Decalog 4: ReGenerations edited by: Andy Lane and Justin Richards

 

After Decalog 3: Consequences, Virgin Publishing knew they were losing the Doctor Who license and to continue their short story collections, much like the shift of the novels towards stories starring Bernice Summerfield, it was decided that Decalog 4 would follow not a single original character, but the family of companion Roz Forrester.  So Vile a Sin was a successful book, even with the delays on the release of that book and the stepping in of Kate Orman to finish it.  It introduced the Forrester family as spanning centuries, descending from humanitarian Nelson Mandela and as a family are mainly involved in the expanding human empire with Roz Forrester being the black sheep of the family, an outlier due to going against her rich heritage to be an Adjudicator on Earth.  Decalog 4: ReGenerations does not include a story with Roz Forrester as instead each story takes a different member of the family and chronicles their finest moments and many of their downfalls.

 

The collection opens strongly with “Second Chances” by Alex Stewart which is a perfect example of the format for many of these stories.  We start with an introduction to the Forrester narrator, in this case Jack Michael Forrester, a maintenance worker with a wife and child.  Stewart sets up the story very much with the idea that Jack is just one day from retirement, so it isn’t long before he’s been murdered and his consciousness has been downloaded into an artificial intelligence.  The prose is intriguing as it takes a few pages for Jack and the reader to realize just what’s actually happened with some very nice misdirect before it becomes a murder mystery.  Jack has to find his killer just so there can be some closure to his life as a piece of artificial intelligence, his wife has grieved and moved on, and he has nothing left but needs the closure.  The narration is compelling and the prose is great but the eventual resolution of the short story almost feels rushed, which is odd because this collection has fairly small text and nearly 300 pages which could have been extended.  Still a great opener.  8/10.

 

“No One Goes to Halfway There” is next from the pen of Kate Orman and with that name as writer you already know you’re in for a good time.  Orman shakes things up immediately by playing with the format of the short story, a decent amount of the prose is dedicated to several logs of Theresa Forrester, the first of many Forrester explorers, this time a shuttle pilot.  The setting, Halfway There, is bleak and essentially a metaphor for losing all of one’s prospects and as is the case of many Forresters, Theresa’s story is not a happy one.  Orman’s effort is essentially a Greek Tragedy where we start with Theresa happy and content with her lot and ending in a very heavy short story.  While the switching of the format works for the most part, by the end it does become a touch too repetitive and feels like it might be taking up just a little too much of the word count, but it does what it means to, so it doesn’t hinder things too much.  It’s a short story that perhaps should have been spun into a novella or even a full length novel and it would be perfect.  8/10.

 

The genre of the collection then changes to a sci-fi western with “Shopping for Eternity” by Gus Smith which is contender for one of the best installments in Decalog 4: ReGenerations.  This one is the rise and fall of Jon Forrester who is a conman, think Sabalom Glitz mixed with every snake oil salesman you’ve ever known.  There isn’t quite a sense of conman with a heart of gold, but his perspective immediately endears him to the audience.  The setting is New Zion and when Jon arrives he ends up entangled in the religious mess where he is basically a priest and eventually Messianic figure which he just wants to get away from the settlement to move his con on.  There are people there he does have a connection to, making it all the more tragic when he is dragged back and brought in for another tragedy, the story ending with his execution in a religious fervor.  Throughout this story you really see Jon grow as a person and die in a state of almost contentment, despite knowing he is coming write to his death.  10/10.

 

Ben Jeapes’ “Heritage” is perhaps the biggest step down thus far, though still being a good story.  Jeapes’ style is heavy on exposition and putting in two Forrester’s makes it become slightly confusing as to who is who and what is what.  The title is a clue as Jeapes explores what it means to be a Forrester as one of the characters featured is a pirate while the other is in charge of keeping sleepers on a spaceship alive.  This is a classic story about family having to turn on each other when the cards come down, again fulfilling the theme of Decalog 4: ReGenerations of family tragedy.  The confusion comes in as the two Forrester’s featured aren’t quite distinct enough from one another to feel like their own characters.  As it stands it’s still fun to read and a satisfying experience but it feels slightly like there is a running out of steam in the collection as a lot of the Forrester family have found themselves in similar situations.  6/10.

 

The first misstep is “Burning Bright” by Liz Holliday, one of the many first time writers (at least for Doctor Who and Doctor Who adjacent stories) featured in this collection, and perhaps the weakest of the stories in Decalog 4: ReGenerations thus far.  The title is a reference to William Blake’s “The Tyger” and it’s not exactly obvious why this allusion is used, possibly because that’s just a thing that stories by Virgin Publishing generally are, because this isn’t a story which has any sort of plot hook.  This is a story which just limps along before a satisfactorily tragic ending.  Holliday’s prose is at least readable, something that comes from her several previous short stories for various science fiction publications, but it almost feels like an outlier of something that wasn’t meant for a collection like this but adapted into a collection like this.  4/10.

 

“C₉H₁₃NO₃” is a chemical formula most recognized as the formula for adrenaline and the title of Peter Anghelides’ story for Decalog 4: ReGenerations.  “C₉H₁₃NO₃” is actually quite a rush from start to finish with Anghelides’ style being really well suited to a short story format while his novels (at least the ones I have read) have the tendency to be feeling really thin.  There is a fairly standard short story here, but it is helped by the experimental format.  Anghelides writes this installment in a second person viewpoint, a viewpoint that is rarely used because it means that the narrator is saying what ‘you’ are doing.  This could have been an issue, making it feel like a bad Choose Your Own Adventure short story, but Anghelides, while having a confusing narrative which brings it down, does employ the style really well.  It makes you have a connection to the Forrester as the reader is in their shoes even if the style takes a bit of getting used to nor will it be for everyone, but it shakes things up enough and makes it such an intriguing read with a brilliant ending.  6/10.

 

The formula of introducing a Forrester, using some time to getting to know them, them getting killed is essentially what runs through Decalog 4: Regenerations.  “Approximate Time of Death” by Richard Salter is the weakest example, it’s almost another murder mystery but what it tries to do was done better in this collection with “Second Chances”.  The Forrester characters are also the most bland versions.  Yes, they all have essentially been explorers or working for the military/a space force in some way, but George and Mark are really bland.  Honestly, this is one that doesn’t stick in the mind at all after it’s done, it just goes right past.  3/10.

 

“Secret of the Black Planet” by Lance Parkin picks everything back up to lead the collection towards a genuinely satisfying conclusion.  This is also the one Forrester who has a different life story, this time being an actor whose starring in a remake of a film only a few years old.  There’s a decent amount of commentary from Parkin about Hollywood’s tendency to only do remakes and adaptations, something that has only gotten worse since this short story was published.  Kent and Troy Forrester also have this brilliant sibling dynamic throughout the short story which is short but packs so much character into its lower page count through Lance Parkin’s beautiful prose.  It’s like Parkin knew what the formula was going to be, hated it, and decided to do away with it, the story even ending without the typical death of a Forrester.  It’s a story with an almost happy ending and just grabs the reader from the start and doesn’t let go until it’s all over.  10/10.

 

Paul Leonard continues the streak with “Rescue Mission” which concerns well, a rescue mission.  Leonard writes the story in a pulp fiction style in both the plot, setting, and the characters.  The plot is simple, the setting is intentionally every science fiction spaceship that you’re expecting, and the characters are intentionally all one-note.  The formula is back which does bring it down slightly just because of how fatigued it is at the end, but it being put in the style of a 1930s pulp magazine helps even when you realize that the substance isn’t quite there.  Leonard does avoid his usual inability to finish a plot cohesively and coherently, something that is rare from him, especially when this was published.   Abe and Callie especially are great, fitting the style of close Forrester’s that has been throughout the collection, and honestly they’re up there with ones who could have a whole novel written about their exploits.  7/10.

 

Decalog 4: ReGenerations closes with editors Andy Lane and Justin Richards writing “Dependence Day,” a sequel to So Vile a Sin exploring Leabie and Thandiwe Forrester’s relationship as mother and daughter, as well as some aspects of the fallout from Roz Forrester’s death.  There are essentially two plots here and the big thing is that this should have been two stories, one for Leabie and one for Thandiwe, with Leabie’s opening the collection and Thandiwe’s closing it.  Before each story there’s an extract from the fictional From the Gutter to the Stars: A History of the Forrester Family and it’s author, Tranlis Difarallio is the villain for this story wishing to see Thandiwe dead after Leabie’s untimely death.  We see the death of Leabie here and it is great, but something I won’t spoil as it’s something that reveals a lot on her character.  Thandiwe also has some brilliant moments but the problem is that this should be a total bookend and two stories and not just the one.  Lane and Richards’ styles do mesh fairly well together and end up giving us a full picture of Leabie and Thandiwe, but there are issues.  8/10.

 

Overall, Decalog 4: ReGenerations while being a bit of a mixed bag and a short story collection that adheres almost too closely to its formula, is definitely worth the time and money spent in tracking down a copy.  It shows once again that Virgin Publishing has what it takes to continue beyond the Doctor Who license, but sadly the final Decalog would be basically 10 completely unrelated science fiction stories and not following up the interesting characters featured here.  It also is essentially a case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts.  7/10.