Last year on the podcast we interviewed Craig Lincoln & Cadwell Turnbull, two members of the multiverse SF writing collective published as “Darkly Lem,” which also includes Josh Eure, Ben Murphy, and M. Darusha Wehm. I this we discussed the first book of their Formation Saga series, Transmentation | Transcience, published by Blackstone Press. Our own Princejvstin also reviewed the novel for Nerds of a Feather.
The Formation Saga stems from the Many Worlds, or The Simulacra anthology edited by Eure and Turnbull and featuring stories from the other members of Darkly Lem as well as other writers. Building a shared multiverse of “reality-bending stories” described as ranging “from quietly strange to ambitiously speculative,” the series rests on the foundational concept that societies of inter-dimensional travelers have developed across a primary universe through the ability of people to transfer consciousness between other universes, entering new bodies (known as proxies, or related terms depending on the society.) The bodies they leave behind in the primary universe continue existence, almost like automaton shells, while the state of the in-universe identities of the proxies their consciousness enters into become suppressed.
Different societies have arisen through this power and ability of multiverse travel and expansion, with varying political and social characteristics across the spectrum. But as this has built up, the activities of the different societies find themselves interacting and in conflict more frequently at the level of individual travelers and society-wide machinations.
Meanwhile, the nature of this ability to travel the multiverse, ‘gifted’ to humans via a mysterious entity known as the Simulacrum, itself remains enigmatic and ambiguous, raising core existential questions for the travelers. Do these abilities extend to life beyond humans? What is the nature of the body left left behind and its identity? Are the lives and rights of individuals in other universes equivalent to those in the primary universe? Are any from other universes entering the primary?
Transmentation | Transgression: Or, a Spark on the Eve of the Five Hundred Year Burn continues the Formation Saga immediately following the events of the first book that climaxed with a clandestine assassination. The second novel continues to delve into a large cast of characters across the societies of travelers and through this also explore more into the nature and effects of traveling, particularly the confusion it can cause for self-identity.
As in the first novel Darkly Lem includes a dramatis personae of the huge ensemble cast of characters, organized by order-of-appearance according to localities, and with note of their respective societal allegiance. This is fairly essential to being able to follow things, particularly when first starting in after some time since reading the last novel. I happen to have a really poor memory, so I began this recalling nothing but the overall premise and some vague details of plot events, a couple characters, and the bureaucratic Burel Hird empire-like society. Despite remembering so little in detail at the onset, I quickly began to recall things as I read, making the transition fairly smooth given the complexities of this series.
The majority of the focus in this one is on the plans of Burel Hird to expand their influence over the multiverse, to gather things into their control, even through the eviction of individuals of other societies (helped by hiring Of Tala mercenary aid.) As agents of this empire travel to carry out this agenda the new leader of Burel Hird continues her navigation of politics, and the aide of the assassinated former-leader begins a multiverse-hopping investigation to identify and hold accountable the mysterious parties responsible.
The other society receiving focus in this second book is through many individuals of the more democratic and idealistic Withered Stem, a group that wasn’t in the first book as much. Here they become the society directly interacting with Burel Hird’s agenda of annexation, often complicating it and resisting in ways that will likely effect both peoples. Interspersed between each series of main-plot chapters are interludes that feature some of the other societies, side-plots that will find expansion as the series continues.
As with the first novel Transmentation | Transgression is impressive in the coherence of its style and narrative despite its fragmentary nature and team of authors. Even beyond that it is deeply engaging, often exciting, and at times wild in its jaunts across different speculative genres, such as one universe in here where monsters attack and infect people in horrific ways. With the second book the series also begins to nicely develop its exploration into the nature of power in fascinating ways at the collective and individual level.
Those who have already read and enjoyed Transmentation | Transcience should obviously continue with this second book, but even if you read it and just found it okay (or somewhat overwhelming) I’d recommend you try continuing with Transmentation | Transgression. The complexities become easier to digest and manage as a reader as one goes on. And I found the plot, the speculative details of the universes, and the ruminations on the implications of traveling to be even more consistently engaging in this second volume. And of course if you are a genre fan but haven’t yet jumped into this series, it’s a great pool to swim in.
