Sideshow
Sheri S. Tepper
466 pages
published in 1992

I've long avoided reading Sheri Tepper's science fiction novels, because of her reputation as a humourless, preachy, strident feminist writer. When I was still dependent on the local library for my sf fix, I had to read too much books by similar writers, simply because the limited choice of science fiction available. From what I read on the backflaps of her novels and later read online, I would not like Tepper's work.

People change however and I'm no exception... A lot of the authors I passed up ten or five years ago are now the ones that interest me the most; Sheri Tepper could be one of them. So when I was looking for some books to take out of the library, I picked up this and just started to read, without preconceptions. I'm glad I did.

Sideshow is not a perfect by far, but it's certainly worth reading. There's some preachiness, especially at the end, but nothing unbearable. Apparantely this is also a sequel to an earlier novel, which is mainly noticable by the way certain events in that book are recalled here. I had no problems reading this on its own though.

The main action takes place on the far future planet of Elsewhere, the only refuge of humanity free from the maligent influence of the Hobbs Land gods, the only place where the Great Question can be asked anymore: what is the ultimate destiny of humanity. It's the only place where the full diversity of humanity is still present, a diversity rigidly preserved and guarded by an elite force of Enforces, the only people allowed to travel through all of Elsewhere's provinces. Each province differs from its neighbour, some being high tech utopias, other being primitive places of devil worship and everything in between. The Enforcers are there to keep the balance, neither approving or condemning the culture of a given province.

One of these Enforcers is Zasper Ertigon, who one day finds an infant stowaway in his flier, bringing him to his home in Elsewhere's capital, Tolerance, raising almost as his own son. After his retirement Zasper comes into contact with Fringe Owldark, who becomes almost a daughter for him and who follows in his footsteps as an Enforcer, as does Danivon Luze, his almost son. Both will later turn out to be crucial in defeating the menace of the Hobbs Land gods to Elsewhere...

Another couple, so to speak, who will be crucial to the denouncement, are Nela and Bertran, a cojoined twin living on Earth in the 20th century, working for a sideshow. One day they meet an alien, who is the ultimate cause of them ending up in the future, on Elsewhere.

On Elsewhere, something is rotten, as the normal background level of nastiness and violence is spiraling out of control and at the same time, strange new beings are found in the unexplored centre of the continent....