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Inception by W.A. Harbinson
reviewed by XXXXX
Original appearance: Albedo one issue ??, date?
You know those author blurbs on the front covers of novels? The ones that say things like - 'Comparable to Tolkien at his Best' or 'I have seen the future of SF and his/her name is blah!' Is it just me, or do they piss off most readers?
Today I finished what is a very fine novel by a writer with the potential to become one of that small band of BIG NAMES whose laundry lists will sell for six figure sums. That man is W.A. HARBINSON and the book on which I am basing my prediction is called INCEPTION. But why oh why did some prat at NEL insist on a patently silly blurb from James Herbert. 'I am in awe of this man,' it says.
Bollox, I say.
It very nearly put me off picking up the novel in the first place. Now, James Herbert might well be in awe of this man, but I doubt it. This sort of OTT silliness should be kept for American publications or Hollywood movie, press releases. It merely serves to trivialise its subject; to make the reader doubt the sentiment because it is so patently un-believable.
And the book? INCEPTION is part one of PROJEKT SAUCER, the story of THE MOST TERRIFYING, AWESOME CONSPIRACY IN HUMAN HISTORY (more OTT rubbish, this time from the back cover). I really have to say that this type of tabloid sensationalism is likely to do more harm than good to INCEPTION. If it pulls in the readers this type of thing normally attracts, they just plain won't like it.
INCEPTION is a thoughtful, journalistic, realistic novel moulded somewhat in the style of Frederick Forsyth (Colin Wilson says so on the back so it must be right). It is a great story, built up over a number of years, concerning one man's inhuman search for scientific perfection and another's search for him.
The span of the novel is immense, with this first novel in the trilogy taking us from the turn of the century up to 1946. John Wilson is the epitome of the cold, calculating scientist who will stop at nothing in pursuit of his goals. He starts out designing dirigibles but his final aim is always to develop the ultimate flying machine, a flying saucer.
Though brilliant, his designs are far ahead of their time and the US Government, cast in the usual blundering role, fail to see their potential and refuse to support him. So Wilson takes his project as far as he can in the States then decamps for Germany in the 1930s.
Mike Bradley's obsession is John Wilson. The more he learns of the man's work the more Bradley is convinced that Wilson is a true genius and head and shoulders above his peers. Such a man is dangerous, particularly one who will work with the Nazis to fulfil his own ends. Picking up Wilson's trail in 1931, Bradley pursues him over the following fifteen years, never once catching even a glimpse of Wilson's face. The race is on to stop Wilson from developing the ultimate weapon in time to alter the course of the Second World War.
INCEPTION is simply brilliant, even if it does flag a little in the middle. For six quid you can buy yourself a gripping thriller backed by a panoramic history lesson. Were the Nazis responsible for the flying saucer scares of the past fifty years. Read Projekt Saucer and find out. If INCEPTION is anything to go by, there's another three great novels in this series from W.A. Harbinson.
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