hostile planet, a growing colony with transplanted residents who have brought a lot of Earth with them - urban sprawl, consumer goods, consumer capitalism, corruption and crime. There are archaeological sites of disappeared races and a black market in artifacts. The elder races also left behind 'biochines', whose behaviour and purpose remain a mystery.

These two strands come together in ways which sometimes seem obvious, and sometimes retain a capacity to surprise readers (well, this reader for one). The colony sometimes feels a little like some of Bradbury's later Mars stories, and sometimes like the colonised worlds in The Expanse, though I found the ordinariness of it actually a little unsettling. The characters are engaging enough, and for fans of the genre there are some nice Easter Eggs, including a tip of the hat to the late Howard Waldrop.

In all, I enjoyed this for its ingenuity, and the puzzles about the alien Jackaroo left unresolved by the end - what are their motives? Are they really as benevolent as they seem? There is, of course, a sequel, Into Everywhere, which I have not as yet seen. On the strength of this book, I shall be seeking it out. show less

McAuley has always struck me as a transatlantic science fiction writer, and I think that’s the main issue I have with Something Coming Through. I mean, McAuley is good, and has written many novels I respect, but… they also mostly leave me cold. And I think Something Coming Through is a good illustration of why.

It’s a neat set-up - after war and climate change has fucked up the Earth, the enigmatic Jackaroo appear and say: here are fifteen exoplanets, and a regular shuttle service through a wormhole to each of them. Make of them what you will. Complicating matters - or perhaps making them more “interesting” - is the fact the exoplanets had previously been occupied by a series of “Elder Cultures” over many thousands of show more years. Almost as if the Jackaroo had done it all before. Although they refuse to say what happened to those long-dead Elder Cultures.

Something Coming Through is partly a police procedural set on Mangala, the EU-settled exoplanet. Detective Gayle is investigating the murder of a recent arrival, which he thinks is linked to a gang which sells drugs based on Mangala’s alien biosphere. It is also about Chloe, who works for a company that tracks down Elder Culture artefacts on Earth, and she is now hunting for a teenager whose sister, she believes, has been infected by an Elder Culture “eidolon” (a sort of alien program). The two plot-threads are linked, of course.

In fact, the two narratives come together very satisfyingly - although some of the minor mysteries are not difficult to solve - and provide a concrete and plausible solution that explains much. Not everything, of course, because the very nature of the world McAuley has built means a lot is unexplained.

However, and perhaps my biggest stumbling block, is that the narrative set on Mangala, despite it being settled exclusively by Europeans, reads like any random thriller set in the US. Other than a handful of characters with Nordic names and attempts at Nordic accents, it might as well have been set in the US. There are gangs in the UK and EU, of course there are, and they would probably end up embedded in a European exoplanet colony. But everything felt so… American. Especially when contrasted with Chloe’s narrative, set in the UK, which felt very English.

It’s the lack of a European feel to Gayle’s narrative that spoiled Something Coming Through for me, even though everything else was done really well. Fascinating universe, well-drawn characters, well-plotted thriller story. I’ll happily recommend it, because I think it’s a good novel. But I wanted to like it more than I did. show less

The Jackaroo pop in to help humanity after an unfortunate incident with a nuclear bomb in the middle of London, providing shuttle flights through wormholes to a number of gift-worlds where Earth can establish colonies amongst the stars and make the same mistakes and maybe find a few new ones. Littered with the remains of previous alien races who have been beneficiaries of the Jackaroo's slightly mysterious benevolence, ancient artifacts make their way back to earth and cause strange ideas to spread, memes and eidolons inspiring cults and and various types of odd behaviour.

Chloe Miller checks up on what promises to be a harmless breakout and finds two children possessed by an alien ghost. On Mangala, one of the Jackaroo gift-worlds, Vic show more Gayle investigates a murder that leads him to a web of crime and corruption centering on a distant archaeological site. It looks like humanity's about to find something rather interesting, or that something interesting has found them, but will they be the better or the worse for it? show less

This was a surprisingly deep and interesting SF novel that is very rich in worldbuilding. The core plot is very much a traditional Noir mystery, but the inclusion of so many great alien elements including 15 gifted planets, a whole wide slew of problems related to invasive, unintentional cultural and biota contaminants, and the usual, normal human cussedness of trying to profit on the whole chaotic mess turns this into one hell of an interesting tale.

As I was reading it, I was thinking fondly of the movie, District 9, and as fondly of [b:Rosewater|38362809|Rosewater (The Wormwood Trilogy, #1)|Tade Thompson|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1534300082l/38362809._SX50_.jpg|51884865] for much the same show more reasons.

It's rich, wildly creative, original, and not afraid to go all-out on the strange bits.

I miss this kind of novel. The kind that doesn't constantly re-use the same old plots, doing them all in the same kinds of ways. I like that this goes well beyond the first contact scenario and aims for an uneasy but vast collusion, infection, and contamination. :) And the kinds of aliens? Some made me giggle and others had me put my mind in high-gear trying to figure them out. The Jackaroo and the Eidolons in particular.

I think of John M. Harrison when I think of this novel. I also think of Daniel Suarez.

These are great writers to be compared to. :) show less

The Spasm devastated the Earth. Water wars, net wars, border wars culminating in a limited nuclear exchange, tactical nukes obliterating the heart of capital cities. Chloe Millar's heart was also obliterated. Her mother was vapourised, together with a square kilometre of central London...

Then the aliens came. The Jackaroo. They are here to help....

Fifteen "gift worlds" provide room for humanity to breathe, expand and recover. Under supervision of course...

In post Spasm London, Chloe seeks alien memes and eidolons which trickle in from the gift worlds infecting the minds of peoples who have encountered artefacts brought through the wormholes. These prizes can make you rich...or they can make you insane. She encounters an orphaned show more brother and sister who seem to be dreaming of the gift world Mangala. And Chloe is not the only one interested in these children....

On Mangala, Vic Gayle's newbie partner Skip Williams has been landed with the kind of murder case destined to keep him awake at night. Competing criminal gangs are on the trail of alien riches. There is a ray gun involved....

When these strands knot, everything changes.

The narrative zips along, the world building is strong from the familiar (grittily urban post-Spasm London, with it leavening of alien weird) , to the elegiac eeriness bestowed upon the desolate wastes of frontier Mangala. The characters, though cast in the beginning as archetypes, grow through the story. Enough that the sequel will be eagerly anticipated. And in the background, are unknown motives of the Jackaroo.

Eligible for the Best Novel in 2016, and at this time, likely to be on my nomination ballot show less

An interesting science fiction noir novel. It starts as a braided story; one strand set on Earth, the other set on the planet Mangala. The Earth strand is basically the backstory to the Mangala strand, and eventually both strands converge in the last few chapters. This makes for an interesting read as to begin with there seems to be no obvious connection between the two strands.

The story starts with a couple of cops investigating a murder on Mangala. Then the action moves to Earth where a girl is investigating an alien breakout on Earth; the company she works for is trying to understand alien technology (and psychology).

Earth has been contacted by a race called the Jackaroo, who have granted humanity 15 worlds and control access them show more to them by means of a shuttle. The Jackaroo are completely neutral observers; once they have made their gift, they don’t interfere any more. This is not the first time they have made the gift; it has happened multiple times and the remnants of previous races can be found on the various planets, both as ruins and fossilised races.

An interesting concept, and deftly handled in the way the story develops.

Recommended. show less

This novel opens with a bang. In the very near future things very seriously start to fall apart. London gets destroyed by a planted tactical nuke. Cloe Millar's mother is presumed dead as she was at work at the National Gallery. Then the alien Jackaroo arrive. They gift humanity with access to a number of planets, spread around the galaxy. Vic Gayle, a detective, won a lottery place a place on a Jackaroo transport to Mangala, one of these planets. There are dumps left there by other vanished alien races. People report contact with aliens happening in various ways. Governments and private companies start investing in researching alien technology. Cloe Millar works for one of these companies and she has a hot lead on a person who seems to show more be 'connected' in some way to the aliens.

With this powerful new scenario one would expect a scorching science fiction novel but what is delivered is a crime novel with the police and a special government agent chasing two gangs of rival gangsters. This is a terrible waste of this shiny new scenario. show less