Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Catalyst (2006)
Author: Nina Kiriki Hoffman
Genre: Science Fiction (Storyteller Focus)
Plot Summary:
Kaslin is a teenaged boy living on the colony world of Chuudoku, dealing with his father's compulsive but inexpert thievery and their family's subsequent lower-class status. Because of this, Kaslin is an easy target for Histly, a schoolyard bully who is augmented to be stronger and faster than is natural, as well as to have fingertip-implants with paralytics and poisons. Kaslin discovers a cave filled with a white, waxy substance in the wilderness next to the school one day while being chased down with Histly, and while Histly is getting herself stuck in the substance, Kaslin is discovering that not only can the substance be controlled using vocal commands--it can be made to light up, to be solid or flakey, slippery or sticky--but that there are spider-like aliens in the cave that he has inadvertently awoken. The aliens eat Kaslin's hair off and mutate his body chemistry to make it more compatible with their technologies, and if that wasn't bizarre enough, Histly is suddenly insanely attracted to him. Kaslin's mother gets involved, then Histly's family buys the property the cave is on, hoping to gain control over the alien technology, and Kaslin's future becomes increasingly unclear--and his dreams, increasingly, attainable. SPOILER: Hoffman leaves the ending almost completely open; how the aliens with fare in the political sphere of Chuudoku and how Kaslin's role as "ambassador" to the aliens will play out is still up in the air at the conclusion of the novel. What is certain is that Histly and Kaslin will remain in a relationship, and that Kaslin's future appears brighter than ever.
Geographical Setting: Chuudoku, a distant planet.
Time Period: The unspecified, distant future.
Appeal Characteristics:
The frame is probably the biggest draw to this novel. It is set in the unspecified distant future on Chuudoku, a planet that has been colonized by humans is described as being the most corrupt in the galaxy. While all of the (known) Chuudoku residents are human, they have had enough alien interaction for first contact specialization to be a viable career option, if you have the money to buy that particular career module, and the humans can be medically augmented to be stronger, faster, and have poison-filled fingertips. Chuudoku has populated cities, but there are also areas of wilderness where "assassin plants" that shoot seeds at people to force them to be hosts to their seedlings. The novel is definitely more focused on characters than events, though the supporting characters that are somewhat one-dimensional. This story is told from Kaslin's third-person point of view, and his growth and maturation throughout the story, emotionally, physically, and mentally, is probably an important appeal element for many readers. The book is slow-paced and densely written, with a lot of description, long sentences, and the characters almost exclusively reacting to circumstances they find themselves in. The story is written as a serious, though somewhat dreamlike drama in a straight chronological line that places the emphasis on psychological effects of that this incredible series of events has on Kaslin.
Read-alikes: Catalyst is Nina Kiriki Hoffman's only science fiction novel at the present time, but readers of Catalyst may also appreciate her other works. A Fistful of Sky in particular has several similar appeal elements. In this book, Gypsum LaZelle is the only member of her family who failed to go through the "transition," a time of serious illness that leaves the afflicted either dead or with magical abilities. Then, when she turns twenty, Gypsum suddenly acquires dark powers, and she has to face the unintentional damage that she inflicts on those she loves. This is a coming of age story, much like Catalyst, with a main character that has to suddenly face vast changes in his or her life. Both stories are serious with moments of humor, and both are written in the third person with a straight, chronological storyline. Ray Bradbury's Something Wicked This Way Comes is fantasy/horror, not science fiction, and it takes place on contemporary (20th century) Earth, not another planet in the future, but the male teenage protagonists, average or less than average in many ways and drawn into circumstances that force and allow them to perform extraordinary tasks, may appeal to those who enjoyed the character of Kaslin. The storyline, which involves these two young men, tempted by promises of power, seeking without the aid of adults to overcome obstacles and forge their own futures, may also appeal to fans of Catalyst. If you appreciated the characters and the coming of age tale and accompanying erotic awakening in Catalyst, you may also enjoy Norman Spinrad's Child of Fortune, which is the tale of a young woman who strikes out on a solo journey across the galaxy, falls in love with an immortal being, and ultimately finds herself trapped on a nightmarish planet where plants and people rely on each other for survival. This novel, while written in a more literary style than Catalyst, focuses on th
e psychological, emotional, and sexual growth of one character--a young woman who is eager to find herself and her future--as she's faced with otherworldly beings and situations. In Jonathan Lethem's Girl in Landscape, a teenage girl named Pella moves with her down-and-out father to a colony planet where bizarre and indefinable creatures remain, left behind by the former inhabitants of the planet. It is here, with the misfits that have been tossed onto this planet alongside her, that Pella must navigate not only the usual trials of adolescence, but also the strange new challenges of this world. This novel, like Catalyst is most focused on its teenaged protagonist's growth and the more unusual aspects of the alien planet that she/he inhabits. In Crossfire by Nancy Kress, a billionaire finances a plan to colonize a foreign planet; when the planet turns out to already be inhabited by the results of experimentation in biological weapons, the colonists are caught in the crossfire of an ongoing war between two alien species. The setting, a still-wild planet with alien occupants, and the storyline, which involves first contact between humans and aliens, will appeal to those who enjoyed the same elements in Catalyst.
Red Flags: Depictions of sexual acts, sometimes unwanted and performed by aliens on humans. Frequent mentions of sexual feelings and desires.
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