UNIVERSE, INC.

A man becomes a literal master of the universe in this debut SF novel.

On his first day of retirement, wealthy philanthropist Roger Hoskins hits the links and immediately takes an errant golf ball to the temple. While his body lies comatose in a hospital, Roger’s mind travels somewhere far away. He finds himself in a conference room, recruited for a galactic managerial training program 800 years in length. As his training proceeds, he learns that the universe runs on the harvested energy of happy, peaceful, intelligent beings and that his role upon graduation will be to help prevent the sorts of wars and calamities that get in the way of a good crop. Led by an invisible mentor, he and 14 colleagues learn the secrets of the universe, including telepathy, how to travel through space, and how to communicate using the universal language: “This was factual and utilitarian, with no links to fantasy, imagination or dreams. This language was not spoken, written or read, as every communication originated in, or ended up in, one’s brain.” After completing his training, Roger aces his first assignment. He is reborn on a planet and given 28 years to prevent one of that world’s nations from destroying the other. After succeeding, Roger is placed in control of an entire galaxy, with a staff of 10 at his command. He quickly sets to playing god, directing the course of civilizations, until the unfathomable happens: His headquarters is invaded by a rival energy harvester. It turns out the picture of the universe presented to Roger wasn’t quite as accurate as he’d been led to believe. But what does a god do when someone challenges him for control?

Ottesen’s prose is simple and succinct. Roger narrates his own story with the same distance with which he, as a nearly omnipotent, centuries-old being, views the activities of mortals. Here he describes the religious development on one of the planets in his jurisdiction: “Half a century later came the other prophet. He was known as Grump, and his concept was based on feelings and faith rather than actions. To the followers of another prophet, Glum, this was ridiculous; how can an individual make him or herself believe something specific without proof?” The book is a philosophical novel rather than a piece of immersive genre fiction. The universe has become Roger’s sandbox, and the stakes of any one conflict are shrunk to the scale of an intellectual exercise. The other characters are rarely distinct personalities. Many, in fact, are referred to using numerals. Roger himself quickly ceases to be an emotional human and becomes a cold, decision-making intelligence. The tone and aesthetic have a retro feel. Even the questions that the plot raises feel right out of the mid-20th century: nuclear destruction, existentialism, Cold War–style interventionism. The author brings things around to a satisfying place, and while it is not a book that is likely to inspire deep feelings, there is a pulpy, stimulating enjoyment to be found in its pages.

An imaginative, thought-provoking, cosmic tale that harkens back to classic SF.