BigEnk
4/24/2025
A brief collection of novellas from Delany, both of which were interesting but certainly not groundbreaking or really all that memorable.
The Ballad of Beta-2 follows a galactic anthropology student as he delves into the murky history of a folk song belonging to a group of generation ships, some of which either never arrived at their destination or showed up devoid of life. The ballad ultimately proves to be a key piece of evidence that shows the student the truth behind the matter.
A sentient life form, living in clouds of radioactive particles, spawns a hybrid child with a ship captain. This more evolved and powerful fetus is radioactive as well, and kills many other babies aboard several ships, spawning puritan riots as the humans attempt to purge humans with mutations.
It followed the general arch of an episode of Star Trek, though with more deft storytelling I think. I enjoyed the way that the mystery was slowly drip fed to me over the course of the story. I enjoyed the log entrys, the audio files, and the journal books that he discovers, all telling small pieces of the tale.
It's not really an overly complex story, but an enjoyable one none the less.
Empire Star is a weird story about a feline/human hybrid from an agriculture world that is thrust into a quest to deliver a message to a faraway world, a message he doesn't know. Empire Star involves, most notably, slavery in which the slaver experiences immense emotional anguish at all times, that grows with how many they own and how much work they have done, and a complex timescale were events loop on themselves, presumably forever. Did I mention that it's weird yet?
The weirdness is definitely the highlight, reminiscent of Cordwainer Smith's work in its permeation of the story. The characterization was also strong, involving a multitude of different forms of life. Delany spends a lot of time here discussing different levels of complex thought, and how that effects a living beings ability to comprehend their environment, their task, their relationships, etc. The plot line is rather clunky though, with no real effort put towards flow, pacing, or descriptive passages.
Both of these novellas were, I fear, forgettable, even though I found them to be light and interesting in the moment. I don't think that anything from them will really stick in my brain beyond a few days.