Review: In Memoriam: A Novel of the Terran Diaspora, by Fred Lerner

Review: In Memoriam: A Novel of the Terran Diaspora, by Fred Lerner

by Rich Horton

Fred Lerner is a long-time SF fan, and I've known him for several years, meeting him once or twice a year at conventions. I read and enjoyed his story "Rosetta Stone", which appeared in Ian Randal Strock's Artemis way back in 2000, and I was happy when he told me a few years ago that he was writing a novel set in that story's future (though not really directly related.) That novel appeared last year -- In Memoriam, from Fantastic Books.

It's narrated by David Bernstein. As the novel opens, he's finishing his final year of school before going to college. And he's attending a performance staged by the alien race that is native to the planet on which he lives. We learn quickly that these aliens, the Wyneri, rescued the survivors of the Cataclysm, which wiped out humanity on Earth, a couple of centuries prior to this story. The couple of thousand who were rescued have been fruitful enough that the human population is about 30,000 -- living in small chapters embedded among the Wyneri. The humans have been gifted one island, on which they have built a University, and to which they go once each year for the Ingathering. And this Remnant, as they style themselves, devote themselves to preserving as much knowledge of Terran history and culture as they can. 

Their relations with the Wyneri appear cordial enough, but both populations appear mostly to ignore each other. So David's interest in Wyneri art, and, soon after, his close friendship with a Wyneri girl named Harari, are considered decidedly unusual. The Wyneri are very humanoid (indeed, it's hinted that David and Harari are tempted to have a sexual relationship, but they decide not to go that far.) It turn out that many among the Wyneri are disgusted by David and Harari's friendship -- and so are many of the humans.

There are some shocking instances of violence, before and after David and Harari go to their separate universities. But the two of them have already discovered something very surprising about the Cataclysm and the Wyneri rescue operation. David, at his university, forms close relationships with many fellow students, and realizes that there are factions in the human Remnant who are pushing for Terran's to disassociate from the Wyneri, perhaps even to return to the Solar System. And there are increasingly active factions among the Wyneri that are hostile to Terrans. The situation becomes terribly threatening -- and David finds himself forced to a fairly prominent position, especially regarding the information he and Harari have found. The results will profound change both societies.

The novel is consistently interesting, and the society Lerner portrays in intelligently put together. David and his friends are characters we root for. Lerner's Jewish background contributes to much of this -- not just the fact that David and his family maintain Jewish traditions, but the obvious analogies with the "Terran Diaspora" of this novel, and the Jewish Diaspora, not to mention the Terrans situation as "strangers in a strange land" among the Wyneri. There are certain aspects I thought a bit underdeveloped, and I will say the dialogue doesn't always convince -- the characters speak as if reciting essays at times. But these are quibbles -- I enjoyed the novel, and cheered for its humanistic message.