RECLUSION

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

The stories in Reclusion are linked to a forthcoming video game of the same title. Editor Alex Shvartsman is the Narrative Director and head writer for the project. This volume is a chance for him to add additional storytelling to the project, as well as a way to publicize the game prior to its launch. Explaining the concept in a foreword, it isn't entirely clear how the stories or characters will fit in with the ultimate game, but it does give the reader and potential player an idea of the periods the game will touch upon.

Esther Friesner opens the anthology with "For the Straight Path Was Lost" an introduction to the game's protagonist, Toni Lemberg, a scientist working on the Manhattan Project who feels sidelined because she is not only a single woman, but also a mathematician rather than a physicist. Adding to her sense of alienation is the fact that she has grown more cautious about the work the Manhattan Project is doing and is warning her colleagues to take their time when every second could count. After being thrown out of a meeting with her colleagues, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and Alistair Crowley, Lemberg begins to question his participation in the project, realizing that she can't leave for security reasons. Over the course of that night, she has run ins with several individuals from the past: Marie Curie, Spartacus, Zheng Yi Sao, and Juraj Janosik, the protagonists of the other stories and key parts of the as-yet-to-be-released game.

Alan Dean Foster provides a story of Spartacus at the beginning of his revolt in "Inicio." Presenting the ex-slave as a highwayman, he and his small band of men attack a group of travelers, in the process taking Cato the Younger captive. Deciding Cato's ransom is worth more to him than a dead body, he keeps the noble, who has disdain for the ex-slaves, alive. Cato is able to see the growth of the slave army, the entire time disbelieving that they will ever pose a threat to Rome and looking forward to the day they meet a Roman legion and are destroyed. Once the ransom is paid, Spartacus must decide if he will allow his forces to take their vengeance on Cato or prove that the ex-slaves are not the lesser people Cato believes them to be.

"The Bones of Light" is R. R. Virdi's exploration of Marie Curie during World War I as she uses her "petite curie" to introduce mobile X-Ray units. Working with a driver and a staff of nurses, she works near the front lines while worrying about her daughter, Irene, who is doing similar work in other parts of the war. When a young boy stumbles across them, he asks for her help. His father's leg has been injured and the doctors plan to amputate it, which the boy does not believe is necessary. The story shows the use, introduction, and proof of a new invention while at the same time offering a sense of compassion that seems to be too frequently missing from stories set during wartime.

Zheng Yi Sao is the subject of Julia Vee's "Three Times Lucky," which covers about ten years of her life, from the time she meets the pirate lord Zheng Yi in a brothel, through their marriage, his death, and her subsequent rule over the fleet. Vee provides a character study, showing a woman who knows what she wants, knows what she has, and has figured out how to work in a man-dominated world to get what she wants. Vee shows Zheng Yi Sao in a variety of positions where she should have no power, such as her first meeting with Zheng Yi or the immediate aftermath of his death, and allows her to take command of the situation and dominate those around her through sheer force of will.

The final story is by editor Alex Shvartsman. "The Messenger Birds" retells the story of Saint Olga of Kiev, whose husband, Prince Igor, was killed while trying to collect tribute from the Prince of the Drevlian Slavs. As with Zheng Yi Sao, Olga is a woman who knows what she wants and Shvartsman clearly depicts her dealing with the loss of her husband, the desire for complete vengeance against the people who killed him, and the political mechanizations of a power struggle between herself, the leader of Igor's armies, and a priest to fill the vacuum left by Igor's death.

In general, the stories serve to introduce the characters who will be part of the game once it is released, however, aside from the sequence in Friesner's story that shows Lemberg interacting with them, there is little to link the stories together or explain how they will fit into the game. Instead, Shvartsman has edited an anthology of five historical fiction stories which feels random, although it is expected that once the game is released, this volume will have a narrative context which is only hinted at by Shvartsman's foreword.

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