Just Finished Reading: The Folk of the Fringe by Orson Scott Card

Only six missiles flew in World War Three but it was enough to end civilisation as we know it. The mixture of nuclear bombs and biological weapons was enough to push mankind over the edge into oblivion – except for one place: The Mormon State of Deseret.

This was a book of five short stories telling the story of the collapse and eventual rebuilding of western civilisation by the Mormon Church starting with ‘West’ – a tale of a group of Mormons attempting to find their way through a wasteland to Salt Lake City which was pretty good if standard post-apocalyptic survivor stuff. ‘Salvage’ told of a group of teenagers diving in the flooded Salt Lake looking for treasure which was something and nothing. ‘The Fringe’ told of the efforts of farmers to push back the desert to feed their growing population and the efforts of one man to root our corruption. This was nicely done and had some impressive characterisation. My favourite was next which was ‘Pageant Wagon’, a tale of a family of travelling players who argue in front of a hitch-hiker they pick up on the outskirts of a small town. The characterisation and dialogue are very good and felt realistic. Lastly was ‘America’ which told of the downfall of the revived civilisation from the point of view of a young boy and a South American shaman.

Overall the book was good if rather strange. It was in several ways religious SF – not something I’ve actually come across all that often and not the sort of thing that I’d normally sit and read. The religious aspects, although clearly central to all of the stories, are kept low key enough as not to annoy although I must admit that my scepticism meter twitched from time to time. Actually I had no idea that Card was a Mormon – not that I’ve read all that much of his work. Here he made his background blatant – reinforced by the added author’s notes at the back. I won’t say that it put me off the book completely but I was more than a little uncomfortable with any possible agenda he was pushing. An interesting read if a rather strange one from time to time.