THE ALCHEMIST'S PORTAL

In Acco’s debut SF/fantasy novel, three of the Vatican’s clerical elite fight malevolent entities who covet an alchemical artifact from the 17th century.

In a not-too-distant future, the Catholic Church embraces the use of high-tech superweapons to fight evil. This comes in handy when a doorway, fashioned by Prussian alchemists in the 1600s using meteorite ore, suddenly appears. The alchemists unwisely created it in a bid to reach God and heaven directly, and it had a tendency to teleport uncontrollably, spewing deadly radiation as it did so. Space miners found it on the moon centuries later, then lost it again; now, it seems to be connected to violent, occult-related incidents around the globe. The church tasks a trio of Catholic “Magisters” to investigate: tough priest Lev Kraal, advanced android Michael (which uses technology from benevolent aliens), and a new recruit, priest Wilhemina “Will” Grand, who’s haunted by guilt. In an action-packed, episodic narrative, they face demons and shape-shifters who aim to use the doorway for their own malicious purposes. Unusually, the author waits until midway through the novel to provide the sort of backstory that many other SF writers place upfront; the narrative occurs in the aftermath of a veritable Armageddon in which billions of humans died due to climate change, wealth inequality, war, and species extinction, among other reasons. Meanwhile, money and capitalism have practically been abolished. Fans of the Star Trek mythos may note that its noble United Federation of Planets had a similar origin, and the book’s ambiance is somewhat Gene Roddenberry–like, right down to Michael’s resemblance to Lt. Cmdr. Data and some cheeky humor, especially in the colorfully infernal villains’ repartee. Compared with other faith-based genre fiction, which is often written from an Evangelical Protestant perspective, the preaching is relatively light, and there are nods to representatives of Judaism, Hinduism, and Buddhism. Although the Catholic Church, as portrayed here, seems fairly broad-minded, the tradition of priestly celibacy perseveres, so there are no sex scenes; indeed, even evil entities treat the subject of sexuality with delicacy.

A speculative tale that has fun with its genre’s chapter-and-verse.