Close Encounters of the Rationed Kind

1. STAY ON THE WHITE ROAD AT ALL TIMES.
2. PROCEED IMMEDIATELY TO THE NEAREST GATE.
3. AVOID DISTRACTIONS.
4. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS GIVEN IN THE MANUAL.
5. AUXILIARY SUPPLY BOXES WILL PROVIDE ANY ADDITIONAL NEEDS. DO NOT LEAVE THE WHITE ROAD.

Being transported into an alien world and issued these instructions is rather different from the usual needles and medical probes associated with alleged extraterrestrial encounters--but then, in first-time author Karen Hancock’s new novel Arena there’s very little that is usual. http://www.bethanyhouse.com/index.asp?in... Follow the white road--not the yellow brick road, the white one--but what about pink? Is it really not white, or is it just dusty and truly white underneath? Upon reaching the gate, how does one gain admittance? It is, after all, situated at the top of an impassable cliff. And how does one hope to avoid distractions when at every bend in the road there is an alien Watcher, who looks for all the world like one of the grey-type aliens associated with alleged abduction experiences, even if he isn’t using a paralysis field and planning unspeakable experiments?

The trials and tribulations that befall Callie Hayes as she tries to follow instructions in this bizarre world make for entertaining reading, and the pacing and plot development are quite good. Character development is somewhat uneven, since a few characters are basically cardboard, but several others are quite well-realized and anyway, they’re the ones that we spend the most time with. And I was pleasantly surprised when that announced goal of reaching a gate proved to be, not an end, but the beginning of a larger adventure. If I have a complaint, it’s that the religious allegory, while more nuanced and intriguing during the first phase of the book, becomes rather more heavy-handed during the second phase.

A prime example is this thought-provoking development: the wandering fellow with whom Callie takes up when she wanders off the white road, a fellow who has spent years disobeying the instructions he was given, ends up being a person of great importance to the larger community of people who are endeavoring to follow the instructions. Now, this is a fascinating bit of allegory when considered in its religious implications, and the stage for it was set very early in the novel. But later on, the veneer of mystery is stripped away and the allegory becomes much less allegorical and much more like an episode of Dragnet, in which the names have been changed to protect the innocent (God is now Elhanu, Satan is Cephelus, the angels are Aggillon, and the demons are Tohvani) and that is the extent of it. For my part, if I want to read about a battle between heaven and hell as such, I’ll just go read Milton. I prefer my science fiction to be a bit more subtle.

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