As fantastic as it sounds, The Wave has more of the flavor of a pulpish science fiction movie from the days before space flight than it does a modern-day zombie epic. There's a big hint to be had in its dedication to Michael Moorcock, whose Multiverse novels obviously had a big influence on the remainder of the book. The XTs, awaiting the arrival of an arcane intelligence called the Farsinger, pool their essence into a peculiar black oil put in Errol's care. While it doesn't drive the plot to any huge degree, it's a slight but affectionate homage to the dilemma at the end of another heavy science fiction book, Ender's Game. Kill the enemy, or save ourselves?
More questions emerge, though. Is The Wave a disease or the next step in evolution? An allegory for the experience of being different in an increasingly homogeneous world? Is it the Rapture taken a strange, unfamiliar form? Mosley never fully explains and I'm not entirely sure he knows himself. It may be that The Wave serves for him much of the purpose it does in the book, a mechanism through which we're forced to question the fabric of our personal reality.
More questions emerge, though. Is The Wave a disease or the next step in evolution? An allegory for the experience of being different in an increasingly homogeneous world? Is it the Rapture taken a strange, unfamiliar form? Mosley never fully explains and I'm not entirely sure he knows himself. It may be that The Wave serves for him much of the purpose it does in the book, a mechanism through which we're forced to question the fabric of our personal reality.
In "Black To the Future," an elegant essay on science fiction written for the New York Times, Mosley postulated that:
The power of science fiction is that it can tear down your walls and windows, the artifice and laws by changing the logic, empowering the disenfranchised, or simply by asking, What if?…the hardest thing to do is to break the chains of reality and go beyond into a world of your own creation.
Fair enough. Whether it's far-out science fiction, head trips like The Man In My Basement or his recently political monographs like Life Out of Context, Walter Mosley has earned his right to the soapbox. While The Wave might not be the book his reputation is built on, the slim volume is a pretty painless investment and worth a look for all but the most single-minded readers. Nothing wrong with a good, long look around every so often.
Back off man, he's a scientist.
Clayton Moore wrote an essay on the works of Walter Mosley for Bookslut. For more about Walter Mosley's upcoming books, visit www.waltermosley.com.
The power of science fiction is that it can tear down your walls and windows, the artifice and laws by changing the logic, empowering the disenfranchised, or simply by asking, What if?…the hardest thing to do is to break the chains of reality and go beyond into a world of your own creation.
Fair enough. Whether it's far-out science fiction, head trips like The Man In My Basement or his recently political monographs like Life Out of Context, Walter Mosley has earned his right to the soapbox. While The Wave might not be the book his reputation is built on, the slim volume is a pretty painless investment and worth a look for all but the most single-minded readers. Nothing wrong with a good, long look around every so often.
Back off man, he's a scientist.
Clayton Moore wrote an essay on the works of Walter Mosley for Bookslut. For more about Walter Mosley's upcoming books, visit www.waltermosley.com.
