The Fantasy of Eridan

SPOILER WARNING, THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

“The Fires of Shalsha” is a science fiction story written by John Michael Greer. The plot is set in the future on the planet Eridan. The human colonists, who have only dim memories of Earth, live in towns on the Northern continent called “shelters”. Life on Eridan turns out to be pretty unsafe. All technology above a certain threshold is strictly prohibited, as the main fear of the colonists is the return of Shalsha or The Directory, an oppressive regime which used sophisticated battle drones to enslave the population. Long after the destruction of Shalsha, unmanned drones roam the landscape, attacking colonists at random. Apart from the drones, the woods are swarming with cannibals, who seem to be human outcasts rather than aliens. The only native forms of life on Eridan are plants, a few sea creatures and a kind of insects resembling fireflies.

The ban on most forms of high technology is enforced by an elite corps known as the Halka, whose revolvers are the most sophisticated weapons on the planet. The Halka use choppers to move between the shelters, while ordinary citizens apparently walk on foot. The Halka Order reminds me of the Jedi of “Star Wars”, and long chunks of the novel deal with Halka training in meditation, telepathy and mind-melding techniques. Visionaries, however, are strictly prohibited and usually shot! Despite these authoritarian tendencies, the colonists at Eridan put up with the Halka knights, since everyone sees them as their last and best defense against drones, cannibals and renegade technicians who want to restore high technology (and perhaps the dreaded Shalsha).

At the end of the novel, one of the protagonists reveal the real history of Eridan. The colony was founded by mad scientists from Earth, which had been destroyed by industrial civilization. The purpose of The Directory was to develop new forms of bioengineering, with the aid of which Earth (and industrial civilization!) could be restored. However, the task required massive amounts of slave labor, leading to an oppressive regime “for the greater good”. Eventually, the enslaved colonists rebelled against the ruling caste of scientists and technicians, and created a decentralized society overseen by the Halka. The goal of returning to Earth was abandoned.

The novel is easy to read, but feels tedious. The characters are one-dimensional and never really “come to life”. There are also a couple of loose ends. For instance, the cannibals are suddenly written out of the story at the very end, where it looks as if peace has been restored all over the Northern continent. What happened to them? The “shelters” have access to electricity and fuel for the helicopters, despite all high tech being verboten. It's not even clear what “the fires of Shalsha” are supposed to be – the term is given at least two different meanings.

Still, I found the novel interesting. John Michael Greer is a prolific writer (mostly of non-fiction) and blogger, a profile in the peak oil community, and a practicing magician. Until recently, he headed a small Neo-Druid order, the AODA. Sometimes, “The Fires of Shalsha” clearly reflect Greer's own opinions and interests. It's safe to assume that the author really believes in the paranormal powers described in the story. The critique of modern civilization, high technology and simplistic notions of “progress” are other typical Greer themes. He, at least implicitly, also criticizes the rigid and traditional character of the Halka Order. When faced with a group of renegades who want to restore The Directory, the Halka seems strangely paralyzed by ancient customs, bureaucratic red tape and prejudice against visionaries (one of whom tries to warn the order of the impending danger). This is similar to Greer's emphasis on “dissensus” in politics and “balance between force and form” in occult work.

On one point, the novel differs considerably from other works or comments by Greer. The story ends with the Halka and the colonists changing their minds about high tech, seriously considering a return to Earth themselves (the starship of the original mad scientists is still in orbit, high above Eridan's surface). Note also that the plot is set on another planet. Usually, Greer emphasizes that humans, due to peak oil, are forever doomed to remain on Earth, and that no further space exploration is possible. Technology based on fossil fuels, uranium or exotic forms of energy such as fusion, is also out of the picture. Indeed, Greer wants to launch an entirely new genre of SF, which he has provisionally dubbed “post-industrial”. It seems “The Fires of Shalsha” is therefore somewhat anomalous in the Greerian corpus.

Perhaps it's the closest thing the author will ever come to a real fantasy? ;-)