Singing The Dogstar Blues (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
Thea’s Take:Joss Aaronson is a misfit and a maverick, and thanks to her famous reporter mother, Joss has been shipped off to more boarding schools than she can count. Now, on the eve of her eighteenth birthday, Joss is finally part of something that is passionate about. A first-year in the prestigious Centre for Neo-Historical Studies, and one of a very select few that will train to travel back in time, Joss is about to embark on an academic journey to study and observe first-hand the birth of soul music and its finest musicians and moments throughout history.The last thing that Joss – already branded a troublemaker that has caught the eye of the Center’s surly Director – needs is to be paired up with a high-profile alien teammate. But paired up with a high-profile alien Joss is, when Mavkel, the first Chorian student admitted to the Center, chooses her for his time-jumping partner. Joss doesn’t mind Mav (though its double features, retractable ears, and strange speaking and eating habits are…well, distracting), but she does mind all the extra attention that comes with him. Death threats, increased security, 24-hour surveillance – for Joss, all of this attention is a nightmare. Plus, Mav keeps insisting that Joss has some kind of mental/telepathic resonance, and when he falls ill, it is up to Joss to figure out just what lengths she will take to save her new friend. Even if it means traveling back in time.Singing the Dogstar Blues is Alison Goodman’s debut novel, rereleased this year (presumably based on the awesome success of Eon and Eona). I have heard nothing but good things about Dogstar Blues and was thrilled to see this new shiny repackaging of the book – having been a fan of Goodman’s fantasy, I could not wait to try her science fiction.And you know what? I quite enjoyed Joss and Mavkel. Singing the Dogstar Blues is an undeniably fun novel. Joss is a little prickly and predictable as a surly rich kid heroine, but her genuine hurt and feelings for her mother, for a lost maternal figure in her life, and for Mav are very nicely done. While Joss’s voice is the driving force behind the book, Mav is the TRUE standout character. I freaking love this weird, sad alien. The Chorians overall – asexual, telepathic, with sing-song way of vocalizing and healing – are an intriguing bunch. The most intriguing aspect of these aliens, and Mavkel most of all, is their deep-seeded need to be a part of a pair and to know their lineage. Every Chorian is born and forms a bond with another (not romantic, mind you), and the two are interlinked for the rest of their lives – when one dies, the other soon follows. In Mav’s case, his bondmate died and he is seen as a “freak” to his people – saved by the great doctors and healers of his planet, Mav may be alive but he is utterly, devastatingly alone. When Mav finds Joss, and feels an echo of a bond with her, he is overjoyed – but his hope is a fragile thing that is tested sorely in this book.Other than this fascinating dynamic and characterization, Singing the Dogstar Blues is just plain fun. There isn’t really much in terms of depth to the story, and I was actually quite surprised to see how little actual science or time travel is in this novel. The actual storyline, the mystery behind Joss’s past, is fairly predictable – but the writing is sure-footed and the plot zips along at a comfortable and engaging pace.All in all, I truly enjoyed The Dogstar Blues. It’s no Eon/Eona, but it’s fun and certainly worth a read, especially if you’re looking to change up your beach or poolside staples with some super soft scifi.Ana’s Take:I had never heard of Singing the Dogstar Blues but when we came across it and we saw the words “partners in time crime” we jumped on it so fast you wouldn’t believe. We were both extremely keen to read it as soon as possible so here we are. Overall, I will agree with Thea’s feelings about the book.The premise is fab: a time travel student and a musician herself, Joss is hoping to major in Music History and as such, she wants to travel back in time to see the birth of Blues. That premise is super fun in itself (and very similar to Connie Willis’ time travel books which also feature historians going back in time to observe important events in history). But Singing the Dogstar Blues is not only about time travel but also about a school where time travel is taught. Imagine my disappointment when it became clear that this premise was secondary at best and time travelling shenanigans happened only toward the end of the book. In all honesty, I believe this disappointment informed most of my reading of the book.Those feelings aside, Singing the Dogstar Blues is an undeniably fun read and one of those extremely rare examples of pure SciFi YA too. One that features a futuristic world with first encounters with aliens, time travel and no romantic subplot in sight. Although a little bit sketchy on the Hard Science side of SciFi (the whole thing with DNA and genetics begged for me to suspend disbelief) , I did love what the author did with the characters, with the interaction between Humans and Chorians as the latter were really and truly aliens.In that sense, the time travel might be the bait but what really hooks are the main themes of identity and friendship that permeate the story. I loved the differences between Joss and Mav as well as how they eventually came to be connected. Although I suspect that had I been on Joss’ shoes I would have gone off running in the other direction when asked to join my mind with an alien, I enjoyed reading about her conflicted thoughts about it and the eventual denouement worked for me because it took both characters’ needs into consideration. There is also a great, equally fun extra short story in this new edition of the book that continues their story after the events at the end of Singing the Dogstar Blues.Even though I can’t really say it is anything extraordinary, there are many things that commend Singing the Dogstar Blues: the characters (especially Mav), the fun times I had with it, the thematic core of the novel. Sometimes that is more than enough.
3.5 starsI had attempted to read this once before but that was back when my reading horizons were fairly narrow and I was the sort of uninformed moron who, when presented with science fiction, automatically thought: “Wait, what if nerd hunters drive by and tranq and tag me?”[1] I only made it through a few pages before putting it aside. Maybe it just wasn’t the right book at the time. Whatever the case, I’m probably still a moron, but hopefully a slightly more open-minded and informed one.This time, I read straight through quite quickly and I found a lot to like in this novel. It’s fast-paced and engaging, and despite the light tone of the narration, it’s clear that Goodman has put a lot of careful thought into the concepts that flesh out the story. Singing The Dogstar Blues takes place in Melbourne-of-the-distant-future, where spirited protagonist Joss is attending an elite time travel program at the university’s Centre for Neo-Historical Studies. When she is partnered with the centre’s first alien student, Mavkel, Joss is drawn into a race to break the rules and alter the course of history.While the plot is inventive and kept me guessing, Goodman deals with a range of interesting issues in this novel, albeit in a brisk manner. One of the most interesting elements of the story is Mavkel and Joss’ changing dynamic over the course of the story. Mavkel is a character who’s world is marked by duality (gender, birth pairs etc) and interconnectedness (a broken bond between a pair usually results in death) – while Joss is a solitary and somewhat prickly character who has her own complex reasons for spurning personal attachments. By thrusting these two together in a situation where they are compelled to work together, Goodman forces Joss to acknowledge certain truths about herself and re-examine her existing connections with others. I really enjoyed the exploration of the cultural, emotional and physical differences between Mavkel and Joss – particularly Goodman’s take on Chorian gender and the discussion around gender pronouns. Similarly there’s an interesting use of social class in the story, and Joss’ position as a “comp” (a child created using donors and genetic manipulation), that lends the novel a subtle gravity.This book is a lot of fun, and I thought Goodman’s worldbuilding was creative and fresh. I’m not sure I’m qualified to comment on her use of a rubber-band theory of time travel, because timey stuff makes my head hurt after a while, but I think I grasped the concept here better than in say, Looper, which made me ask so many questions I wanted to bash my head against a wall.The climax felt a little rushed to me, with the action and subsequent denouement falling into place at breakneck speed– but Goodman handles the final twists and revelations well, which makes for a surprising and clever ending. If you’re looking for an intriguing sci-fi without romantic or dystopian trimmings, I’d definitely recommend this. [1] Why yes I have been watching a lot of Veronica Mars lately..
What do You think about Singing The Dogstar Blues (2004)?
One of the many great tragedies of the modern age, friends, that there just isn’t a lot of teen sci-fi out there right now. I mean, there are plenty of books that claim to be science-fictiony, but it’s frequently only in the very loosest sense. Like the author decided that they didn’t want to write a paranormal romance, but a contemporary romance would be boring, so BAM let’s add a new and exotic futuristic locale!And that’s fine, if that’s your thing! But sometimes I just want some straight-up science fiction with no goddamn teen romance.Which is why it was so fun to read Singing the Dogstar Blues.Admittedly, this is not a new book. I mean, it’s not ancient, but when you think about where technology was in 1998… that’s where the author was coming from. Which means that Joss has an amazingly high-powered organic computer, powered by bio-tanks filled with “pulsating goo” that swirls around in different colors and makes blurping noises as the computer runs programs. THE FUTURE! There are also computer hackers called spyders (Get it!? Because of the World Wide Web?!), and an elitist divide between kids born naturally and “comp kids” made up of the DNA of a dozen random donors all mixed together in a petri dish, and the AIDS quilt had to be expanded to include people who got Implant AIDS from the failure of their organic brain implants, and it’s all so technobabbly I could just curl up in a ball out of sheer happiness.Oh, and aliens. There are vaguely humanoid telepathic hermaphrodite aliens who each have two noses and two mouths, and giant double-jointed flappy ears, and never need to sleep.Aliens, and students who are training in the not-quite-perfected art of time travel courtesy, of a Time-Continuum Warp Field that surrounds the University of Australia. Aliens and time travel and blobby organic computers, guys.Also a fair bit about the joy of playing the harmonica. And no romance--this, despite the fact that Joss’s telepathic hermaphrodite alien partner Mal decides it would like to “complete the human duality” by being designated a he, and that’s totally the point that most authors would be like, “And now they KISS.”Really, if you ignore slightly rushed ending, and the fairly standard tropes of Author Creating Futuristic Profanity (“Snork me gently!”) and Author Shortening Words To Make Them Sound Like They Came From The Future (“We watched a doco vid in class today.”), this was just about perfect.
—Monica!
(Fifth book/sixth text for the readathon.)I first came across Alison Goodman in the Firebirds Rising anthology, which included a short story by her set in the world of this novel. So, when I wanted some books to cheer me up, this is one of the ones I ordered -- and when I wanted something lighter once it got to god knows what AM during the readathon, this is what I picked up. It was exactly what I wanted: light but still absorbing, a nice change of pace.I enjoyed the characters and the world, which was lightly futuristic without being hard SF -- not hard to process and get used to at all. I liked the fact that a lesbian relationship was included so matter of factly. I was similarly happy about the positive, no-big-deal approach to sexuality in Goodman's short story, so that fills me with hope.I called the plot halfway through, even at seven AM, so I wouldn't say it's all that surprising or original. But it caught me at a good time, and was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to read, and so for that I feel very affectionate towards it.
—Nikki
Joss Aaronson is a comp-kid. She came straight from the petri-dish, she has a mum named Ingrid--who's a Thinking Man's Lust-beast and also gets rejuved a lot--,and there's a bloke named Porchi--son of a man named Lenny who she saved from a river's cleaning system--who keeps trying to snork her. And then there are Chorians as well, aliens that didn't actually come from Sirius A, who have advanced space-travelling tech and likes things in pairs.It's a bit confusing, isn't it? Well, Singing the Dogstar Blues is definitely a sci-fi novel with aliens, time-travel, advanced tech and a whole new set of slang to boot.Info-dumping isn't on the heavy side; it's actually spread throughout the beginning and middle of the novel which removes most of the bulky text you might normally get when you're suddenly dropped into this new world. And yes, I said 'middle' too.All the adventure-y stuff doesn't come until the very end, more than half-way through the book. Which makes the action scenes much more fast-paced and straight to the point.Anyways, back on topic.I enjoyed Singing the Dogstar Blues. It was easy to read once you've wrapped your head around all the slang and new technologies. Joss is a fantastic lead: she's got wits, character, she's rounded and above-all she's not annoying. I like how she doesn't hide the fact (from herself) that she's happy when her mum contacts her.Mavkel is adorable. I cracked up over the scene where Joss had told him to "Act cool," and he proceeded to shiver. I just love him.Overall, the novel's an interesting read. I admire Goodman's ability to fit so much in so few pages. She manages to squeeze a whole new world, and likeable characters into a mere 228 pages. Humour, sci-fi and mystery are mixed in quite well.The only problems would be the odd-pacing of the story. At times I felt like the story was going a bit slow and holes were left there on purpose to trump readers, or the story was suddenly speeding up to make up for lost time. Also the twists at the end of the novel weren't so surprising. In fact, the first one was really funny. I don't know why, I just found it really, like one of those moments where you just want to smack you face and just shake your head because someone either did something stupid or the whole idea or theory was just so ridiculous but it somehow made sense, and you're just smiling goofily at yourself because it's so weird. I'll clear it up a bit, to me, I think it was a bit messed up, the explanation for Joss's double lids and good night vision.The second twist was more surprising than funny, but I wasn't too shocked. I'd figure it was either them or the person's friend because I was thinking it would be something quite controversial. But either way, once the name was revealed, the whole story pieced together quite neatly and perfectly, so maybe that was another reason why it wasn't so shocking?Singing the Dogstar Blues is definitely a light and easy read. I recommend it to people who aren't hardcore sci-fi fans, and just want a quick trip into the future, with a bit of assassins and mystery added into the ride.On another note, to anyone who has read Goodman's novel Eon, keep a lookout for any similarities between the two books. I'll give you a hint, it's all near the end.And also to those who haven't read Eon: go read it. (Just a heads up, the pacing is slower compared to this novel though)
—Belinda
