AN ALIEN HEAT

Reviewed by Steven H Silver

In the 1960s and 1970s, Michael Moorcock seemed to create a new series of novels practically every time he turned around. Of course, he created links to many of these, sometimes intentionally when creating the novels, sometimes in retrospect as he decided to add a series to his ever-expanding concept of the multiverse. In 1972, he published An Alien Heat, which kicked off the three volume “Dancers at the End of Time” series, as well as the related novel The Transformation of Miss Mavis Ming (which has appeared in various editions under various titles), as well as a variety of short stories, including one written by Caitlin Kiernan and one by Steve Aylett.

An Alien Heat provides the setting and characters for the series. Jherek Carnelian, the only person on Earth who was born instead of created artificially, is a member of a decadent and debauched society. They inhabitants of Earth wield tremendous power and can create or destroy on a whim. Death is a minor inconvenience and they are constantly striving for new diversions. Sex is casual and without taboos, with the novel opening with Jherek having sex with his mother as a natural way to end a visit.

Jherek believes himself to be an expert on the nineteenth century, although it is clear that his understanding, so many millions of years in the future is inaccurate. At a party where the main entertainment is an alien who has arrived to warn of the impended end of the universe, and the final death for all of them (which is naturally enough viewed as a boring claim by the inhabitants at the end of time), Jherek finds himself face to face with a time traveler from the nineteenth century. He immediately determines that he has fallen in love with her.

Jherek woods Mrs. Amelia Underwood by recreating a faithful version of Victorian England at her guidance, but he can’t give her what she really wants, which is to return home to her husband. Although her anguish is real, because Moorcock shows everything through Jherek’s eyes and he doesn’t understand cause and effect or ramifications and repercussions, it is difficult for the reader to care about the outcome, even when Moorcock places Jherek into a situation in which he is powerless to control the outcome.

Despite spending quite a bit of time with the various denizens of the end of time, Moorcock reveals very little about them beyond the superficial level, which is fitting given that for all he thinks he is curious and knowledgeable, Jherek remains throughout a child who only cares about his own entertainment and well-being, even when he can’t understand that he is being threatened. it is clear that Moorcock has many revelations in store for the reader in the subsequent books and so An Alien Heat does not conclude so much as it ends.

Moorcock does give some indication that Jherek is ready to move beyond the superficial and could even understand that actions may have consequences, although as An Alien Heat hits its final chapter, he still maintains the view of the world as a game to entertain himself and others. If others are entertained while he is not, it just means that the game is currently going against his desires.

Return to