The Author Who Changed My Mind About Sci-Fi
Why you should keep Jurgen Appelo on your radar.
I’ve been converted, and, like all converts, I’m here to spread the word.
I was once, if not a sci-fi hater, sci-fi apathetic. I did my due diligence and read the classics (Huxley, Asimov) and some modern iterations of sci-fi. And they all left me either with an unshakable sense of hopelessness or, maybe worse, indifferent.
I might have enjoyed a couple of aspects of a sci-fi piece, and I can see this genre’s value as a societal barometer. But I’ve never actually raved about these books.
Enter, Jurgen Appelo. The cover of the novel “Glitches of Gods” is as sci-fi as it comes. As my husband said, “Huh, who would have said you would be raving about Blade Runner?”
I will not spoil the plot, but you can read a summary and my official review here. So, what makes Appelo’s work so special?
Unforgettable characters
I can’t state enough how often sci-fi authors overlook character development.
I get it. You guys are too busy building new worlds, often intergalactic ones, with new languages and scary new technologies, so characters are relegated to the interpreters of the fantastic action scenes playing in your head.
And this is where Appelo shines. Their development of unique voices, backstories, motives, and even a characteristic sense of humor for each and every one of their characters is just brilliant.
I found myself empathizing with a virtual assistant and laughing out loud at Appelo’s iteration of Alexa or Siri, whose name was Orec.
Unapologetic and clever crassness
Appelo’s brand of humor is quite crass, a kind of humor I rarely enjoy. So why was I laughing? First, while profanity-ridden and often vulgar, the dialogues are also either smart or endearing. In the best cases, both.
Zha-Zhar, the witch that’s taken the au pair position (yes, Appelo’s world is a wild one), swears at every turn. But her love for the kids she’s caring for shines through those words, too. The dialogues between Orec and Julien are full of profanity, but they are also full of dissections of logical fallacies and other clever conversational sophistries.
Second, the author, in their opening note, acknowledges their tendency towards curse words.
And there’s something about their unapologetic attitude that I think we need more of. Appelo’s “This is my voice, and I hope you like it, but I really don’t mind if you don’t” is every writer’s dream.
Figures of speech galore!
Appelo’s use of similes is brilliant. Among my favorites are:
“the patience of a corpse on ketamine.” (p. 159)
“quieter than a global agoraphobia convention.” (p. 164)
“as comfortable as a bird in a cat café.” (p. 292)
“as empty as a gym in December.” (p. 462)
Along with similes, the author uses alliteration and homophones, giving the novel a unique rhythm.
“Poetry? Pottery? Not likely. Bad place for polyandry too” (p. 82)
And there’s nothing my nerdy heart loves more than full-blown use of the potential of the English (or any other) language.
The human factor
The premise of “Glitches of Gods” is pretty sciency: an unenthusiastic AI developer trapped in jumping timelines.
However, the author sprinkles the human factor on every page. There’s Julien’s relationship with his sons and his relentless fostering of the two dynamos’ independent thinking, or Mart’s struggle with his family to accept his gender. There’s a romance subplot floating along. This is to name a few.
I get it; technology will rule us all. But I’m a sucker for the human factor. In the end, there are the humans in the books or the human-like characters you’ll remember years after closing a novel.
The hope
Sci-fi novels usually leave me as an anxiety-riddled mess. They often take place in a dystopian future, and as someone who struggles with eco-anxiety, I don’t find these pleasurable.
And while I don’t want to die on a reversing autowalk or any of the other mishaps that can happen in the “Glitches of Gods” world, they don’t cause me nightmares. It’s also very hard to feel anxious while you are laughing through the whole book.
This is an absolutely subjective appreciation, but I can’t be the only one who is already pretty aware of the environmental crisis and just doesn’t need to think about it in their leisure time.
In the author’s note, Appelo states, “The only thing that matters is: after finishing this book, will you want to read the next?” And my yes couldn’t be loud enough.
