WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 69. Dark Space by Lisa Henry Book 1 of the Dark Space trilogy (Gay Science Fiction)

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16174363-dark-space

This will mark my 69^th review and my first 100K word series on GA, I have probably written more book reviews than anyone else on this site at this point. To mark this moment, I want to offer readers a hidden gem in the gay science fiction genre. Most readers know this is my favorite genre and the genre that got me into reading gay fiction, but it is a very limited selection at times. At its core, Dark Space is a human story in its nature, despite its science fiction setting and truly alien psychology. This story is exactly what hardcore science fiction fans enjoy about the genre: Mystery, thrills, adventure, exploring the unknown, and truly alien life. This book was published in 2012, but it has withstood the test of time and is one of those underrated gems in the genre that no one except the few astute readers and hunters of gay fiction like myself has found. It didn’t win any awards, like Darkness Outside Us, or gain limited popularity like Lyn Gala Claiming series, but I do want to offer readers something different and unique to explore as was one of the missions in these book reviews.

Length: 216 pages long and 9 hours 10 minutes on audible. It is a simple science fiction novel with an interesting premise that should occupy most readers for around four days at a normal reading pace. The subject matter can get dark at times, but it is nothing that most readers cannot deal with.

Plot: Brady Garrett is a 19-year-old soldier onboard the Earth space station, Defender 3, which is one of many such stations used as a static line of defense against an alien force, only known as the “Faceless”. Brady was drafted from the young age of 16 to join the earth military, without much formal schooling or family connections, he was one of many such young men impressed into service for earth’s defense. His life has been an endless string of misfortune and unhappiness, he yearns to return home to his parent and baby sister, but he still had several years to serve past his military draft and at times with how powerful the Faceless appear, he doesn’t know if he’ll ever get back to his meager home on earth. His life was a tedium of working in the station’s medical facilities, where he befriends the station’s doctor and enjoyed a better military meal ration. Then one day, a strange faceless pod appears carrying the famed war hero, Cameron Rushton. As he was the most expendable among the staff, he was chosen to release the pod. However, in doing so, he inadvertently triggers a psionic and physical link between him and an awakened Cameron Rushton. Cameron requires Brady’s heartbeat and touch to stay alive, making Brady effectively Cameron’s living battery. Another side effect is that Brady can now read Cameron’s thoughts as Cameron can read his thoughts. What follows is a science fiction-based story about how these two men learned to live together in isolation, understand their emotions, and establish a fragile trust. The faceless is supposedly coming and offering terms for a ceasefire according to Cameron, but no one believes him and most human leaders believed he is either a traitor or an alien biological weapon. Brady expects nothing short of death and betrayal from Cameron, but he slowly falls in love with him, never considering an interest in males, but their psionic link and the necessity of physical touch change him. The other soldiers on the station, especially the drafted recruits like Brady, despise Cameron and tangentially him. When the faceless do arrive, there is a moment of shock, horror, and ugliness, but not from these strange alien beings, rather it is from the humans within the military outpost.

Review: I love high-concept science fiction stories and a story set on a military space station is one of my favorites. In the 1990s between Star Trek Deep Space Nine and Babylon 5, I grew up in an era where such stories permeated the science fiction world, while such things sadly are no longer the vogue. I could look forward to watching Jadzia Dax or Susan Ivanova’s righteous transgender and lesbian fury on the small screen back in the 90s. Beyond the first representation of LGBT characters, the concept and the realist approach to human space adventures were refreshingly relatable. There were human beings with issues that aren’t so different from our own in the modern day, they deal with religious strife, terrorism, disease, and interpersonal issues, and since it was set on a space station forces the writer to draw on much more individual stories. So, it comes as no surprise that I had high hopes for Lisa Henry’s Science fiction story. She delivered on her promise and created rich characters that felt like they were a near future brand of human, scarred by war and social issues.

First and foremost, this is a military space station with a stated command structure and hierarchy, but it was not a happy utopian vision with notions of peace or even something that could do more than delay an oncoming alien force. The setting made the compelling argument that human beings are woefully ill-prepared for any belligerent alien life in the universe with technologies eons more advanced than our own. We can change our society, militarize children, and force industry to perform for war efforts, but in the end, it doesn’t matter against highly advanced aliens with interstellar technology as this book shows, humanity is just lobbing stones against a modern tank. However, what it does is create a cynical and tragic generation that is forced into a meat grinder without hope. I appreciate that sort of realism in science fiction, where human heroes are realistically insignificant in the grand scheme of universal affairs.

The characters of Brady and Cam were the stars in the book. Brady is at times a depressing and neurotic mess, but he came across as a teenager, who genuinely just wanted to be home. The concept of drafting kids is not a new theme in science fiction, Orson Card’s Enders’ Game was a pioneer in the concept and many of those same themes ring true here in Dark Space. Except, unlike Orson who has a regrettable bout of homophobia, Lisa Henry embraces the “gay, but not gay” concept of teenage soldiers with very few outlets and constant danger of death, sex is a given just not relationships. Brady doesn’t identify as gay or bisexual initially, he wouldn’t have had that notion as relationships are not part of survival. However, the science fiction angle of being mentally linked with Cam, who came from a higher echelon of society and was a space pilot, did offer him glimpses of what being in a gay relationship could be like. Cam is unabashedly gay because his background afforded him the luxury to express desires others in this society did not have the luxury to. I find this concept very provocative in science fiction, class distinctions and sexuality are seldom explored concepts outside scholarly circles, and science fiction is one of the perfect mediums to introduce this theme.

For weaknesses, I feel like there was a lack of supporting characters that could make a legitimate influence on the overall development, whether the grand plot or the relationship between Brady and Cam. Sure, Cam’s ex-boyfriend came as a hard-ass intelligence officer, but it’s not like a soap opera scenario, it was just there to further tension. I feel like the supporting character didn’t leave an impression on the story.

Finally, the faceless are weird and give off a lot of “Dom” vibes. These aliens only show up in the last few chapters of book 1, but their culture and reasoning for behavior, including what they did to Cam, just felt alien. It’s not a BDSM-alternative relationship like Lyn Gala’s Rownt from Claiming universe, the faceless have a culture dedicated to superiority and strength. Humans are no more than wild animals for a hunt, or at best, a pet for implied perverse pleasures. They can never be true adversaries with humanity because you must be equals to be foes. They are just so far beyond humanity; it is a fascinating concept.

Rating: 4.75 out of 5, I highly recommend reading book 1 to science fiction fans, especially gay fans who have longed for such a story.