Review: "Science fiction or political, moral and religious lecture"
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 11 9, 2011
"Anamoly" was written by Peter Cawdron. Mr. Cawdron was born in Auckland, New Zealand and has lived in Scotland, The United States and currently in Brisbane Australia with his wife and three children. Anamoly is the second science fiction novel for Mr. Cawdron.The composition is written using an anonymous narrator and dialog attributable to the character speaking. The prose style is simplistic, straight forward and unencumbered and should be acceptable to a wide audience. The science part of the science fiction is not overly complex and should be understandable by most readers. To some it may even tend to lean towards fantasy in some instances.In summary, the plot involves the mysterious appearance of a concentrated disturbance in the natural geophysical structure of earth. The disturbance manifests itself as a spherical spatial void located just outside the UN General Assembly Building in New York. The main characters in the story are Cathy Jones, a television reporter for channel four news, and David Teller, a physics and chemistry teacher at the East Side Village Community School. The story begins with Teller taking his fifth grade class students on a field trip to witness the disturbance, now dubbed the "anomaly" by the press. While observing the anomaly, Teller makes the surprising discovery that earth seems to be revolving around the disturbance which remains fixed along a single path line into space. The other scientists on the site then recruit Teller to join the investigation because of his keen insight into the nature of the anomaly. The reporter, Cathy Jones who has been continuously filming and reporting on the anomaly is also recruited to provide live feed of the events for the government and scientists who are investigating. From here, the entire plot devolves from science fiction to political, moral and religious posturing until the final conclusion of the saga.Cawdron uses the story line as a platform for lecturing the reader on his political, religious and moral views; issues that he deems pertinent to the discourse of the times. In the first instance, he describes the insidious slide of science into the caldron of political infighting. He attacks the growing imposition of world group think, represented by the UN, as interfering with basic scientific enlightenment: Cawdron writes "There was no doubt in anyone's mind that science was taking a back seat to politics". He goes on to describe the diplomats as ..."a den of thieves". In a further disparaging critique, Cawdron lays out the premise for the novels wanton violence: "America has a reputation of being transparent only as far as it serves her own national interests"..."This is the country that champions freedom and justice but will not ratify its membership to the International Criminal Court. And why? Because it fears its own illegal activities will be exposed". America cannot be trusted! And the rest of the world is the epitome of justice, love and friendship?!On religion, Cawdron views the various religious sects as barely evolved from the first century. He postulates that the emergence of an alien entity was more problematic to religion, not because it questions the existence of God, but because it questions the existence of religion. In the argument as to the nature of religion, Cawdron has the various leaders resort to literal biblical translations: "The bible speaks clearly of angels and demons, of the seraphim and the cherubim. These are all celestial beings of differing orders within creation." "The anomaly is part of creation therefore it is subject to the Creator." Really?! When was the last time an angel stuck around for a scientific inquisition? No learned religious leaders of this century, I hope to think, would make such forlorn declarations as presented by Cawdron if faced with the presence of an actual alien contact.On moral issues, when Teller is questioned by his rescuers young boy about what the anomaly wants, he speculates that it wants the same thing we want, to learn about life elsewhere in the universe. As to why a probe would be sent to a faraway place that it may never be heard from again Teller falls upon a simple reason:"the most important thing in life is life itself"."People always look for meaning in life, as though it were somehow missing, but it's not, it's all around us." Amen!What I concluded about this novel is that the story line as a science fiction work is weak, unfulfilled, and lacking depth. The concept was good but the story was overwritten with too many contemporary viewpoints lurking inside the story. The writing was a bit too simplistic also; it felt pedestrian. Relationships were rushed and unnatural; case in point between Teller and Jones - probably would never happen that way especially in a week's time. The whole violence thing was off on the wrong premise.So, I would recommend this novel only with reservations. I would rate it "Pleasurable-not memorable".