Alien Embassy

Watson, Ian. Alien Embassy. 1977. 2nd ed. Afterword by Ian Watson, 2006. E-book ed, Orion, 2011.
In his Afterword to the updated edition, Ian Watson explains his goals and inspirations for Alien Embassy. First, he says, he wanted to create a Tanzanian utopia based on his teaching experience there in the 1960s. He tells the story from the perspective of an African woman, Lila, who dreams of flying to the stars. She lives 200 hundred years after the Bad Old Days of rocket ships and environmental devastation. Star travel is now a technologically enhanced out-of-body experience managed by BARDO (Bureau of Astromancy Research and Development Organisation). One briefly inhabits the bodies of receptive sentients in nearby star systems. This show more experience is not an unmixed blessing, and the universe turns out to be something that Lila never imagined. Watson is a stylist whose influences include Philip K. Dick, Graham Greene, Michael Moorcock, and perhaps Roger Zelazny. His mix of science and Asian mysticism may not be for everyone, but it still works on its own terms. 4 stars. show less

Oh man. This book started out with so much promise. But then the twists were that there were no twists and the story literally plunged into philosophical tripe. Still, I was ready to give it a 3, until I got to the non-ending. Ugh. Such an interesting idea, and in the end and overall, 2.5 star is still probably too high a rating. Could not recommend this to anyone.

What if traveling into space was a matter of the mind rather than technology? That's the premise. Through sexual intercourse and meditation, specially chosen individuals make contact with alien species. But do they?? I found the story somewhat dated in terms of men and women but there were some interesting twist and turns.

El hombre ha conseguido entrar en contacto con otras razas alienígenas; no físicamente, a través del vuelo espacial, sino mentalmente, a través del desarrollo de ancestrales disciplinas físico-mentales. Y Lila Makindi, una muchacha africana del siglo XXII, se prepara cconcienzudamente para entrar a formar parte de la élite de seres humanos que están en comunicación con estos nuevos amigos del más allá del espacio. Su meta es convertirse en una embajadora psíquica ante esas razas alienígenas benevolentes de una avanzada civilización.