Collision Course is another of those wonderful short 1970s pulpy sci fi novellas. Although this one in particular tended to annoy me at times, these types of books are great fun to read and a good way to spend a day at the beach. Collision Course is set in a Ultra-Fascist future earth. Throughout the history of man there have been many cycles of history, and much that was once known has been lost. But to this society built on racist propaganda the only goal in the final analysis is to propagate the future for True Man (ie White Anglo pure blood). All of the mutations that to the logically minded observer could be signifying man’s evolution, are hastily eradicated. Although there is an opposition to this dogmatic para-governmental military organization called the Titans, this small group of underground fighters for equality are not the focus of the novel. No, in fact we follow a the adventures of a hapless archaeologist whose life has been dedicated to the study of the mysterious ruins of an alien civilization dating to mans dark prehistory, that have recently been uncovered on earth. Our archaeologist makes a startling discovery when he learns that in fact these alien ruins are not from our past but from an alternate timeline, a completely separate history on earthlings who have lived for millennia on our planet. But why have we never encountered them before, well their time stream is flowing in the opposite direction than ours, their time stream flows backwards (from our perspective), and as these two histories of earth get closer and closer together our two timelines are starting to interact. But to a race of ultra conservative racist men, the idea of another creature laying claim to their world is unacceptable. Especially once they discover that our two timelines are soon to collide creating a catastrophe that could wipe out all biological life on earth and destroy both timelines forever.
This story is completely plot based. The characters, such that they are, never really managed to engage me. And although I enjoyed elements of the plot, it got fairly convoluted by the ending. I hadn’t the dedication of investment to really care for the fate of these people. But maybe that was because the author made our future selves (the natural good guys) into complete nazi jerks. Even the protagonist was rather shallow and callous. I think there are definitely some good ideas in this book, honestly a number of concepts that could on their own make for decent sci fi fare in a different context, but as it came together here I think the book failed. A good try I suppose, and I suppose seeing as it only took me a day or so to read it, it wasn’t a huge waste, but I just wasn’t engaged by much of anything in Collision Course.
Rating:
