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Empty Space: A Haunting
(Empty Space Trilogy #3)
3.80 · Rating details · 721 ratings · 117 reviews
One of science fiction's premiere stylists, M. John Harrison has received abundant praise and awards for his wildly imaginative ideas and transcendent prose. Now he returns to the richly complex universe of Light and Nova Swing with a stunning new novel that braids three glittering strands into a tapestry that spans vast reaches of time and space.
In the near future, an eld One of science fiction's premiere stylists, M. John Harrison has received abundant praise and awards for his wildly imaginative ideas and transcendent prose. Now he returns to the richly complex universe of Light and Nova Swing with a stunning new novel that braids three glittering strands into a tapestry that spans vast reaches of time and space.
In the near future, an elderly English widow is stirred from her mundane existence by surreal omens and visitations. Centuries later, the space freighter Nova Swing takes on an illegal alien artifact as cargo, with consequences beyond reckoning. While on a distant planet, a nameless policewoman tries to bring order to an event zone where ordinary physics do not apply, only to find herself caught up in something even stranger and more sublime. . . .
Skyhorse Publishing, under our Night Shade and Talos imprints, is proud to publish a broad range of titles for readers interested in science fiction (space opera, time travel, hard SF, alien invasion, near-future dystopia), fantasy (grimdark, sword and sorcery, contemporary urban fantasy, steampunk, alternative history), and horror (zombies, vampires, and the occult and supernatural), and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller, a national bestseller, or a Hugo or Nebula award-winner, we are committed to publishing quality books from a diverse group of authors. ...more
Published March 5th 2013 by Night Shade (first published 2012)
Empty Space Trilogy #3
Locus Award Nominee for Best SF Novel (2013), British Science Fiction Association Award Nominee for Best Novel (2012), John W. Campbell Memorial Award Nominee (2013)
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· 721 ratings · 117 reviews
All LanguagesDeutsch (1) English (109) Español (1) Italiano (1) Polski (3) Suomi (1)
Aug 01, 2016 Bradley rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: sci-fi, mindfuq, space-opera, reality-bending, 2016-shelf
This book focuses equally hard on both the inner space of the mind trapped in the quantum foam of the universe where neither time nor cats can be extricated, and upon the vastness of space that is slowly, inextricably showing us all that we don't quite fit in it and it wants to tell you, slowly, exactly why... by transforming us all.
Of course, we really oughtn't take it personally. After all, every other alien race had to discover it for themselves and probably went mad in the attempt to make se This book focuses equally hard on both the inner space of the mind trapped in the quantum foam of the universe where neither time nor cats can be extricated, and upon the vastness of space that is slowly, inextricably showing us all that we don't quite fit in it and it wants to tell you, slowly, exactly why... by transforming us all.
Of course, we really oughtn't take it personally. After all, every other alien race had to discover it for themselves and probably went mad in the attempt to make sense of it, just like we are.
Space and time are unimaginably big and empty. Shouldn't that give us a clue?
This is space opera to a much larger degree than the second book and arguably more than the first, although the first book in the trilogy had the joys of extremely interesting scenes being seen for the first time, while the third kinda felt like a travelogue of odd transformations taking the form of quantum viruses and macro horrors, and all the while, it always seems to boil down to sex in one fashion or another.
I can't even begin to describe to you how many times the characters enter a scene needing to pull up their underwear or pull it down or otherwise be the act of disrobing or finding others doing so. It's almost always sexual, and the way the author pulls it off is not unconsciously and it actually serves a huge purpose. We've been seeing it occur all the time throughout all three novels and it always has some sort of element that is either ordinary or transformative, and usually always becomes a scene of ultimate joy or transcendent experience. The same is true for when the explorer enters the anomaly or how he never wanted to leave again or even when Anna finds herself locked in the quantum foam for 10,000 years.
The mirroring between the first and the last book in the trilogy is rather fantastic, but only in retrospect.
In actual fact, this book is almost the equivalent of James Joyce's Ulysses. Her long final scene is reminiscent of a daydream that eventually always returns to sex, but in this case, things are very, very weird and dare I say it: More Complex. This book deserves quite a bit of close and careful reading and no one will deny the excellent passages studded throughout it.
I read somewhere that the book lends itself to an interpretation that it was all a dream, but I have to disagree. It is our reality that most resembles the dream. Quantum physics, itself, is not reconcilable with the macro universe we perceive, and yet it is much more valid than our solid reality. We might be able to make certain assumptions and wild conjectures about consensual realities and observation, but Harrison never gives us a clear and pat answer, only the brokenness of the inner (the quantum) and the outer (the perceivable reality).
I might even posit that the fact that all these alien species managed to specialize their own brands of physics so far and the fact that each brand is exclusive to all the others is a glaring clue as to the theme of the books. All these different physics invalidated each other. And yet, as long as the aliens believed their higher maths, their brands of FTL always worked.
In our breakneck desires to unlock the anomaly, we did so because we believed we could, that it would bring us happiness. The more people that got caught up in the dream, the larger the dream and the more area it transformed, and it was whole areas of the Earth. In the third book, the base desire, almost as powerful as sex, itself, is transforming other colonies, too. And in the heart of it, the one person that is still outside of the actual breech, we have the half-woman half-cat surfer of many-dimensions and the surfer of her own mind, perhaps for eternity. Half in the quantum and half in the perceivable reality.
I mention all of this because the book got under my skin and it does NOT make any of this plain to us. Instead, it goes along being clever and idea-rich and surprising and dreamlike and super post-cyberpunk and super high-physics spaceships with adventure. And it happens to make many subtle points, besides.
To say that I'm impressed is kinda an understatement. This is a serious work. All three of these novels are serious works.
Never let anyone tell you that Science Fiction can't be literary and deep while at the same time being flashy, exploratory, and crude, because it can, and it can do it with SCIENCE. :)
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Dec 29, 2013 Szplug rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Why can't the world that concerns us be a fiction and why does it need an author?
I suppose you could read Empty Space as a standalone novel, though it makes [somewhat] more sense when you've previously immersed yourself in the trilogy's two brilliant opening acts: the tripartite tales of grungy, multi-physics miracles in a 25th century depressingly continued from our own era—and in the latter of which a disturbed serial killer scientist is molding that very future in his vision-worked hands—th
I suppose you could read Empty Space as a standalone novel, though it makes [somewhat] more sense when you've previously immersed yourself in the trilogy's two brilliant opening acts: the tripartite tales of grungy, multi-physics miracles in a 25th century depressingly continued from our own era—and in the latter of which a disturbed serial killer scientist is molding that very future in his vision-worked hands—that comprise Light ; together with the Chandler dipped in a bottle of mescaline mysteries of Nova Swing , wherein the evolving human identity of that same futuristic sprawl, bio-engineered and virtually-addicted, upon a planet called Saudade and its dripped block of uncanny, surreal, gene-splicing reality courtesy of the Kefahuchi Tract, was brilliantly explored. Harrison, a chronicler of dysfunction and unhappiness and darkling desolation without peer, inventively sprayed high-tech maneuvers and body-altering bio-mech tailoring across the page, his words roiling in a tactile sense of exotic particles and radiated energy; while the human beings spread across a vast galactic civilizational explosion, ever aware of the event-horizonless singularity coined as the Kefahuchi Tract and its unknown-but-uncanny influence upon space-faring intelligence, current and past, which hung like a stellar-brushed Damoclean sword atop the void, tended on as we are apt to: trading, fighting, scheming, fucking, despairing, maneuvering, failing, killing; with that well-worked and -worn condition we label love still managing to survive, even in the most curious of instantiations, when bruised bodies and stained spirits had somehow managed to align themselves correctly. In the most gorgeous of language, postmodern but pure, Harrison depicted grit and decay and a pervasive sense of entropy at work even amidst an immense stellar expanse where the proof of scientific magic was visible from near every quarter—a less misanthropic Houellebecq, a less cynical Ballard, a less cruel Nabokov, though combining some of the best elements of all three.
Those two previous works were fantastic in their own way—but it's my opinion that they've been excelled with the closer, this fucking amazing bit of tautly-constructed and intelligently-unfolded business that takes that triple storyline structure from the first, and neo-noir elements—however winking—from the second, and collides them with a wholly new strain of imploded vision in the break for home. Characters from both prior books take centre stage herein—Aschemann's enigmatic, identityless Assistant tailored to the degree she's barely human; Fat Antoyne, Liv Hula, and Irene the Mona from the seedier sidebars of Nova Swing; R.I. Gaines, mysterious EMC agent-at-large and schemer-extraordinaire as [one] man behind [one] curtain; and, in what I felt was the most exquisitely portrayed performance, Anna Waterman, itchy and maturity-starved and/or -stretched former wife of kinked killer Michael Kearney, now aged and on her own in a London running down from globally spread economic woes at a time not too far from our own present, dealing with her loneliness, estranged daughter, infelicitous feline James, and a marked proclivity for observing her summerhouse burst into multi-hued flames accompanied by the showers of sparks that once set Kearney to quivering murderousness. A discovery in the twenty-fifth century of an überenigmatic alien artifact in the shape of a single human tear, in [apparently] slumbering existence for a million years, reveals Planck-level glimpsed linkages with the overamped and unloved Assistant on Saudade—caught up in investigating a bewildering pair of killings committed under the auspices of the mortsafe cargo being hauled in Antoyne, Liv, and Irene's interstellar transport—while it also begins to emerge that dear old Anna, drifting between bemused psychologist, taxed daughter, and young neighbourhood cock, is still bearing Michael's original titanium drive, which possesses some manner of connexion with that stunning sobbing intelligence afloat within a condensed emergent space that defies all known varieties of human-delimited physics.
There's so much to love about this novel: the gnosticism initiated through an acceptance of fear and isolation and sheer inadequacy, in which an instantiation of our time-based, enchained human materiality pierces the spacetime barriers to find union with the alien god of old, the originary creative spirit wherein true love abides—though the result of this time-and-space starved embrace is [necessarily] unknown. The cat—ever present in the works of this author—serves its own whiskery purpose, introducing bestial nature and the caprice of chance, two states directly antipodal to this alleged deity who knows naught, at heart, of flesh and its [ill] fortunes; while the drive is a brick of the information, matriced and mathematical, that propels human technology and human culture and, really, the universe itself. It's in how Harrison carefully removes the veils along the path to this time-shedding interposition of now and then which so markedly impresses. Then there's the casual genius with which the technological marvels four centuries from now are described, the manner in which a conversation about kitsch between Antoyne and the elusive Renoko have a metafictive timber to how the author does his bit. The Postmodern Ironisation discussed, a turn, begun in the twentieth century, to when what was once considered trash began to be admired as kitsch, is replete with digs at science fiction's lowered position on the scale of literary accomplishment, as well as a driving engine behind the grime and decadent feel for the galactic environment in which Empty Space transpires. Notwithstanding that humanity, via a combination of reverse-engineering from salvaged alien treasures and metastasized conceptional systems of physical science, has managed to conquer the oceanic void between the stars, expanding its civilization to thousands of systems, the beings who comprise that spread are depressingly familiar descendants from our own neon-lighted times. The ability to radically alter the physical makeup, look, strength, the very purpose of one's body is inevitably pursued for the sport of killing, overpowering, or fucking—and even that latter, displayed in one casual sexual connexion after another, could not be presented with less passion, less of a sense of losing oneself in another, finding pleasures beyond that of commingling fluids until sleep separates. Even when Pearlant/Pearlent—the prospective reader should be extremely attentive to the spelling changes in Empty Space, for what I first deemed to be annoyingly sloppy proofing quickly stood revealed as entirely intentional—that sublime, crystalline tear become ghost-fleshed poetry in motion, is being portrayed in all of her aeon-poised splendor, it's for purposes so anodyne, so banally predictable in light of our own sanguinary recent century, that it wrenches. And speaking of which—war does intrude, abruptly and out of the blue, vaporizing whole planets and their populations, sparking streams of refugees without ruffles, but always as a scene-initiator, an affect to explosively punctuate the other episodes of this tale—a most human one, at that.
For at its corrupted and coruscating heart, Empty Space is, like all of Harrison's fictions, a love story—though one that sees this highest and most irrational constituent of the range of emotive humanity warped, twisted, refracted, reflected, and generally brought unto the point of dissipation under the gravitational pull of loneliness, fear, and the instability of, and incapacity for, our efforts to effect a stabilized picture of what we are, in our own eyes and those of whom we most wish to see us in a certain slant of light. Love in a Time of Chaos might have made a suitable alternate title—for even Irene the Mona, tailored by skilled hands to look and feel the part of a joyously expressive and sensuously tactile lover, stands revealed as damaged goods, her love for Antoyne not only repaid in silence or stammered grunts of supposed requiting, but unreal on its own terms—though it, and his, doubtless exist. The only thing perduring about her frail existence is the deep and fascinated appeal the stars hold for her—the promise of so much empty space wherein that sense of being forever adrift from other beings, of having bruisable flesh in a civilization machine-worked to the gills, might be assuaged. In the author's hands, our individual and collective being serve as paint being brushed across spacetime's canvas, giving form to a representation of which we are part, though its—and, hence, our—ultimate function remains alien to our understanding; whilst, simultaneously, the Kefahuchi Tract—that vast, variegated cosmic smear across velvet blackness, that naked singularity that ever more comes to take on the appearance of a titanic twinkling eye, leaking its strangeness without upon humanity's galactic spread like so many ionic tears—appears to be plucking parts from our physical, mental, and spiritual makeup to add to, and alter, a bizarre, energy-formed schematic whose purpose might be of evolving and changing its abstract immensity through our voluntary and involuntary input even as it works memes of transition upon the overawed beings its has seemingly brought to that very point; a symbiotic relationship not so much in the vein of God and subject, but rather as two conceptions of dimension-formed life become [necessarily] fractured and mad under the unyielding pressure of loneliness and unknowability within infinity, even as that marred status instills a yearning and exuberant passion for a closer entwining of two striving impulses via exploration, insemination, copulation, and miscegenation. What of Seria Mau Genlicher, who calls to van Sant from the eternal void—from one angle a stellar angel whose feathered alae catch and burnish comsic rays, and another a ringed halo of particulate energy, the constitutive matter of the universe made sentient and set as sentinel of her vacuum demesne? Her longed for reemergence as swooping pearlescent ghost was one of the most starkly affecting panels of all that Harrison brought before my anticipating eye.
So that's where this lengthy paen to verbiage ends: five stars, for despite the fact Harrison's wild imagination, dystopian drive, and grittily casual preference for, and skill in working with, the baser elements of our human clay—and its attendant effect towards turning characters into characteries—makes for an ultimately depressing and discomfiting fictive immersion, this concluding novel is a beautiful work of haunting vision and existential longing and cosmic strangeness, all cross-purposed working and singularity energizing against the forward marching arrow of time and a striving, within the ugly necessity of our daily routine—and biological tinkering and scarring in an effort to alleviate its buckling pressure—to find something outside of ourselves that not only explains the summed elements of what we are, but helps us understand our relation with the rebarbative and radiant theater of infinite expanse—at both spatial and temporal extremes—in which we are expected to perform. What's more, there's no escaping the truth that Icarus flights are ever tempered when humour abounds within the wax awaiting unbinding—and here Harrison's wry spear thrusts ever pierce the gathering metro-polluted gloom. The language of Empty Space is precise and potent, choking even as it irradiates, and the subtleties in relation to genre references, the previous two volumes, and memes of entropic expansion, identity decay, and timeless interrelation means that the reader must provide her full attention to every page that something vital not be overlooked or elided—but that dedication reaps enormous aesthetic, aethereal, and substantive rewards. The Kefahuchi Tract is such a supernal concept that I fervently hope Harrison will yet return and mine its xenospatial quantum conundrums for another book or three. ...more
Sep 28, 2012 Gerhard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: favorites, 2012, sf-f
One of my favourite SF books ever is Nova by Samuel R. Delany, and Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy reminds me so much of Delany. The sense of a wild frontier, crazy characters caught up in a maelstrom of events in a dark and unredictable universe, where nothing is as it seems and everyone is damaged in one way or another.
A lot of modern SF seems sanitised and focused on technology; Harrison's 'singularity without an event horizon' is dirty, smelly, sexy, and filled with danger and dangerous / One of my favourite SF books ever is Nova by Samuel R. Delany, and Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy reminds me so much of Delany. The sense of a wild frontier, crazy characters caught up in a maelstrom of events in a dark and unredictable universe, where nothing is as it seems and everyone is damaged in one way or another.
A lot of modern SF seems sanitised and focused on technology; Harrison's 'singularity without an event horizon' is dirty, smelly, sexy, and filled with danger and dangerous / weird people, creatures and ... things. And if you think I am describing the Culture by Iain Banks, definitely not. Kefahuchi is the red light district, ground zero, three-ring circus and exclusion zone that the Culure never had. It is the true frontier.
I really loved Empty Space. It is a truly crazy read that puts its plot in a blender and then gets impatient if the reader fails to pay attention. It is best to just immerse yourself in this and go with the flow; you will soon hit the rapids.
Much of the intellectual, moral and philosophical rigour of SF is now concentrated in the sub-genre of space opera, with writers like Iain Banks, Alastair Reynolds, Paul McAuley, John C. Wright and, of course, M. John Harrison (Peter Hamilton is a self-conscious throwback to the Golden Age of SF space opera).
Harrison is the most poetic and eccentric of this disparate collection of writers, but I hasten to add it depends on personal choice, and whether or not you prefer the experimental side of SF or the more conventional genre-grounded output.
Anyone who writes about quantum cats so convincingly is pretty special. ...more
Jun 03, 2013 Adam rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: black-comedy, literature-disguised-as-science-fic, noir, heart-of-darkness, horror-disguised-as-literature
The finale to Harrison's trilogy is as confounding, obtuse, and beautiful as the rest of the series. His prose is crafted so impeccably and relentlessly it is hard to resist chewing over each line and word choice (it is also very discouraging for the amateur writer) and occasionally losing the plot. But with Harrison you know you are going to read it again, soon I might restart the trilogy and see how they work together. His imagery, imagination, and prose are on such a level that they put much The finale to Harrison's trilogy is as confounding, obtuse, and beautiful as the rest of the series. His prose is crafted so impeccably and relentlessly it is hard to resist chewing over each line and word choice (it is also very discouraging for the amateur writer) and occasionally losing the plot. But with Harrison you know you are going to read it again, soon I might restart the trilogy and see how they work together. His imagery, imagination, and prose are on such a level that they put much science fiction (is there anyone else who writes in the genre recently that is comparable as a stylist, Wolfe, Mieville, Shepard, or Gibson?) and other fiction in its shadow. Jodorowsky and Lynch should have skipped Dune and waited for these books to adapt. Quantum physics, Gnosticism, and dream imagery mixed with cyberpunk, noir, depressing near future science fiction, and space opera for a dense, cinematic, and surreal nightmare. ...more
Jun 24, 2012 zxvasdf rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
In his blogs, Harrison often states that the act of writing is a quest for identity, a means for him to understand himself in this world. So, Empty Space essentially is the psyche of Harrison himself, laid out as visceral as neon entrails left in the garden at dusk. He crafts tantalizing clues, slight references to inspirations, influences, and secret obsessions. A viewpoint is rehashed out between multiple characters, and the emergent property is of disassociation.
Everyone's trying to find the In his blogs, Harrison often states that the act of writing is a quest for identity, a means for him to understand himself in this world. So, Empty Space essentially is the psyche of Harrison himself, laid out as visceral as neon entrails left in the garden at dusk. He crafts tantalizing clues, slight references to inspirations, influences, and secret obsessions. A viewpoint is rehashed out between multiple characters, and the emergent property is of disassociation.
Everyone's trying to find themselves a place in this world, from the codependent mona, the twink out assistant who drapes herself with names to be discarded with the necessity of a woman in a fitting room, the man at the edge of empty space in the face of the K-tract speaking with an alien voice in the void. Code as person, spread out in a pre-programmed routine gives opinions and remembers something stainless steel reflecting neon pink and green when it sleeps for the last time. A thin man who eats his anxieties like a fat man, and the man who walks through walls in estrangement with the love of his life. The great physicist's ex-wife who finds herself by becoming lost. A rocket captain coming unmoored from herself in the face of death. And life.
These vectors cross, echo away, and return in a tangled knot at the conclusion of Empty Space. You finish reading, your head buzzing, and you turn to pick up your copy of Light. You see dangling threads demanding to be connected by your yearning mind, little clues that fluoresce from Light, and Nova Swing. You get the feel you're not seeing the big picture just yet, that the narrative exists at a higher scale Harrison rewards the most diligent of readers.
For his biggest fans, Empty Space builds a void within, complete and entirely sucking when the final page is consumed. The worlds of New Venusport, Old Earth, and the tales of the boys from Earth are lit, knocking about in your head. And there's nothing more. And you think, "Hey, the Reborn Men of Viriconium sound familiar..." ...more
Mar 09, 2013 Tamahome marked it as lemmed · review of another edition
The perfect formula for the opposite of a best seller in America:
1) it sounds British
2) has a very good vocabulary
3) has some scifi words
4) doesn't skimp on the violence (or weird sex)
5) unlikeable characters
It's as immediately unappealing as I remember Light being (which I didn't finish). Whenever he makes a comparison in his descriptions, I just shrug and go "I don't know what that is". A lot of people respect him, so I'll keep plugging. I've read 2 chapters. Some of the chapters are in the pr
It's as immediately unappealing as I remember Light being (which I didn't finish). Whenever he makes a comparison in his descriptions, I just shrug and go "I don't know what that is". A lot of people respect him, so I'll keep plugging. I've read 2 chapters. Some of the chapters are in the present day, and may be more relatable, and the future chapters are kind of exotic. Plus it's only 241 pages!
The Coode Street podcast just said it should have been nominated for a Hugo. I should read it, shouldn't I?
Harrison was just on Coode St. He talked about how the novel had 'traps' that subverted your expectations, and it has black comedy that most reviewers miss. http://jonathanstrahan.podbean.com/20... Maybe I'll eat my broccoli and finish it.
Aug 06, 2012 Leonard rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
There's an almost impossibly extended sequence of mindfuckery and mysticism toward the end that I'm not sure I fully grasp. But whatever: Harrison is smart and sly enough to slip in a few self-referential asides about ungraspability. I was left feeling, I dunno, spun around, ravished, awed despite a predictability or two. The question of whether the language of intentionally impenetrable postmodern space opera is really the best medium for this sort of thing nagged me a bit. As shaped by Harriso There's an almost impossibly extended sequence of mindfuckery and mysticism toward the end that I'm not sure I fully grasp. But whatever: Harrison is smart and sly enough to slip in a few self-referential asides about ungraspability. I was left feeling, I dunno, spun around, ravished, awed despite a predictability or two. The question of whether the language of intentionally impenetrable postmodern space opera is really the best medium for this sort of thing nagged me a bit. As shaped by Harrison, though, it just might be. This is science fiction as pure poetry, beyond even Ballard. Paradoxically, it's as much about the importance of living in the here and now as the allure of living in the future (or, for that matter, the past) -- the central Harrison theme, really.
Apr 02, 2014 Alex Sarll added it · review of another edition
As a rule, the only information you can trust in the Daily Mail is the price on the front. But on the cover of this book is a quote from them, proclaiming Empty Space "SF at its most astounding" - an entirely accurate assessment. And what better way to establish, even before the first page, an uneasy mood, a sense of a world where basic laws of the universe fold, warp or decay? Harrison's tired, clunky near future, and the grotty grandeur of a 25th century which has found new vices but no new vi As a rule, the only information you can trust in the Daily Mail is the price on the front. But on the cover of this book is a quote from them, proclaiming Empty Space "SF at its most astounding" - an entirely accurate assessment. And what better way to establish, even before the first page, an uneasy mood, a sense of a world where basic laws of the universe fold, warp or decay? Harrison's tired, clunky near future, and the grotty grandeur of a 25th century which has found new vices but no new virtues, were the perfect accompaniment to the week of the London dust storm and its "perpetual graininess in the air". As I finished the book this evening, attained some sort of resolution, the skies cleared. The dense firings of the prose make for the sort of text you could use for divination, though I'm not sure who would want any answer Empty Space could give them. ...more
Jul 25, 2012 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Better than Nova Swing; not as good as Light (but what is?) If Light is full of the "sparks in everything," and Nova Swing is about boundary states, then Empty Space focuses on the nothingness that separates people, places, and times - the "gutters" between two panels in a comic. The subtitle is "a haunting," and the book is certainly haunting.
Aug 26, 2012 Tudor Ciocarlie rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
Shelves: hugo-numbers, 2012-my-best-of
Glorious ending to the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. I've never read better literature on the unknownness of the universe and of the human being.
How I'll love to write the review of the entire trilogy for Galileo!
Jul 26, 2016 Jason rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Shelves: e-books, read-2016
Empty Space is the third book in the Empty Space Trilogy by M. John Harrison. I tried to make it through. I tried hard. All three of these books are tough and demanding reads that need focus to be clear.
What a tough book this one was. I realized after days of reading(I am not a slow reader) that I was only at 41% and I couldn't tell you anything about what I had muddled through up to that point. It was time for me to call it. I was frustrated while trying to read this one, probably too 2 Stars
What a tough book this one was. I realized after days of reading(I am not a slow reader) that I was only at 41% and I couldn't tell you anything about what I had muddled through up to that point. It was time for me to call it. I was frustrated while trying to read this one, probably too much going on around me this hot summer time. Maybe I will try again another day.
One high note is that I realized how much Harrison and his style have in common with another favorite author of mine, China Mieville. High level writing. A huge command of the English language. And of course an imagination that is slightly askew from the norm...great stuff! ...more
Jun 24, 2012 Kyle Muntz rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
This book is difficult, complex, and ingenious--maybe maybe not Harrison's best, but almost definitely his most ambitious. Especially over the first 100 pages, I struggled with it in a way I haven't with a text in a long time: even aside from his prose (which is pretty much flawless), this is a novel so itself, so full of empty space (on every level), that a lot of the time it felt impossible to put together; Harrison somehow managed to create something intensely imagist and strange while still This book is difficult, complex, and ingenious--maybe maybe not Harrison's best, but almost definitely his most ambitious. Especially over the first 100 pages, I struggled with it in a way I haven't with a text in a long time: even aside from his prose (which is pretty much flawless), this is a novel so itself, so full of empty space (on every level), that a lot of the time it felt impossible to put together; Harrison somehow managed to create something intensely imagist and strange while still remaining the great realist of SF. Like a lot of his books, this is one is bleak, cold, sometimes even unpleasant, but it's sublime and visionary as well. ...more
Dec 28, 2012 Rprice23 rated it really liked it · review of another edition
The book equivalent of a miles Davis fusion jazz solo. Stunning.
Feb 27, 2013 Ania Radosiewicz rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Shelves: science-fiction, uczta-wyobra-ni
Finally finished - this book was so strange that it's hard to say what was it exactly about. Still confused after the ending...
Dec 02, 2014 Larou added it · review of another edition
Empty Space is – after Light and Nova Swing – the third installment in M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. Nobody who has read the previous volumes (and I strongly recommend doing so before tackling this one) will expect any major reveals or a neat tying-up of loose threads from this, but even so, the lack of closure here is quite amazing, and I for one can not discern any reason why the author should not continue the series, should he feel so inclined.
Having said that, I should add, Empty Space is – after Light and Nova Swing – the third installment in M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. Nobody who has read the previous volumes (and I strongly recommend doing so before tackling this one) will expect any major reveals or a neat tying-up of loose threads from this, but even so, the lack of closure here is quite amazing, and I for one can not discern any reason why the author should not continue the series, should he feel so inclined.
Having said that, I should add, however, that Empty Space is tied more closely to both Light and Nova Swing than those two novels were amongst each other – the most recent (I do hesitate to say "final") novel is populated by characters first encountered in the two earlier ones, and it makes use of the same three-threaded narrative as the first volume, again presenting the reader with one thread taking part in the twenty-first and two taking place in the twenty-fifth while retaining at least some of the noir atmosphere from the second. While the previous novel had a strong element of pastiche, this seems to have been curtailed in Empty Space – or rather (unless, of course, I simply missed something) this third novel does not so much mimic other Science Fiction authors, but appears to be a pastiche of the two previous novels – as if the third novel was haunted by the two earlier ones, or maybe in turn was haunting them. Given the way Harrison messes around with time it is hard, maybe impossible to tell which it is, but in either case I think Empty Space bears its subtitle "A Haunting" not only because of the various kinds of ghosts we encounter on the plot level but also for the way it picks up, repeats and distorts themes and motives from the earlier novels. And for the way it is haunted (or in turn haunts) the history of the Science Fiction genre – Harrison might have toned down the pastiche somewhat, but Empty Space is still filled with references and allusions to SF movies and literature; hardly a page went by where I did not stumble across something and it is likely I missed a lot, too.
The Kefahuchi Tract trilogy has always been about Science Fiction, about what it is, was, and could be, and Empty Space, possibly the saddest of three novels none of which is exactly cheerful, comes across (at least it did to me, but I'm certain it will mean different things to different readers) as an elegy on the genre – a story of failures, missed chances, outright betrayals, populated by spectres of lost hopes. At the same time, however, the novel is a wonderful example of what Science Fiction is still capable of.
I might be wrong (it has been quite some time since I read the earlier volumes) but I had the impression that in Empty Space there is given considerably more room to descriptions than in the previous novels, paragraphs upon paragraphs of dense, detailed descriptions piled on top of each other, demanding that the reader to remain tightly focused on the text or else become mired in impenetrability. But possibly the difference is not so much quantity but rather quality – M. John Harrison, who always was a writer with a keen ear for the English language, appears to have reached new heights of intensity here, and the writing in Empty Space seamlessly melds the precision of travel narratives with the semantically ambivalent imagery of poetry. This results in breathtaking, utterly gorgeous writing, but it also keeps the reader at a distance from things happening (or not happening) in the novel – this is not a novel for readers who want their fictional characters to be likeable and easy to relate to and identify with. This is clearly a narrative strategy – the characters themselves appear strangely distant from their own experiences, and even seem unable to identify with themselves, watching their own actions and even emotions as if from afar. There is a distinct chill pervading not just Empty Space but all of the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy, but contrary to what one might expect, it is not a chill that repels the reader but quite to the contrary is almost a beguilement, drawing readers into the novel.
And this, I think is M. John Harrison's major achievement with Empty Space (and the whole of this trilogy, if trilogy it is) – the way he gradually transforms the novel into just one of the strange phenomena he describes inside it, something at the same time utterly alien and irresistibly intriguing, something that promises an epiphany, some revelation of meaning any second now, only to collapse into itself and remain incomprehensible. It has been several centuries since the discoveries of Copernicus revolutionised our view of the world; but while we may have accepted on an intellectual that the universe was not created for humanity, it remains very hard to realise this on an emotional level. I think one of the things Science Fiction is particularly suited for is to make us aware, make us really feel what it is like to live in a world that does not care about man, that is sublimely indifferent to his needs for warmth and meaning, and there are few – very few works of SF that transmit that feeling as intensely and viscerally as M. John Harrison's Kefahuchi Tract trilogy. It is an uncomfortable place to be in, and with a rather bleak outlook, but it is also an extremely fascinating one, and one that possesses its own, unique beauty. ...more
Jul 13, 2012 Mieneke rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: science-fiction, 2012
Empty Space is easily the hardest SF I've ever read, in both senses of the word. It is also my first M. John Harrison I've ever read. It might not have been the wisest place to start, but it hasn't put me off reading more Harrison as I loved his prose and the challenges his writing poses to the reader. This book was hard work for me as hard SF isn't something my mind processes easily and I'm proud that I finished it and I found it very much worth the work as in the end the puzzle pieces fell tog Empty Space is easily the hardest SF I've ever read, in both senses of the word. It is also my first M. John Harrison I've ever read. It might not have been the wisest place to start, but it hasn't put me off reading more Harrison as I loved his prose and the challenges his writing poses to the reader. This book was hard work for me as hard SF isn't something my mind processes easily and I'm proud that I finished it and I found it very much worth the work as in the end the puzzle pieces fell together and the book made a beautiful sort of sense.
To be fair, I did know at the start that this was the third in a trilogy, but I thought I'd see how well it stood on its own. A lot of the confusion I felt reading the book and the hard work I had to put in, might have been alleviated if I'd read the first two books, Light and Nova Swing first. As it was, I kept wondering whether elements of the world building, specifically the nature of the Kefahuchi Tract, were explained in the previous books. Some things weren't a problem, even without explanation, such as the Tailoring. I soon figured out that this was some kind of genetic modification people could have done to enhance themselves. I may not have gotten all the nuances and the complete depth of the procedure, but I understood enough to be getting on with. Not so much the world of the Kefahuchi Tract and the rest of space; at times I wasn't sure whether all the places we found were real or whether in some parts or dimensions they were virtual entities and until I just decided to accept that I didn't know how it worked, my mind kept getting stuck on trying to figure it out.
Once I'd convinced my brain to stop trying to make sense of everything and just read what happened, it was remarkably easy to fall into the story or stories, as there are actually two timelines. The first is set in the near future on Earth and follows Anna Waterman as she slowly loses her grip on life and seemingly her sanity. The other is set in the far future in the Kefahuchi Tract and mainly follows the assistant during her efforts of solving a set of puzzling murders and the crew of the Nova Swing while they go about picking up mysterious deliveries for an even more mysterious employer. Of the three narrative arcs, I started out enjoying Anna's story the most, probably because it was easier to parse than the ones set in the far future, but toward the middle of the book I liked all of them equally and I didn't keep looking to get back to Anna's story.
All the story lines essentially pose the same question to its characters: Who are you and who do you want to be? In some cases this is rather in your face, such as the assistant's continuing quest for a name to call herself by or the researcher, isolated far out in space, who sees his questions reflected in the alien entity that leavens his solitude. In other cases the point is more oblique. Anna's life has been one long search for identity, but in the beginning it's presented more like she's in the early stages of Alzheimer's, rather than a woman with mental problems, it's only through the eyes of her psychiatrist that we get to see Anna's search and her ultimate answer. Empty Space looks at identity and how much of it is constructed by us and by our pasts, something shown beautifully by one of the Nova Swing's crew members' disastrous return to her home planet.
While the plot didn't always make that much sense to me due to my lack of understanding of the mechanics of the world, by the time it wrapped up, it actually wasn't as confusing as I'd thought—all the pieces fell into place. Except for the ending, that was rather open-ended and open for interpretation. But even when confused, I was enchanted with the writing. Harrison has a way with words that is remarkable and he manages to make clever allusions to other works that make you go 'Aha!' if you catch them and otherwise are just part of the beautiful prose. This is a book that will lend itself well to rereading, just to catch all the allusions and get the full impact of the stylistics at work and the clever clues given for the ending.
Would I recommend reading Empty Space as a standalone? Probably not, as I do feel I have probably missed out on a lot of the depth of this novel not having read Light and Nova Swing. One day I plan to get around to reading both of those and then rereading Empty Space, just to see what I missed here. Do I recommend Empty Space? Most definitely. If an inexperienced, unversed-in-(hard)-SF reader such as myself can get so much enjoyment out of this book, I'd surmise that to those with a good grounding in the field would be blown away by it. If anything, Empty Space has shown me I've a lot of reading to do to be able to appreciate the more complicated hard SF books out there. Empty Space has been an education all on its own.
This book was provided for review by the publisher. ...more
Aug 24, 2013 M rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
When reading this series I felt that
#1 Light was amazing and one of the best SF books I have read. Regarding ideas, style and structure, world-building as well as characters.
#2 Nova Swing while still high quality with excellent style and ideas, was much weaker regarding plot, characters and it's general idea. In fact, I found it annoying in parts: I just could not understand where the various plot lines or characters were going, and generally what the entire point of all of it was. It felt as if When reading this series I felt that
#2 Nova Swing while still high quality with excellent style and ideas, was much weaker regarding plot, characters and it's general idea. In fact, I found it annoying in parts: I just could not understand where the various plot lines or characters were going, and generally what the entire point of all of it was. It felt as if looking at a picture with a magnifying glass and being amazed by the beautifully crafted detail, but then, when stepping away and looking at the big picture it turns out that it's just a well-made picture of sunset, but the sun is green and there is snow under palm trees and we can't quite just make out why, though we feel like we should be able to.
#3 Empty Space takes it up a level again, and while not as good as Light it all starts to come together again, at least regarding 2 of of the plot-lines. I am still very bored and annoyed reading the Anna's plotline in contemporary'ish London, which I feel is well written, but a bit pointless. It just feels like Harrison merge a totally different novel into this plot-line, adding a couple of surrealist elements to make it fit the overall book.
Generally though, this series is certainly one of the more avantgarde and skillfully crafted literary works in SciFi. Read it if you like strange, intelligent, well written literature. It's full of dark, sexy, violent thoughts and deplorable characters and disgusting technology. Stay away from it if you want an easy Hollowood / Broadway read. Harrison will not serve anything on a platter, you will have to work to understand what he is on about.
Was anything annoying? A couple of minor things: it drags in parts, Anna's plotline felt not quite right, and some of the characters issues got on my nerves. What really annoyed me though, but fortunately was just a detail, was that Harrison seems to repeat himself. Certain phrases he repeats multiple times across the books, and somehow I felt this was like a bad deja vue, and totally un-necessary. It felt like he liked certain phrases or terms so much that he had to just rub his genius in again and again. I am sure I am unfair, but that's how it came across. Finally, and that's maybe the biggest issue I have with this type of literature (see next paragraph about similar books) is that some sentences if being read in flow, perfectly fit, sound extremely poetic, but when you read them again, and try to understand them, really don't make any sense. A bit like grunge poetry or lyrics. Whether that's a good or bad thing I am not sure, on the one hand I liked it, on the other it felt a bit like intellectual showing off or masturbation... would I discourage it? certainly not, we all like to have a wank from time to time...
Having said, this, this book actually reminds me strongly of
- The Quantum Thief which uses similar concepts and very similar style, meaning that the author does not explain things or sets the scene, but that you are learning while the plot develops. This is something I like very much. Both Series are also very much at the forefront of ideas. Where they differ is that Quantum Thief is much ore humorous while Harrison's work is dark.
- Harrison's series has been called Cyberpunk and at the same time being criticised for wanting to be Cyberpunk but not following its structure. Really, I don't care about labelling, but if you define Cyberpunk as 'Anything that can be done to a rat can be done to a human being. And we can do most anything to rats.' (sorry not sure where I stole this from) then this series is certainly Cyberpunk in the truest sense. Reminds me very much of Heatseeker in that respect.
Read the book if you can deal with tortured protagonists (tortured by what they have done to themselves through technology or their mind), stay away from it if you want to read about happy people :)
- It feels to me as if there was a new type of literary style out there which depicted our current reality with a certain sort of emptyness. I can't word it any better and still haven't fully figured it out. But reading Dream London and some other novels, I felt that in Empty Space also, our world, in this case mainly London, was described with a very unnerving emptyness as if in a dream where we are surrounded by a lot of people, but can not interact with them. I have to think more about this one, but though I'd share anyway.
Would I recommend it? Certainly!
Why? Because it's just 'out there'.
Could I tell you what it was really about? I think it's about human aspiration and dreams, and how we see ourselves as individuals.
Could I summarise the overall plot? yes, that's straight forward. Could I give an account of what actually happens and how the plot-lines are interconnected: no way, far too skillfully and magically crafted. ...more
Apr 18, 2013 Eoghann Irving rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: science-fiction
Empty Space is a challenging and frustrating book to read.
Certainly it doesn't help that it's the third part of a trilogy so you are rather thrown in at the deep end here. But that's certainly not the only reason.
The text of the book is thick. You can't skim this stuff. It's laden with meanings and inferences Skip a page and you will end up completely lost. That also means of course that if you put it down to do something else, it can take a while to immerse yourself in it again.
It's also a book Empty Space is a challenging and frustrating book to read.
It's also a book that quite deliberately engages in mindfuckery. Not only are stories being told in two different time frames, but several of the characters seem to have a rather loose grip on their own reality. So half the time you're not entirely sure what is "real" and what is not.
I don't say this as criticism, rather to try and give you a feeling for the sort of book this is. It's neither a light or quick read. And in truth I'm not sure I entirely grasped everything that was going on.
There's definitely a bleak tone to the story with many of the characters seeming trapped in their lives rather than enjoying them. And while the central mysteries of the story are essentially resolved by the end, I couldn't honestly tell you what the point of it all was exactly.
Unlike many science fiction authors Harrison doesn't seem very interested in explaining the science that makes the background of his universe. Not that there's a shortage of science. We have time, and weird physics and all sorts of things. But it's the background while the characters are the foreground.
Harrison's language and choice at times seem deliberately provocative. Not only is there disturbing violence, there's also sexual imagery and some of that will seem disturbing as well. At other points his characters language is abruptly frank, which stands out from the stylized prose. I don't think this is accidental.
There is a lot to recommend about this book. It will most likely take you out of your comfort zone. The universe the characters live in is rich and deep. This is definitely adult science fiction.
From a purely technical perspective the rating should probably be 4 stars. If you enjoy stories that push limits and don't sit inside genre cliches then I think you may really like this book. Though you're probably better starting with the first in the trilogy.
But I just couldn't quite warm to the story so my personal rating is 3. ...more
Oct 09, 2012 Kevin rated it really liked it · review of another edition
This is the third book in the series that began with "Light" and continued with Nova Swing; you will want to read the first two before starting "Empty Space", or else prepare to be utterly confused. Some of the more peripheral characters from the earlier books become protagonists in this novel, which like the first book has three interwoven storylines: one set in near-future England, the others in a remote stretch of our galaxy during the 25th century. The characters are drawn somewhat more thre This is the third book in the series that began with "Light" and continued with Nova Swing; you will want to read the first two before starting "Empty Space", or else prepare to be utterly confused. Some of the more peripheral characters from the earlier books become protagonists in this novel, which like the first book has three interwoven storylines: one set in near-future England, the others in a remote stretch of our galaxy during the 25th century. The characters are drawn somewhat more three-dimensionally in this book than in the earlier works, which is not to say they are any more understandable. One of Harrison's ongoing themes is the idea that everything - a person, a particle, a situation, spaceships, civilizations, whatever - carries within itself the potential to evolve in multiple ways, and in a sense, embodies all of its possible futures simultaneously. He never says so explicitly, but you get the feeling (if you know anything at all about quantum mechanics) that MJH draws rich metaphorical inspiration from the wave function and the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. You don't have to be a physicist to appreciate Harrison's work, but it doesn't hurt to be familiar with virtual particles, 11-dimensional spacetime, and naked singularities. As always, his writing can be breathtakingly lyrical or funny as hell, and never fails to be original.
My only gripe with this book is the ending, which left me feeling confused and unresolved. Perhaps that was MJH's intention. Otherwise, I highly recommend it. ...more
Jun 15, 2014 Peter Dunn rated it liked it · review of another edition
Like many of M John Harrison stories there is a decent story here – or several stories but not really what you would call a plot. Unlike the pervious book in this trilogy, Nova Swing, those stories aren't as effective enough to make up for the lack of plot but it is still a good read.
OK the Kefahuchi Tract MacGuffin imposes an increasing non-linear reality on the story which is interesting to start but it does in the end begin to edge into simply being annoying but that his exactly what M.John H Like many of M John Harrison stories there is a decent story here – or several stories but not really what you would call a plot. Unlike the pervious book in this trilogy, Nova Swing, those stories aren't as effective enough to make up for the lack of plot but it is still a good read.
OK the Kefahuchi Tract MacGuffin imposes an increasing non-linear reality on the story which is interesting to start but it does in the end begin to edge into simply being annoying but that his exactly what M.John Harrison intends and we readers should have expected that.
The ending is bleak. I do like bleak. Bleak has its profound and often affecting place such as in Beckett , Ibsen, or even Shakespearean tragedy, but here it just wasn't quite enough for me compared to Nova Swing. OK I get the innate pointlessness of everything M John Harrison wanted to get across, but couldn't he have given us just a tiny bit more about what lay behind all those mortsafes and Kefahuchi Tract bound ships? No? I didn't really expect answers - but I still want them....
Really a three and a half stars from me. ...more
Apr 23, 2019 Stephen Toman rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Complex, difficult, sometimes frustrating but ultimately satisfying. As the third book in the trilogy you might expect things to be coming together but instead, for the first 100 pages you get 3 sets of seemingly unrelated stories. Then the next 100 pages, as the action quickens and connections begin to reveal themselves, the story keeps expanding outwards in a way that makes you wonder how on earth all of this is all going to come together. But in the last 100 pages it all does in a way that is Complex, difficult, sometimes frustrating but ultimately satisfying. As the third book in the trilogy you might expect things to be coming together but instead, for the first 100 pages you get 3 sets of seemingly unrelated stories. Then the next 100 pages, as the action quickens and connections begin to reveal themselves, the story keeps expanding outwards in a way that makes you wonder how on earth all of this is all going to come together. But in the last 100 pages it all does in a way that is satisfying hey still leaves more questions than answers. Incredible book but not without its challenges. ...more
Dec 21, 2012 James Tierney rated it really liked it · review of another edition
I confess that there were whole passages in Empty Space where I had no clue just what was going on.
Part –but only part- of my confusion was down to the fact that this is the concluding volume in a trilogy of books Harrison commenced in 2002 with 'Light' and continued with 2006's 'Nova Swing', neither of which I have read.
But there's also a graceful inexplicableness at the core of Harrison's syntax and story, something Gary K. Wolfe calls an "elegant precision about indeterminacy".
It is at tim I confess that there were whole passages in Empty Space where I had no clue just what was going on.
It is at times is solid, vividly corporeal but then slips between the electrons at the edge of physics into something beyond. This discomforting experience never suggests sloppiness as Harrison has a firm hand on this expansive material at all times. The subtitle here 'A Haunting' is not just a feint at ghost stories and uncaused causation; it is also circles down to a perplexing and satisfying conclusion: we haunt ourselves in the traces.
May 05, 2013 Ilona added it · review of another edition
I don't know if it's because I hadn't read the previous books or because it truly is a really weird book, but I just couldn't stick with it. The first 50 pages seemed to jump from one thing to another with no rhyme nor reason and after that I just gave up.
Apr 05, 2013 Trish Graboske rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Roadside Picnic/the Strugatsky brothers meet The Big Sleep/Raymond Chandler, stirred with a big, quantum stick. This is a novel that should be read more than once.
Jan 03, 2015 David Allison rated it it was amazing · review of another edition
It's important to read new M. John Harrison novels while on holiday. No other author is able to describe with such alarming clarity the necessity of escaping yourself.
Harrison's latest novel Empty Space is the conclusion of a trilogy of science fiction novels that started with Light in 2002 and was continued in 2006′s Nova Swing.
Like both of its predecessors, Empty Space presents the reader with a future that dazzles with the romance of a thousand yesterdays: women who've chosen to be rebuilt wi It's important to read new M. John Harrison novels while on holiday. No other author is able to describe with such alarming clarity the necessity of escaping yourself.
Like both of its predecessors, Empty Space presents the reader with a future that dazzles with the romance of a thousand yesterdays: women who've chosen to be rebuilt with the "Mona" package, but who base their look on that of Marilyn Monroe; virtual fantasy lives that play out like an episode of Mad Men drained of all sex and drama (until, of course, that sex and drama forces its way on in there); covert action groups who, with their lattes and general sense of boyish intrigue, can't help but remind you of the sort of spooks you've never quite managed to catch out of the corner of your eye; Harrison manages to make all of these fantasies gleam briefly in the pages of this book.
This is an exhausted vision of the future, but it's still a vision of the future for all that, one that sees past the ever-present apocollapse and on to a possible reality that's like right now stretched out some more. Whether that seems like a hopeful vision or a dystopian nightmare is very much up to you.
On the fifth day the tourists raised their shutters and looked out on the world around them, beyond the space that they had made form themselves.
Outside of their comfortable prison the fog was still as inescapable as it was intangible, covering everything while always remaining just outside of reach.
It's important to read new M. John Harrison novels while on holiday. No other author is able to reinforce with crushing inevitability the impossibility of escaping yourself.
The futures Harrison presents us with throughout this trilogy have been built on a constant harrowing of the past, a process that has reduced the idea of progress to a sort of galactic strip-mining.
In Light this was conveyed by the fantastic damage the book's protagonists left in their wake, regardless of whether they were pre-Millennial scientists or impossible rocket jockeys – in trying to run from what they'd been and done, all three of that book's main characters flirted with becoming an agent of entropy, leaving a trail of dead bodies and ruined live behind them as they tried far too fucking hard to outrun themselves. Nova Swing built this grim fatigue into its texture, replacing the narrative breaks and time jumps of Light with a rundown detective story, a series of clichés pushed past the point of collapse, Seaguy as quantum noir.
Imagine, if you can, the lay of the land: unbearably tired of the thin skin of your flesh and your imagination, you blast off to the furthest edges of possibility, and what do you find? Nothing but a funhouse mirror reflecting your own potentialities back at you.
After four hours of wandering, the tourists were still on their own. They heard strange whispers in the mist, snippets of inane chatter, some of it enticing, other bits vaguely insulting, all of it disappointingly familiar.
Every word they overheard was spoken in their native tongue, every glimpse of life they caught through the mist reminded them of something else – from movies, if not from life.
Despite being set in the same "universe" and being united by the presence of the Kafahuchi Tract - an expanse of raw, disturbing possibility that remains untamed at the end of the series, no matter how many attempts are made to investigate, understand, enjoy, police and profit from it - Light and Nova Swing felt like two distinct novels, with their own characters, rules, and conclusions.
It's strange, then, to find yourself reading Empty Space and realising that these two narratives can be made to link up in a non-cursory manner, that the near-future shock of the widow of Michael Kearney can co-exist with the listless, out there adventures of Fat Antoyne, Liv Hula, Irene the Mona and the more driven motions of Aschemann's terrifying and nameless Assistant.
For readers who have been following Harrison's trilogy as it has developed, this unexpected familiarity - the starts of the previous two books was like a blast of ice cold air, too sharp and unforgiving to ever be taken for granted - will provide a sort of comfort that only makes the latter machinations cut more deeply when the narrative kicks into ninth gear.
At three o'clock the tourists found an obscure corner of the beach that was dotted with cigarette butts and broken boats, evidence of a series of accidental origins converging on the moment, and of a separation between here and there, now and then.
Looking out into the unceasing and indistinguishable grayness of sea and sky, few of them were certain that they would ever feel so certain about their trajectory again.
Empty Space's subtitle ("A Haunting") starts to make more sense as its plots converge, bringing with them an explanation for the murder mystery that chains together two of the novel's disparate fragments, and the revelation of the speaker behind the eerily repeated phrase that pushes the Assistant onward in her investigation – "My name is Pearlant and I come from the future".
The late stages of the narrative follow a pair of graveyard ghosts, drifting through their own lives like worried fire, unable to do anything but compound errors that have already been made. This stretch of the book is as emotionally terrifying as it is intellectual satisfying - floating back through the plot of the novel, the reader is given time to admire the cleverness of its design, but they won't find the space to allow themselves to escape the fact that the design is built to cut.
This aspect of Empty Space can't help but recall this year's other unlikely trequel, Alan Garner's Boneland. Like Garner's novel, Empty Space feels as though it shouldn't have been written - the stories that preceded these new fictions seemed sealed off, as though they should be somehow impervious to further exploration. And just as the events of the earlier installments in the Weirdstone trilogy haunt Boneland as unshakeable improbabilities, so the events of Harrison's earlier novels spook the characters in Empty Space with their cuntish irreversibility.
Two towns over, the tourists still found themselves unable to make contact with others. They explored the oldest parts of [REDACTED] and found there a black mirror reflection of their starting point.
The tangle of streets retold the story of the conflict between [REDACTED] and [REDACTED], the clash of physical bodies reduced to a clash of aesthetics, of tourisms, and all of it in service of a tired old tale that the tabloids back home were trying to talk up today.
At the very end of the novel, Harrison allows himself a moment or two to make sure that the mirroring of our current social, political and cultural moment is noticed and understood.
This isn't an example of an author trying too hard to get the point across so much as it is an acknowledgement of the fact that Empty Space is so reflective that the reader might be tempted to obsess over their own face in its surface at the expense of the bigger picture.
Empty Space provides almost no flattery for reader, suggesting instead that, like us, our culture is not overly inclined to learn from its mistakes. Just remember, because you heard it here first - "none of us will ever pay off the combined debts of our history."
Still, there's something jarring in the novel's depiction of the few survivors of Harrison's machinations, all of them stumbling on past the end of the story and back out through the wasteland, still fucking and fighting amongst themselves, still looking to the future in the hope that they might end up living something that could be mistaken for a life.
One by one the tourists realised that they had lost each other in the mist, so that when the sun finally burned its way through the confusion, each of the visitors found themselves alone in the unshackled daylight.<
It seemed that even the sand in their pockets had evaporated, and when they tried to look beyond themselves the tourists found that the world glimmered so intensely now that they could see their own freshly-scorched faces in everything; there was no longer any empty space in front of them, and without that, no possibility of escape.
Jan 08, 2013 J. rated it it was ok · review of another edition
Beautiful prose. But I had no idea what was going on.
May 30, 2019 Jack Deighton rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Sub-titled on the cover and the main title page as "A Haunting," Empty Space follows on and amplifies the universe Harrison constructed with his novel Light and continued in Nova Swing.
In early twenty first century London, Anna Waterman, obsessed by the memory of her first husband Mike Kearney, shuttles in an affectless way between her psychologist Helen Alpert, her daughter Marnie and other rather shiftless denizens of her world. Every so often on her night strolls she imagines her summerhouse Sub-titled on the cover and the main title page as "A Haunting," Empty Space follows on and amplifies the universe Harrison constructed with his novel Light and continued in Nova Swing.
In early twenty first century London, Anna Waterman, obsessed by the memory of her first husband Mike Kearney, shuttles in an affectless way between her psychologist Helen Alpert, her daughter Marnie and other rather shiftless denizens of her world. Every so often on her night strolls she imagines her summerhouse is on fire.
In Saudade City, on the planet Saudade, overshadowed by the lurking strangeness of the astronomical anomaly called the Kefahuchi Tract, riddled by its impossible physics, Enka Mercury and Toni Reno are bizarrely murdered to the sound of a disembodied voice saying, 'My name is Pearlant and I come from the future.' Their bodies hang suspended, rotating and slowly disappearing. An unnamed police assistant with data scrolling down her arm helps investigate the crimes.
R I Gaines is struggling to make sense of the mysterious apparition known as the Aleph, the figure of a woman contorted in an awkward way (and mysteriously accompanied by a cat) and who may bear some sort of relation to the Tract.
Meanwhile Fat Antoyne, who is no longer fat, and Liv Hula, undertake a commission from the elusive M P Renoko to transport odd containers called mortsafes in their spaceship "Nova Swing."
Many of these characters are familiar from Light and Nova Swing but here Harrison extends and refines their relationships.
The Waterman sections of Empty Space, at least in the early stages, are related in what seems a straightforward mainstream prose and are at odds with the SF elements - which are as jargon-filled as any devotee could wish. But this highlights a problem.
The trouble with 'six impossible things before breakfast' scenarios, with impossible physics, is that if nothing is explicable, if things just happen, then nothing means anything - or everything. When chains of causation are lost narrative becomes problematic and the trust between writer and reader can be undermined.
While considering the Aleph one of Harrison's characters muses that the universe is "a useless analogy for an unrepresentative state." This could, though, be a description of the novel Empty Space itself as Harrison is attempting a literary description of that unrepresentativeness, with all the cognitive dissonance that implies.
What redeems the book is Harrison's prose; which sweeps grandly along, his descriptive powers manifest, the Waterman sections being the most flowing, apparently effortless.
Nevertheless; that Harrison in the end brings all the strands together - thus also resolving the whole of his Kefahuchi Tract trilogy - comes as something of a release - and relief. The connections between the various types of haunting are finally made; though they are more than a little strained. Maybe even impossible: for the strangenesses around Saudade and the wrongness of the Tract physics remain pretty much unresolved.
Still, Harrison devotees and those who loved Light and Nova Swing will find Empty Space a notable conclusion.
Mar 25, 2019 Claire rated it liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: 2019-read-harder-challenge
Of the Empty Space Trilogy, I like this novel the most, as it requests perhaps the most mathematics of its readers to understand entirely. It is a surreal manipulation of reconditioned terminologies.
Also, in this book, I learned what saudade was. It is a Portuguese word meaning something like "missingness" according to Wikipedia.
As you can determine from my rating, I did come away from this book with a headache, but not one of those migraines which I have effective medication to address. It's a Of the Empty Space Trilogy, I like this novel the most, as it requests perhaps the most mathematics of its readers to understand entirely. It is a surreal manipulation of reconditioned terminologies.
As you can determine from my rating, I did come away from this book with a headache, but not one of those migraines which I have effective medication to address. It's a different kind of headache, not one from my trauma but one from attempting to overthink a problem.
So in the end, I came away from this book thinking positively of it despite needing to go to bed for the rest of it. You might like it too! There are enough cats in it to make me an extremely happy person. ...more
Sep 30, 2018 Bill Reynolds rated it it was amazing
I can't pretend to be objective about a Mike Harrison book. He is one of my favorite prose stylists and this book is full of wonderful sentences. Plot-wise, this pulls together people and events from the earlier 2 books in the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy: Light (one of the most remarkable novels of this century to date) and Nova Swing. Science is used as metaphor, but at the same time it's used with understanding. Science and math terms aren't just thrown into the text for poetic affect (although th I can't pretend to be objective about a Mike Harrison book. He is one of my favorite prose stylists and this book is full of wonderful sentences. Plot-wise, this pulls together people and events from the earlier 2 books in the Kefahuchi Tract trilogy: Light (one of the most remarkable novels of this century to date) and Nova Swing. Science is used as metaphor, but at the same time it's used with understanding. Science and math terms aren't just thrown into the text for poetic affect (although there's plenty of that). The reader gets the sense that Harrison understands what they mean. Reading the 2 earlier books is critical for enjoyment of this one. ...more
May 14, 2018 Ash rated it really liked it · review of another edition
Shelves: recs
In which the previous two books come together, but at odd angles. In which we get answers, but maybe not to the questions we had. In which maybe key symbols are presented off-hand, in passing, so that you could (or should) miss them entirely. I don't know what to say about this. I read it both quickly and slowly - which doesn't make sense even to me, and I was the one doing it. If you enjoyed (though that's the wrong word for something as chilly and cerebral and distant as this) the previous two In which the previous two books come together, but at odd angles. In which we get answers, but maybe not to the questions we had. In which maybe key symbols are presented off-hand, in passing, so that you could (or should) miss them entirely. I don't know what to say about this. I read it both quickly and slowly - which doesn't make sense even to me, and I was the one doing it. If you enjoyed (though that's the wrong word for something as chilly and cerebral and distant as this) the previous two, you'll enjoy this one. ...more
Space > Space Opera
About M. John Harrison
aka Gabriel King (with Jane Johnson)
Michael John Harrison was born in Rugby, Warwickshire in 1945 and now lives in London.
Harrison is stylistically an Imagist and his early work relies heavily on the use of strange juxtapositions characteristic of absurdism.
Empty Space Trilogy (3 books)
Books by M. John Harrison
Trivia About Empty Space: A Ha...
Quotes from Empty Space: A Ha...
"Don't you know, Fat Antoyne, that three old men in white caps throw dice for the fate of the universe?' No, Fat Antoyne said, he had never heard that. 'Their names are Kokey Food, Mr Freedom and The Saint." — 1 likes


text:
By Nestor May 28, 2007, 8:48am PDT
Share All sharing options for: Heroes
This weekend I imagine all of us at some point or another are going to take time to honor the incredible men and women have served and sacrifice for our country.
To mark this occasion I wanted to share with you stories of some incredible Bruins who have served our country:
In 2002, right before leaving for boot camp, Okechukwu Ihenacho called his parents in Nigeria and told them he had enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. He said they were not thrilled but told him he could go on one condition - that he would eventually finish his education.
Four years later, to make good on his promise, Ihenacho enrolled at UCLA as a third-year cognitive science transfer student and active duty Marine.
Ihenacho and several other Marines and soldiers attend UCLA as part of programs designed by the Armed Forces to allow enlisted servicemen and -women to attend college, earn their degrees, and return as commissioned officers.
Ihenacho said he and other servicemen and -women who have seen active duty in Iraq often return to school with a developed sense of focus and discipline.
Brian Collins, a third-year political science student, has been serving in the Marine Corps for many years and has served two six-month tours in Iraq.
He served in Fallujah in central Iraq in 2004 during what he calls one of the biggest urban battles since Vietnam, and patrolled the Shat al-Arab river to prevent oil and arms smuggling in 2003.
Now, he takes classes and continues to receive benefits as part of a Marine Corps program to receive a college degree and remain in active duty at the same time.
Go and read the whole story over at the Daily Bruin.
From our little corner in the internets world we would like salute the efforts of Okechukwu Ihenacho, Brian Collins, and all their colleagues in our armed forces (and the sacrifices of their families).
They are our heroes.
GO BRUINS.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Original 2 x 1 on rare 460sqm lot. Heaps of off street parking and good sized backyard.
Open by Appointment. Call Nick 0411 467 771 to arrange a time.
Well presented double storey home with 3 double bedrooms, 2 bathrooms plus study on easy maintenance lot.


text:
Q: Is it really possible to call HTTP PUT using prototype I'm running JEE6 with glassfish v3 on NetBean6.9 and working on RESTful web service.
I have jsp file which contains javascript function below.
It basically read info from HTML input fields and convert to JSON format.
Then with onclick Ajax call, attempt to send JSON string using HTTP PUT method.
(i.e. I'm trying to UPDATE the db record using REST)
For js framework I'm using is Prototype1.7
When I test the function below, it always return 404 thus "something went wrong" alert is displayed.
According to my search Prototype above 1.5 version supports HTTP PUT/DELETE methods and to do so add _method to the request URL like what I'm doing:
var url = "/resources/inventory/" + invId + "?_method=PUT";

This will create for instance:
http://localhost:8080/NoJSF/resources/inventory/123?_method=PUT

I looked at Firebug and console showing that the request is actually POST. Not sure but I believe this is because of Prototype using POST tunneling to achieve PUT method?
Also even though Ajax is being called, my Java file with JAX-RS annotated witn @POST is not even being called (@GET version is working with separate data so this is the right file) since the first line of its method that spit message is not showing up so I suspect my Ajax statement has some bug or there is something beyond my thinking.. could anyone give me hint?
function protoAjaxPut() {
            //get all fields value and store into json
            var invId = document.getElementById("invIdField").value;
            var invName = document.getElementById("invNameField").value;
            //put info into JSON format

            var jsonInput = JSON.stringify(new Array(invName));

            var url = "/resources/inventory/" + invId + "?_method=PUT";

            new Ajax.Request(url, {
                method:'put',
                postBody: jsonInput,
                ContentType: 'application/json',
                onSuccess: function(transport) {
                    var responseData = transport.responseText;
                    document.getElementById('putResponseText').innerHTML = responseData;
                },
                onFailure: function() { alert('something went wrong!')}
            })
        }//end protoAjaxPut

A: They are tunneled:
http://dobrzanski.net/2007/04/22/using-put-and-delete-methods-in-ajax-requesta-with-prototypejs/

A: As you already mentioned in your question, prototype averts PUT, DELETE,... requests by default. Some people (including me) think that this is stupid behavour, but since the developer doenst seem to care about that, we have to do it by editing the request-function itself (without touching our dist of prototype.js!):
Ajax.Request.prototype.request = function(url) {
    this.url = url;
    this.method = this.options.method;
    var params = Object.isString(this.options.parameters) ?
        this.options.parameters :
        Object.toQueryString(this.options.parameters);

        // NOTE: THE MISSING PART WAS HERE

    if (params && this.method === 'get') {
        // when GET, append parameters to URL
        this.url += (this.url.include('?') ? '&' : '?') + params;
    }

    this.parameters = params.toQueryParams();

    try {
        var response = new Ajax.Response(this);
        if (this.options.onCreate) this.options.onCreate(response);
        Ajax.Responders.dispatch('onCreate', this, response);

        this.transport.open(this.method.toUpperCase(), this.url,
            this.options.asynchronous);

        if (this.options.asynchronous) this.respondToReadyState.bind(this).defer(1);

        this.transport.onreadystatechange = this.onStateChange.bind(this);
        this.setRequestHeaders();

        this.body = this.method == 'post' ? (this.options.postBody || params) : null;
        this.transport.send(this.body);

        /* Force Firefox to handle ready state 4 for synchronous requests */
        if (!this.options.asynchronous && this.transport.overrideMimeType)
            this.onStateChange();

    }
    catch (e) {
        this.dispatchException(e);
    }
};

Run this code after Prototype got inited.
Now this:
new Ajax.Request('42', {method:'PUT'});

Will cause an actual HTTP PUT Request (see a jsFiddle).

A: Below which using raw xml rather than using prototype works.
When I use prototype ajax call, 405 method not allowed would return, not sure why.

...html body

Inventory page

            id
            amount
            <c:forEach items="${inventoryList}" var="inv" >

                    ${inv.id}
                    ${inv.amount}

            </c:forEach>

REST

        <form method="post" action="">
            Inventory ID: <input type="test" id="invIdField" readonly />

            Inventory Name: <input type="text" id="invNameField" />

            <input type="button" value="insert POST form" onclick="protoAjaxPost()" />

        </form>
        <button onclick="protoAjaxPut()">update PUT</button>

         <button onclick="simplePut()">call SIMPLE PUT</button>

         <button onclick="ajaxDelete()">HTTP DELETE</button>

A: I want to thank RienNeVaPlus for his answer.  I added additional override in order to post correctly with parameters and contenttype:
Ajax.Request.prototype.setRequestHeaders = function() {
        var headers = {
          'X-Requested-With': 'XMLHttpRequest',
          'X-Prototype-Version': Prototype.Version,
          'Accept': 'text/javascript, text/html, application/xml, text/xml, */*'
        };

        if (this.method == 'post' || this.method=='put') {
          headers['Content-type'] = this.options.contentType +
            (this.options.encoding ? '; charset=' + this.options.encoding : '');

          /* Force "Connection: close" for older Mozilla browsers to work
           * around a bug where XMLHttpRequest sends an incorrect
           * Content-length header. See Mozilla Bugzilla #246651.
           */
          if (this.transport.overrideMimeType &&
              (navigator.userAgent.match(/Gecko\/(\d{4})/) || [0,2005])[1] < 2005)
                headers['Connection'] = 'close';
        }

        if (typeof this.options.requestHeaders == 'object') {
          var extras = this.options.requestHeaders;

          if (Object.isFunction(extras.push))
            for (var i = 0, length = extras.length; i < length; i += 2)
              headers[extras[i]] = extras[i+1];
          else
            $H(extras).each(function(pair) { headers[pair.key] = pair.value });
        }

        for (var name in headers) {
          this.transport.setRequestHeader(name, headers[name]);
        }
      };

Only tested for PUT method.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Introducing Housing Cities, the Politas Consulting public policy proposal for how to solve the housing crisis.
Our public policy consulting firm founder Michael Castle Miller recently spoke in Barcelona on how special economic zones can expand options for displaced people.
The Karakoram mountain range in Pakistan. Pakistan's current SEZ law hasn't been nearly as successful as it could be, according to Politas team member Morial Shah.
When building a special economic zone, governments have the opportunity to create something totally new and exciting for a community and nation. SEZs often offer the hope of innovation, technological progress, and policy reform. Countries adapting new SEZ laws almost always promise an economic stimulus. In many cases, special economic zones offer exactly that; but as a public policy consulting firm specializing in SEZs, we know a lot can happen between the promises and the results.
It all depends on how you set up the project to function.
That's what the latest op-ed from Politas team member Morial Shah discusses so well. Morial is from Pakistan and is a legal academic, policy consultant, and legislative drafter, as well as a full-time faculty member at the Institute of Business Administration (IBA) Karachi.
"SEZs do not work magic," she says in the article. "They are neither good nor bad for the economy. They are what we make of them."
She argues that Pakistan's current SEZ law has not been nearly as successful as it could be. To support her case, she describes the two types of successful SEZ models, outlines the dangers of bureaucracy, and calls for SEZs "that allow space for disruption and innovation."
That's what we do here at Politas. As a leading legal and public policy consulting firm with a specialty in SEZs, we know what makes a successful program thrive. We build a legal framework that encourages invention and reform and addresses problems unique to each nation considering an SEZ program.
You can read Morial's op-ed at The Express Tribune.
If you would like to discuss building a successful special economic zones project, contact us today.
In our work as special economic zones legal consultants, we meet a lot of young people and law students who want to know how to become an SEZ lawyer (a lawyer that focuses on special economic zones).
This particular field is young, so there's not always a clear path to follow. For me, the process took a long time and led to a few turns I didn't expect. Hopefully in detailing some of my experiences, I can help younger students with their own professional ambitions.
I went into law school with a vague but sure feeling of what I wanted to accomplish there. I felt a calling toward building cities, and because I'd taken time off and worked for a few years after my undergraduate studies, I was old enough and wise enough to know it was really what I wanted to do. I believed (and still do) that basic governance structures are what makes a society thrive and that a good government unlocks human potential. This became even clearer to me as my wife and I began volunteering with refugee communities and saw their experiences coming from and settling into new cities.
I pursued that vision into law school, but at the time I had no idea what an SEZ was, let alone an SEZ lawyer. Instead, I just focused on that singular vision of city-building. I tried to learn everything I could about government, policy, and development.
In terms of classes, I took international law, international business transactions, investor-state arbitration, project finance, and international tax law, as well as soaking up everything I could from required classes like constitutional law. I got the most out of school that I could by pursuing both a law degree and an M.A. in international relations.
Outside of class, I joined the Public International Law and Policy Group (PILPG). Washington College of Law partners with this fantastic organization to offer pro-bono assistance to post-conflict countries. In my work there as a student, I helped develop constitutions and draft legislation, which was invaluable experience for later. From there, I studied abroad at the Hague. I knew international law would serve me well, and to me, that was worth bypassing the normal summer associate program. I wouldn't recommend that for everyone by any means; but it fit within my singular vision and helped me to get an internship at the World Bank. From there, I made it a goal to meet anyone I possibly could working in the fields of law that most fit my goal of building cities.
I had the opportunity to meet some incredible minds in international development and urban policy, including Paul Romer and many of our excellent team members here at Politas. Those meetings also introduced me to the concept of SEZs. Through those many meetings at the end of my law school studies, I began to see how becoming an SEZ lawyer could help achieve my original vision. By using SEZs, I realized, you could advance innovative reforms and allow countries to test out new development policies. Many SEZs had grown into thriving cities. This gave structure to that vision years earlier and a clearer path for my next steps.
After passing the New York Bar (a test that mentions absolutely nothing about SEZs), I became the managing director of a small special economic zones legal and policy consulting firm. Suddenly I was an SEZ lawyer, thrown into the world of special zones almost by surprise. Finding out about SEZs, passing the bar, and getting that first job all happened within a few months.
If you're an aspiring attorney interested in a niche field, here's my advice: Learn everything you can. Don't step into your field pretending to be an expert. Allow yourself to be open by asking questions and learning from anyone who will meet with you. You never know where it will lead. I know I didn't.
There is so much at stake in choosing a special economic zones consulting firm. SEZs have the power to affect thousands – even millions – of people's lives and can make a significant impact on a country's economy. Here are five factors we at Politas recommend people consider when deciding on a SEZ consulting firm.


What's the Difference between syllabus in CSE TUBE vs Other sites ?
Our CSE TUBE syllabus is a print friendly syllabus. Especially the syllabus of each subject is aligned in such a way that taking subject wise printout is easy with CSE TUBE - Syllabus.


Australians are very busy people – working an average of 4 extra hours a week to be able to get through their to do list. Yet we are also extremely generous and looking for ways to give back that use our skills and enable us to volunteer on our own terms.
With more and more individuals looking to volunteer in a skilled capacity, or through their workplace employee volunteer program, skilled and corporate volunteering is on the rise.
So how can your organisation look to tap into this resource and utilise the skills and attributes of a growing volunteer pool?
This webinar will explore the idea of skilled and corporate volunteering, identify platforms that VIOs can engage with to recruit skilled volunteers and provide space to consider the value they might add to a volunteer program.
To download the factsheet for this webinar, please complete the form below.


Gold Track Charms will make you feel like you've won first place. You won't want to race through our track and field charm jewelry collection featuring your favorite track and field themed sports charms. Adding a gold track charm to your personal sports themed charm bracelet is like having a miniature gold medal to showcase your athletic accomplishments.


text:
"Impelled by the weightiest of reasons, we are fully determined to restore Latin to its position of honor, and to do all We can to promote its study and use. The employment of Latin has recently been contested in many quarters, and many are asking what the mind of the Apostolic See is in this matter. We have therefore decided to issue the timely directives contained in this document, so as to ensure that the ancient and uninterrupted use of Latin be maintained and, where necessary, restored."
— Pope John XXIII (22 February 1962)
Revealed • Sacred Music Symposium Dates!
published 15 January 2018 by Corpus Christi Watershed
FFICIAL DATES for the 2018 Sacred Music Symposium are: JUNE 18-22. And this year, in honor of the 30th anniversary of the Fraternity of Saint Peter, we have a very special guest: Fr. Josef Bisig.
FR. JOSEF BISIG played a crucial role in 1988, when Pope John Paul II established the FSSP. Elected as Superior General twice—the maximum allowed—he has generously agreed to offer the Symposium's final Mass (22 June 2018).
The Symposium committee will begin accepting applications soon.
Follow this blog for details. If you subscribe to the CCW mailing list, you'll receive exclusive information.
Examine incredible testimony (scroll to bottom) from last year's attendees.
HE Sacred Music Symposium, sponsored by FSSP.la, will once again take place on the beautiful campus of St. Therese (1100 East Alhambra Road; Alhambra, California, 91801). Learn about St. Therese Carmelite School here.
EXCERPT • Intervention of Fr. Josef Bisig
Synod of European Bishops, 8 Oct 1999
WOULD LIKE to say a word about number 69 of the lnstrumentum laboris: we cannot identify ourselves with this image that is given of the traditionalist faithful. Our experience is another one: these faithful are helped by the traditional liturgical forms in their spirituality and feel themselves more closely united to the mysteries of the Cross and of the Resurrection, celebrated in the Holy Mass. Our priests who make every effort to center their priestly life around the Holy Sacrifice of Mass, exercise undeniably considerable attraction to youths who aspire to serve the Church as future priests.
In conclusion, it would seem to me that for a pastoral of hope, our Churches in Europe cannot put aside what makes up their spiritual patrimony; the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter was founded in an act of hope. Far from being nostalgic, its attachment to the Latin liturgical tradition is the bearer of a humble source of continuity. Thus, the living use of the Latin liturgy will have as its effect that of not allowing the language of the Church to be reduced to the literary form of official documents, but to allow a "Cor unum" and an "anima una" of those faithful to Christ.
Historial information about the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter: The Fraternity was founded on July 18, 1988 at the Abbey of Hauterive (Switzerland) by a dozen priests and a score of seminarians. Shortly after the Fraternity's foundation—and following upon a request by Cardinal Ratzinger—Bishop Joseph Stimpfle of Augsburg, Germany granted the Fraternity a home in Wigratzbad, a Marian shrine in Bavaria that now lodges the Fraternity's European seminary. In the same month of October there arrived a handful of priests and some thirty seminarians ready to start "from scratch." As of 15 January 2018, the FSSP has 437 members, including 293 incardinated priests.
Photo credit: John Aron.
Julia Garcia contributed to this article.