Name: The Jagged Orbit
ISBN: 9780575070523

John Brunner

Matthew Flamen, the last of the networks¿ sppolpigeons, is desperate for a big story. And there¿s no shortage of possibilities: the Gottschalk cartel is fomenting trouble among the knees in order to sell their latest armaments to the blanks; which ties in nicely with the fact that something big is brewing with the X Patriots. And then there¿s the story that just falls into his lap: the one that suggests that the respected director of the New York State Mental Hospital is a charlatan...

The Jagged Orbit

Justin Jerome Price

Perhaps one of the most important traits of science fiction is its ability to be prescient—the ability to be able to see trends in present day society and extrapolate them into plausible scenarios taking place in future societies or on alien worlds. What separates good science fiction from bad is this ability, for a good story can transcend the period from which it was written and feel as relevant today as in yesteryear. Jagged Orbit is one of these books. 

 Written in the 1960s, it feels as if it could have been written last year due to its themes of how racial animosity, the paradox of conformity yet being rational, fear of others among a few others can actually destroy societal bonds and alienate people from one another. Told through the lens of several characters, the story begins with Matthew Flannen, who works as a spoolpigeon—a sort of mix between investigative reporter and TV pundit. He is considered one of the best there is at his job. He is also one of the last as his parents company, Holocosmic, has begun to put pressure on him to produce great content. Complicating this is the fact that the company is paying for his wife's mental treatment at the prestigious Ginsberg clinic ran by Dr. Mogshack, a therapist who is widely celebrated in this society for his pro-rational, anti-emotional, individualistic views. Not to mention strange interruptions of his VUcast( think holographic tv broadcast) has led him to believe that the company is conspiring against him and that his partner, his brother-in-law Lionel Prior is in cahoots with the company.

 From this beginning, we are ushered into a strange version of American society. A society where:
•	Due to racial animosity and riots of the 1960s and a refusal by the government to address these issues, African-Americans(referred to as Knees in the book) have separated themselves from the mainstream American society, creating enclaves to protect themselves from Blanks( white people).
•	In general, people are suspicious of others that are different from them. 
•	Emotions are considered a nuisance at best. Love has become clinical and marriage a mere contract of convenience. 
•	 Gottschalks, a familial cabal of gun and weapons manufacturers, exploit and acerbate the fear of the Other people have to sell their weapons.
•	No longer having direction in their lives, people turn to modern day oracles known as pythoness for direction.

 Among other things. Now I have not delved into the plot too deeply in part because the plot is more of a vehicle for the exploration of the society depicted in the book and in a way critique our own society. The plot itself is good although it does take awhile for it to coalesce. The author wants one to understand the background of the society and through comparison, critique our own society, making it more of a meditative treatise on the nature of society and how cynicism can degrade communal bonds between people. Due to this, the plot does often take a back seat to the treatise, and perhaps because of this, some would argue that the ending may feel a bit too tidy given the events that happen in the story. But that may be intentional for one of the characters, Xavier Conroy, mentions how society has pushed away their emotions and become lesser- less optimistic, less human- due to this. And thus having the ending be one where it works out somewhat validates the themes present in the story….

 In any case, it was definitely a good read and one that I enjoyed immensely.

The Jagged Orbit

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