I am sorely tempted to post here about some books I'm enjoying such as Holly Black's new gn The Good Neighbors and the James Blaylock collection, The Adventures of Langdon St. Ives which is Sherlock Holmesian in all the right ways but way way way cooler. (And I write that as a big Holmes fan but please - Ives hangs out at the Explorers Club, has a rocket ship and takes trips into the Amazon jungle!)

Both of those titles (among many others in my nightly rotation) are awesome and will be formally reviewed by me this fall. But as cool as they are I just can't seem to put aside the many aspects of our current political situation that seem to demand out collective attention. I mean really - are we now in a 21st century Cold War with Russia? WTF? Did John McCain really agree today that bringing back the draft was a good idea?

I wonder sometimes if we're really in 2008 or stuck back in 1950 something.

I put together a review of two YA titles that deal with SF political themes for Guys Lit Wire , Cory Doctorow's Little Brother (which everyone has heard about) and Nick Mamatas's Under My Roof, which has been way overlooked. Both of these novels are set in alternate futures where the US government has become way more security conscious and, in the case of Nick's book, much more involved in foreign wars. As has been noted about Cory's novel, a group of teens get arrested by the DHS after a terrorism attack on San Francisco. They suffer at the hands of other Americans (soldiers, CIA interrogators, unnamed gov't bad guys - or some combination of three I guess) which upon release prompts one of them, Marcus, to lead a fight to take down DHS using superior computer knowledge. It's a great thriller and certainly a novel about how teens can take down the man in an effective manner, but it's also very black and white. With the exception of one do-good reporter (very Lois Lane) every adult is either a stupid cow blindly following gov't policy or out and out evil. Again, that's not such a new thing in YA fiction but on top of that you also have Marcus's friend Darryl mysteriously disappear after the other kids are released and his other friends, instead of banding together to find Darryl and uncover the truth, get wigged out and decide to just be good girls and boys which really is not like them.

Enter the romantic interest who helps Marcus be the hero and even manages to have sex with him and really make him a man. (Okay, that's snarky but please - am I the only one who saw this cliche?)

There's just a lot to swallow in Little Brother and oddly, for all its fighting against the government, I saw this as more of a solidly conservative/John McCain sort of book then the anti-establishment story it seems designed to be. For all their bluster the Republicans would not torture injured American teenagers in San Francisco simply for fun (and I can't honestly find any other reason to explain what happened to Darryl but that). They do love strong comparisons between good and bad though, and obvious clear lines between good and evil. Cory's book is all about those divisions and I think that in making it so over-the-top about who to root for he diminishes his story a bit. If the lines were always that clear then there would have been no Korea or Vietnam or Desert Storm or Gulf War or Bosnian War or hell - even WWI. (And don't even get me started on lesser known conflicts like the Spanish American War which gifted us with Guantanamo in the first place.)

Nick Mamatas has a different tack with Under My Roof. In this case, Herbert's father goes a little crazy, builds a small nuclear bomb and then declares independence from the U.S. (They live on Long Island.) He uses the existence of the bomb to gain some respect and starts entering into peaceful negotiations with countries all over the world. This novel is all about what you do when you really think the government is wrong but you can't seem to get anyone to listen to you. The Weinbergs don't want to hurt anyone (and don't) but they realize that to get anything other than cursory attention from their elected representatives, they have to demand respect. (We're talking a world where Canada is referred to as "The White Menace".) The bomb gives respect but they also get a ton of attention, both from the military and press (which all camp out in front of their house) and from a ton of others frustrated by the government - who start showing up on the lawn and asking if they can emigrate to the new country.

What's really interesting about Under My Roof is first that it is funny. Mamatas never loses his sense of humor in this book and there are some downright funny moments, especially between slightly demented father and very sensible son. Most significantly though, it is a book where the good and bad guys are never clearly defined. The neighbors are split on what to do, Herbert's parents are split and even the military isn't so sure what the right answer is. When a group from the house sneaks to a convenience store late one night (looking for snack food) and the corporate world gets involved another player is added into the mix. The whole time Herbert, who can read minds, studies who is afraid, who is angry and who is most determined - answers that are surprising when you consider all the different sides they are on.

I watched some news commentator the other day say that everyone wants to live in a good guy/bad guy world. There was even someone saying that life is like the Olympics - Americans always want the gold medal and to be #1 and that's what our candidates need to promise them. Reading these two books had made me realize just how uncomfortable the shade of gray can be for most people. I think that most people in this country miss the Cold War in a lot of ways; we miss knowing for sure that no matter what, we are always right (and I'm sure both sides felt that way). I used to think that regardless of who won this election, either choice would pretty much be good for America but lately, as Senator McCain echoes more and more the Cold War rhetoric of old, I am becoming more concerned.

It's never been that easy to define what side is right, not even when we were in the middle of it. Any student of history can give you plenty of examples of serious harm committed by the US in the name of winning the Cold War. Marcus casually commits harms as well as do all those who physically hurt him and his friends. Herbert takes a step back and actually looks at what is going on around him; actually thinks about it. He sees the shade of gray and decides to embrace it. That might be what makes Under My Roof such a purely SF topic - only in a future America could someone imagine something other than winning and losing.

It's not always about the gold medal or even the stupid game and if we don't grow up and realize that then all the bluster from Russia and Iran and Israel and everyone else is going to get a whole lot scarier. And then it won't matter what side we are on; in that future America precious little about winning will matter at all.