Lewis Shiner

Corporate mercenary Kane, hired by the giant conglomerate Pulsystems, journeys to the long-abandoned Frontera, the first permanent Mars settlement, and finds that he has become an unwilling human weapon in the battle for new technology

Frontera

Ten years ago the world's governments collapsed, and now the corporations are in control. Houston's Pulsystems has sent an expedition to the lost Martian colony of Frontera to search for survivors. Reese, aging hero of the US space program, knows better. The colonists are not only alive, they have discovered a secret so devastating that the new rulers of Earth will stop at nothing to own it. Reese is equally desperate to use it for his own very personal agenda. But none of them have reckoned with Kane, tortured veteran of the corporate wars, whose hallucinatory voices are urging him to complete an ancient cycle of heroism and alter the destiny of the human race.

A Novel

Fraser Simons

Governments are gone, corporations have unilateral control and so are just expressions of their internalized dogma. Martian colony Frontera has axiomatic guests, Reece and Kane, both heroes in their own eyes, ostensibly railing against the corps to do “the right thing” with a secret on the new frontier. 

On the face of it, This is a pretty typical first wave cyberpunk affair, aside from it being set in space. Which, some people would say kicks this from the subgenre, wildly. But this squarely fits. After all, Kane, veteran of the corporate wars has neuro implants that put him on a heroism simulation. This is the loss of agency via technology, and does a great job of making society an omnipresence within an individual. The heroes journey is literally embodied and critiqued throughout the narrative. The cyber and punks elements are actually more cleverly explored than plenty of other first wave novels. 

The quintessential, ingrained conflict resolutions and Eurocentric point of view plays out in the desolation of the frontier. Expecting crisp white walls and beautiful architecture and shopping malls, instead there is only detritus as mankind repeats its self destructive instincts on a new landscape. These same movements are shown with our two male characters. 

In fact, I was ready to bail on it when it felt like it was devolving into the same old, old sci-fi. Guys noticing, for instance, the impossible positioning of a woman’s breasts because of gravity. Continually trying to flaunt and vaunt, and mindlessly conquer every field they find, including women.

It turns out, however, that is exactly where Shiner wants you, and later subverts these expectations in surprisingly deft ways. It’s a commentary on the historical cycle, toxic masculinity, and how important the other narrative is. And spoilers: The heroes, it turns out, can’t see the forest for the trees. 

A surprisingly refreshing first wave cyberpunk offering, I must say.

Frontera

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