Sideshow
Sheri S. Tepper
Ace
<p>On the planet of Elsewhere, the Council had  always enforced the governing of each province in  the manner the people had chosen, so long as each  respected its neighbors' local customs--and so long  as the people remained within their homelands.  Generations later, inhabitants have begun to question  this tradition. The Council has received  mysterious messages and reports of strange manifestations  across the planet. Now, Enforcer Fringe Owldark has  been sent with a small crew of seven, each  possessing an unusual talent, to investigate their worst  fear--the arrival of the Hobbs Land gods. Free will  and the reality of God are just too of the  timeless issues this courageous band of humans must  confront as they strive to decide if complete tolerance  and leaving others alone is evil. . .and what they  should do if it is. Vividly imagined and  exquisitely rendered, Sideshow is Sheri S. Tepper's most  controversial novel yet.<br /></p><p><em>From the Paperback edition.</em></p>From Publishers Weekly<p>Loosely related to her earlier books Grass and Raising the Stones, Tepper's newest big novel questions the desirability of further evolution. A sentient fungus has infested most of the galaxy, reworking the life forms it inhabits to enhance their physical and spiritual comfort. The people of the planet Elsewhere, however, see the fungus's contented hosts as slaves; to preserve free will on Elsewhere, the rulers have imposed absolute cultural relativity within which pleasant and unsavory societies coexist, their integrity rigidly maintained by Enforcers. But powers have arisen to challenge the status quo: creatures resembling dragons are reported in unexplored regions, and evil entities in the computer network are manifesting themselves in a deadly way. The planetary provost, Boarmus, sends a crew of three Enforcers with an assortment of misfits to investigate the dragons, while he tries to thwart the net-beings. The pointlessly complicated plot veers off into long digressions that add only pages to the main story, and though Tepper tries to raise the stakes with debates over current issues such as isolationism and sexism, she fails to grapple with the complex implications of these concerns. After her last book, Beauty , this one is a disappointment. <br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p>From Library Journal<p>The world of Tolerance, where each province governs itself without interference from its neighbors, suffers from a sickness at its core, and only a small group of misfits and alien travelers can find the key to the world's survival. This final volume in the triptych that includes Grass ( LJ 9/15/89) and Raising the Stones ( LJ 8/90) begins slowly, as the author painstakingly introduces her characters to the complexity of the plot, but ultimately Tepper's imaginative vision holds forth and delivers one of her most challenging works to date. Libraries interested in acquiring significant sf should consider this rewarding but difficult title.<br />Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. </p></br></br></br>