Book Review: 'Dilation Effect' by Douglas R. Mason
0 / 5 Stars
‘Dilation Effect’ (185 pp) was published by Ballantine Books in March, 1971. The striking cover illustration is by Wilson McLean.
The U. K. writer Douglas Rankine Mason (1918 – 2013) churned out a sizable number of sci-fi novels and short stories from 1964 to 2003, many of these under the pseudonym ‘John Rankine’.
In my experience, much of Mason’s work is mediocre, and ‘Dilation Effect’ certainly holds true to this assessment.
The plot has something to do with a two-person deep-space mission involving the ship Centaur ; its pilot, the blonde, square-jawed Bob Dogood; and its first officer, the nubile, red-haired Ava Mallan.
(Mason's use of the surname 'Dogood' is a clever strategy designed to let the reader know that this novel contains elements of facetiousness.)
In the opening chapter, Dogood and Mallam find themselves pursued by an alien armada, and strive to reach the network of Star Gates that will let them navigate to Earth........and warn of the looming invasion.
The narrative then abruptly shifts locales to Earth, and the adventures of a man named 'Bob Duguid', a scientist associated with the Cybernat corporation. When Duguid (confusingly, Mason uses the spelling Dogood when Duguid is thinking to himself……..that’s how obtuse Mason’s prose can become) chances to meet a young woman named Averil Marlowe, he begins having flashbacks to what seems to be an alternate life as 'Bob Dogood' aboard the Centaur.
The remainder of the novel switches between the two manifestations of Dogood / Duguid, with the bulk of the narrative devoted to intrigue and danger involving Duguid and Marlowe and their enemies within the ‘Conform’ police force.
When writing ‘Dilation Effect’, Mason must have known he was using remarkably stilted prose and wooden dialogue; why he chose to do this is a mystery. Perhaps Mason was trying to demonstrate his willingness to adopt what he imagined to be the ‘New Wave’ style. Or maybe he was trying to emulate comic sf authors like Robert Sheckley or Ron Goulart.
In any event, the reader must overcome these kinds of grammatical obstacles:
“Could be you need lenses. I had a whole lot of trouble before I get [sic] fixed up. See the medico. Get a little service for all the taxes. He reckons there’s too much albedo in the décor at Cybernat. He has a feud on with the headshrinkers who dreamed up the specification. Or maybe you’ve been doing too much target practice….”
***
In spite of wide physical differences along the pyknicleptosomatic* continuum, with his first friend at the thin end and a spherical, balding type at the extreme pole, there was a family likeness about them which was hard to define.
***
Lamech said, chokily, “Do as he says. This time, he has gone too far. Nothing can save him now, or the girl.”
***
They were seated side-by-side on the dual-control bench, clipped to the structure of their roaming egg, stiffly hieratic in their de-humanizing gear; Akhenaton** and consort, holding hands, on a quest for the Aton its own self, cartouche shot through with variegated rays.
[ * pyknicleptosomatic refers to a theory of classifying ethnicity / race and psychological temperament by means of body shape; it was invented by a German psychiatrist named Ernst Kretschmer in the late 1920s. Perhaps the best-known proponent of this school of thought was the American psychologist William H. Sheldon, who invented the terms ectomorph, mesomorph, and endomorph in the 1940s as part of his theory of 'somatotyping'. ]
[ **Akhenaton was an ancient (1353–36 BC) Egyptian king who founded a cult of Sun-worshippers. ]
The verdict ? ‘Dilation Effect’ is not an undiscovered gem of New Wave sf. It's just another of the many poorly written books that Mason cranked out over the course of his career. Stay away from this one...............
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