BPP Novel 4: Clark’s Law

The Babylon Project Podcast

The next stand-alone novel we read and reviewed is Jim Mortimore’s Clark’s Law. This is the only novel he wrote within the B5 universe, although he has writing credits for novelizations within the Dr. Who universe. The print copy was published by Dell in February 1996, and ran 288 pages. The story takes place in 2259, at the end of Season 2 and occurs between “Comes the Inquisitor” and “The Fall of Night”. sometime prior to “The Coming of Shadows” (Season 2, Episode 9). This book is not considered canon.

Well, we went from liking the previous novel quite a bit to not liking this one at all. Here’s the story: A newly discovered species called the Tuchanq come aboard Babylon 5 and in short order an unfortunate series of events results in several of the Tuchanq losing consciousness. This species never sleeps, but instead gains rest and maintains individual identity through a complex series of songs. What wasn’t known or understood by station inhabitants (including the command team) is that when a Tuchanq loses consciousness, they essentially lose their minds. D’Arc, commits a murder, is rendered unconscious and is left with the mind of an infant or child. The moral discussion that ensues and guides the story is that this “new” creature with no memory or identity related to the one that committed the murder, can not be held responsible for the crime. In a tangential power play, President Clark is trying to bolster his growing dictatorial control of Earth, and uses the incident to to prejudge D’Arc and mandate the death penalty for the crime, showing he’s a strong president and wiling to do what it takes to maintain order and discipline to protect the people and allies of Earth. This sets the stage for the tension of the primary storyline, as Capt Sheridan and his officers struggle with how to handle what’s morally right versus the unjust mandate to execute D’Arc.

In an odd and very unbalanced side story, we are shown a Babylon 5 where significant rioting is occurring while it seems the station officials are either unwilling or unable (or both?) to simply maintain the peace. It’s through this series of events we noticed that almost all the major characters were written inconsistently with those we know from the series. Also unfolding at the same time is the primary side story of G’Kar and Londo, in which G’Kar attempts to brutally murder Londo and then commit ritual suicide. In an incredibly planned and deliberate act, G’Kar stabs Londo brutally, and leaves him to die. The author leaves us with the impression, this was a major decision, but not really a big deal for G’Kar. These weren’t the characters of the TV series. The same was particularly true of Ivanova and Vir, Franklin, and to some extent Sheridan.

The significant events that took place in this novel didn’t come close to fitting into the B5 story arc we all know and love. It was truly as if Mortimore was given basic plot points and the B5 story bible, but he never actually watched an episode of the show. Outside of the specific disconnection of the characters as written, versus the show, none of these very significant events ever manifest in the series: G’Kar’s attempted murder of Londo, the existence of a species called the Tuchanq, many other species also mentioned that we’ve never seen, rioting on the station, a very muted and passive Commander Ivanova, etc.

All the themes we could identify in the book have run through the previous novels. Your hosts presumed that there was probably a master list of themes provided by JMS to all these authors to incorporate into their writing as the specific stories allowed. In Clark’s Law, we saw elements of crime and punishment, deceit and false accusations for political gain, corrupt government (specifically Earth), capital punishment, conflicts of morality and the growing tension between Earth and Mars.

One final note: we all agreed the author appeared to use the novel as an instrument to lecture his readers on his particular views of several of these moral issues, especially capital punishment. He also seemed to take a very odd shot at liberal democracies in general, and arguably the specific form of a federal republic. Well written Science Fiction has always had a significant role in examining social and ethical issues (contentious ones in particular) by placing the issue at the heart of fictional events and writing about them in a way that the reader is outside of the issues. In this case, the author failed to do this. The story was so badly written, he came across as lecturing us with his perspectives rather than letting us work out our own perspectives based on the story.

We unanimously disliked this book. Our ratings were a 1.5, a 0.5, and a 1 (out of 5), giving us an overall Boom Scale rating of 1. We’d never tell someone not to read a book, but this is one we’d warn you away from unless you have nothing better to do.

Please continue reading along and join us next time when we discuss the fifth stand-alone novel, The Touch of Your Shadow, the Whisper of Your Name, by Neal Barrett, Jr.

You can find us at http://www.BabylonProjectPodcast.wordpress.com, on Facebook at The Babylon Project Podcast or on iTunes. You can email us at [e-mail]. We look forward to hearing from you.

Just remember… When there’s no boom today, there’s boom tomorrow. There’s always boom tomorrow!