The January Dancer-Michael Flynn

The January Dancer
Michael Flynn
Tor, Oct 2008, $24.95
ISBN 9780765318176

Captain Amos January directs his crew of six misfits to land their tramp freighter New Angeles on the un-chartered remote planet that orbits an unnamed sun so they can make necessary repairs. However to their delight they find ancient artifacts that were left behind by an unknown alien race who January realizes vanished before humanity took one giant step in space.

However, the real catch is the Dancer, an odd rock that somehow alters its shape. January and his crew are unable to draw any conclusions about this enigmatic stone. Soon afterward January finds he and his shipmates are the focus of assaults from government agents, cabals, pirates thieves, and collectors until somehow they inexplicably lose the Dancer. Those who obsessively crave to possess it will kill to obtain it; those who misfortunately possess it will kill to keep it.

The opening paragraph provides the philosophy behind this exhilarating science fiction thriller as Einstein deserves the blame for being right that “everything we marvel at is already gone”; the light of relativity is yesterday’s news. Thus rogues, cheats, scoundrels and romantic heroes all seek THE JANUARY DANCER, but none seems to be able to hold on to it beyond a fleeting moment. This tale is complex, as the prime character is an enigmatic object in which the “temporary “owners” and envious seekers keep switching identities. Readers who relish a complicated powerful outer space tale that makes the case that greed is the unified force that expands the universe will want to read the escapades of Captain January’s enigmatic Dancer.

Harriet Klausner