I’ve been cracking the books quite a bit these days for the dissertation, but managed to squeeze in a bit of pleasure reading this week. Specifically, Desolation Road, a science fiction novel by Ian McDonald (his “Indian” sci-fi, River of Gods and Cyberabad Days are excellent!) set in an undisclosed time on a terraformed Mars.

Told in a series of vignettes or episodes, the novel follows the founding by a desert wanderer at an oasis in the middle of nowhere, along the railroad tracks, and the subsequent development of the town by vagabonds and on-the-run criminals, downed pilots, and homesteaders. The novel has a peculiar voice and a mystic quality to it that reminds me of William Faulkner or John Steinbeck in how the events of one story impact the others, but are still separate from them.

The language is beautiful, one of McDonald’s strongest qualities in his novels, and has a mythic, timeless feel to the prose. The episodic nature makes it an easy read in short doses, at the beach or on the kludge. I highly recommend it.