Summer reads

"Brasyl"
By Ian McDonald
Pyr, $25

Science fiction writers, by definition, are supposed to take to us to strange new worlds. Ian McDonald does this while at the same time impersonating a travel writer. In the 1990s he hung out in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2005, he gave India a virtuoso cyberpunk treatment in the remarkable "River of Gods." Next up, Brazil.

This means that along with the many-worlds hypothesis beloved by some quantum physicists, we get capoeira moves. Along with a panopticonic future in which every object is tagged with an identifying chip and every public space is surveilled by millions of cameras, we get futebol, the "beautiful game" of soccer, Brazilian style. Along with a narrative that simultaneously manages to deliver Jesuit priests fighting duels in 1732, reality TV show production in 2006, and designer drugs available in 2032 that make glib flirtatious chitchat as easy as pie, we get tropocalismo-inflected break-beats, favela slums and Amazonian tribes that experience the true nature of reality via the consumption of frog venom. If you liked "River of Gods," which performed a similar mash-up of SF tropes with full cultural immersion in India, you will delight in "Brasyl." And if you're a science fiction fan who has never read any Ian McDonald, well, then, clear your calendar.

The "many worlds" theory holds that the universe contains within it all the possible universes that ever could have happened. This includes such seemingly minor variations as the universe in which you had scrambled eggs for breakfast instead of fried (or any other of an infinite variety of breakfast options) and universes in which life never even evolved. For understandable reasons -- when everything that could have happened has happened, not much is off-limits to the imagination -- science fiction writers have long been fans of the concept as a liberating plot device.

Capoeira and futebol, less so, at least in the English language. Also somewhat unusual for an SF novel are the Portuguese glossary, the bibliography for those interested in learning more about Brazil and a suggested playlist for music fans with a hankering for some auditory stimulation to go along with the literary acrobatics.

It shouldn't be that much of a surprise that in an age of globalization in which countries like Brazil and India are muscling their way onto a world stage long dominated by the West, science fiction writers are investigating these new -- to them -- territories in the here and now. A similar wave swept through SF in the 1980s, when Japan's emergent cultural and economic power suddenly became reflected in scores of science fiction novels. But McDonald has more fun than most of the Japanophiles did. I always wanted to visit the future. But after "Brasyl," I want to book a ticket to São Paulo also.

-- Andrew Leonard

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