Baby Got Books

Thirteen

Black Man by Richard Morgan beat BGB favorite The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall (and others) to win the Arthur C. Clarke Award (UK) this year. I had read two of Morgan’s previous novels, Altered Carbon and Broken Angels. I liked what I had read so far. His books are action packed and focus on the all too believable imagined future of designer drugs, genetic manipulation, and elective surgeries. It seemed a safe bet that his new, prize-winning novel might make for an enjoyable summer read. The only problem was that the title was not available in the US. Or so it seemed.

I’ve mentioned this before, but Black Man is inexplicably titled Thirteen in the US. I’m still not sure why Morgan’s US publishers felt the need to change the title, especially having now read the book. While either title is reasonably applicable to the story, one certainly seems to be more provocative than the other. I’d argue that the more provocative title more aptly sums up the novel’s themes, too.

Both titles refer to the novel’s main character, Carl Marsalis, a genetic ” variant thirteen”, who also happens to be black. Thirteens are genetically modified humans created as military experiments to create the ultimate combat soldiers. When the experiments got out of control, the programs were canceled and the thirteens imprisoned and/or hunted and exterminated. Carl has rokered a deal to become a hunter of thirteens.

In this imagined future, the U.S. has dissolved into a number of smaller independent nations through external pressure from China. The author is British, and some of these divisions seem arbitrary and based on stereotypes. The south and mid-west, for example, make up what is now artlessly called “Jesus Land” – the country. Really?

There are some intriguing speculative elements in the novel. Mars has been colonized, and the psychological effects of living in an environment alien to human experience is explored. Nanotechnology is used to create elevators that lift cargo in and out of Earth’s atmosphere to space vehicle docking stations. The author also presents an interesting view of how virtual reality could be used in communication. Surface freight is transported by huge, driver-less vehicles, programmed to reach their destinations. Suborbital flights have dramatically shortened global travel times. Cool stuff.

The main theme of the book is whether our genetic code, our physical appearance, our sex, etc. define who we are or whether the situations of our birth and upbringing play a larger role. Nature vs. nurture. The theme would be hard to miss, since the subject is examined from almost every conceivable angle over the novel’s 500+ pages.

In the end, I thought that the novels flaws outweighed the “wow”. The main flaw for me are the numerous and endless arguments between characters of the “You think you know me? You don’t my special brand of suffering!” variety – all intended to drive that main theme home with a giant ham fist. I wanted more wow.