Galveston FROM OUR EDITORS
Baptism by Magic
I don't know why it has taken me so long to discover Sean Stewart. I've been aware of his presence -- and his growing reputation -- for several years, but never got around to reading him until Galveston, his latest novel, arrived at my door. If his new book is any indication of the general level of his work, I have some serious catching up to do, and I plan to do it soon.
Galveston is set, like a number of Stewart's novels, in an alternate, near-future America in which magic -- real magic -- has invaded the world, with devastating results. According to the novel's overarching premise, magic began "leaking" into the atmosphere during the latter half of the 20th century. In 2004, it reached critical mass and exploded across the planet. The result was a radically restructured world in which technology lost its hold, ghosts walked, and a transformed host of monsters, mutants, minotaurs, and angels proliferated. On the island of Galveston, they called this moment of magical transformation "the Flood."
Stewart has set the bulk of his novel some 25 years after the onset of the Flood. At this point in history, two different Galvestons exist -- uneasily -- side by side. The "real" Galveston is a once grand city that is struggling to cope with the primitive conditions of the post-Flood world. For years, it has been held together by the desperate efforts of Jane Gardner, a once formidable woman who is dying, slowly, of Lou Gehrig's disease. The second Galveston, a city within the larger city, is a region ruled by magic. It is governed by a sardonic god of revelry named Momus, whose kingdom has been frozen into a surreal, eternal Mardi Gras. These two realms are kept apart by Galveston's "angel," Odessa Gibbons, who ruthlessly protects her city from the magical incursions of Momus's world.
Two very different figures dominate the narrative. One is Sloane Gardner, Jane's only daughter. Sloane is a good-hearted, if ineffectual, young woman whose desire to save her mother's life catalyzes Galveston's central events. With Odessa's help, Sloane constructs a magical mask that allows her to assume a more assertive, hard-edged personality, an alter ego she comes to think of as "Sly." Wearing the mask, she enters Momus's territory, determined to enlist his aid in restoring her mother's health. Innocent and overmatched, she fails completely, losing herself in the endless revelry of Mardi Gras. She returns to the real world, several days later, to find that her mother has died.
Sloane's story intersects with that of Josh Cane, a bright, embittered, congenitally unlucky young man who serves as a kind of de facto doctor for the poorer residents of Galveston, and who has nurtured a futile, lifelong passion for Sloane Gardner and the world she represents. When Sloane disappears into Momus's domain, Josh -- the last person seen in her company -- is accused of her murder, placed on trial, and convicted on the basis of fabricated evidence. Together with his childhood friend, Ham Mathers, he is exiled to the wastelands outside of Galveston. Confronted, and nearly killed, by a combination of venomous snakes, deranged cannibals, and tropical storms, he relearns the lesson that his father -- a flamboyant poker player -- taught him as a child: Life is fundamentally unfair.
Sloane and Josh's stories are played out against the larger story of Galveston itself, a violent, divided city on the verge of apocalyptic change. In the wake of a string of man-made and natural catastrophes -- the murder of Odessa Gibbons, the arrival of a hurricane that nearly levels the island -- the barriers that separate the two Galvestons slowly give way. As the city, overrun by magic, struggles to redefine itself, so too must Josh Cane and Sloane Gardner redefine themselves, creating viable identities that allow them to function as useful members of their new -- and unimaginable -- world.
The governing metaphor of Galveston is poker, a "man's game" in which chance, rather than merit, predominates. Stewart's characters, major and minor, are all, in their fashion, victims of chance. Caught in the machinery of large, impersonal forces, they are made to suffer intensely and are subjected to a series of devastating, often irrational, disasters. The result of all this is a dark, troubling book about loss, luck, and the random cruelty of the universe. It reminded me, at times, of a different sort of book with a similar world view: Graham Joyce's The Tooth Fairy, an equally memorable examination of the inevitability of grief, loss, and painful change. Like Joyce, Stewart is a lyrical, often very witty writer whose work is rooted in an unsentimental sympathy for his beleaguered, all-too-human heroes. In Galveston, he has created a unique, intensely personal portrait of a unique, intensely imagined world. As Momus tells us, in a somewhat different context, "it just doesn't get any better than this." Read this remarkable novel, and you'll see what I mean.
--Bill Sheehan
FROM THE PUBLISHER
Sean Stewart's previous novel, Mockingbird, was selected as a Notable Book of the Year by the New York Times and San Francisco Chronicle, and one of the Best Fantasy Novels of the Year by Locus. Now in his most stunning novel yet, one of the most critically acclaimed fantasy writers of our time takes readers to Galveston-an island uprooted, and uplifted, by magic...
Fantasy novels don't get much better than Galveston. (Washington Post Book World)
Sturdy, can-do realism...It is a tribute to Sean Stewart's great skill...[A] triumph. (Washington Post Book World)
...Stewart's gently twisted humor saturates his plot as well as his language and imagery. (Salon.com)
Vivid, sometimes brutal narrative and life-sized characters...Eerie, enthralling, flavorsome, and Stewart's best by far. (Kirkus Reviews)
Intricately imagined 21st century Texas...terrific fun to read but will send shivers of recognition down many a spine. (Publishers Weekly (starred review))
Author Bio: Sean Stewart is the acclaimed author of the New York Times Notable Book Mockingbird, The Night Watch, Clouds End, the New York Times Notable Book Resurrection Man, the Aurora Award-winner Nobody's Son, and the Aurora and Arthur Ellis Award-winning debut Passion Play.
FROM THE CRITICS
VOYA
Imagine, if you can, this world of Galveston Island, which has been ravaged by flood--not a flood of water, but of malignant magic--in 2004. This deluge brought minotaurs and other monsters, as well as disease to the city. Gas lines burst and electricity failed. Many twentieth-century innovations--medicine, chemical products, television, and telephones--are lost. Enter Jane Gardner and her friend, Odessa. Jane keeps the city running by organizing what is left. Odessa corrals all the magic in an "alternate" Galveston. The story concentrates on Jane's daughter, Sloane, who also is Odessa's goddaughter, and Sloane's childhood friend, Joshua Cane, several years after the flood. After Josh's father, Sam Cane, lost their home in a poker game when Josh was ten, Josh and his mother moved to the barrios, whereas Sam went to the magic town, the endless Mardi Gras. Sloane's stepfather is Momus, the ruler of Mardi Gras, whom she visits in an attempt to keep her mother from dying of cancer. This attempt fails, but it sets in motion a series of events that result in another unleashing of magic that again ravages Galveston. This magical, gripping story explores themes such as love, friendship, and honesty, as well as the concept of life as a game of chance. Readers immediately are engaged by the lives of the well-drawn characters. Stewart creates another world that is all too real. It is at once disturbing and compelling. Young adults who have enjoyed books such as Patrick O'Leary's The Gift (Tor, 1997/VOYA June 1998) and Stewart's previous novels will devour this one. VOYA CODES: 5Q 3P S A/YA (Hard to imagine it being any better written; Will appeal with pushing; Senior High, defined as grades 10to 12; Adult and Young Adult). 2000, Ace, Ages 16 to Adult, 455p, $23.95. Reviewer: Marlyn Roberts
KLIATT
In 1900, a flood of water inundated Galveston. In 2004, it is inundated by another flood, a flood of magic. Cut off from the rest of the world, without electricity or outside resources, the inhabitants doggedly go on with their lives. Complicating matters is the split between the "normal" Galveston and Carnival, an endless, magical Mardi Gras celebration. Those found to be touched with magic are banished to Mardi Gras by Odessa, the guardian of the gates between the two halves. But the island can't exist in its present state forever, and as the powers that control each side begin to falter, a physical and metaphorical hurricane will change Galveston once again. Stewart is a dizzyingly gifted writer, and his magical Galveston is compelling and absolutely believable. Readers will race through this, only to realize that they don't want it to be over. An absolute must for all fantasy collections. KLIATT Codes: SA*—Exceptional book, recommended for senior high school students, advanced students, and adults. 2000, Berkely/Ace, 454p, 21cm, $14.95. Ages 16 to adult. Reviewer: Deirdre B. Root; Ref. Libn. Middletown P.L. Middletown, OH, May 2001 (Vol. 35 No. 3)
Library Journal
The return of magic to the world at the dawn of the 21st century split the city of Galveston into two parallel worlds--a "normal" city of survivors and a perpetual Carnival town of magic-touched creatures. When Sloane Gardner discovers how to cross between the two Galvestons, she becomes a link between a father and son whose destinies hold the key to the survival of both worlds. Stewart's (Mockingbird) brand of magical realism combines psychological drama with otherworldly images to create a rich tapestry that lingers long after the end of the tale. For most fantasy or modern fiction collections. Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
A wonderfully vivid and unexpected blend of magic realism and finely observed contgemporary experience. — William Gibson
Home
