The Dry Salvages (novella)
Encyclopedia
The Dry Salvages is a futuristic science fiction
story of novella
length by Caitlín R. Kiernan
, published in 2004 as a stand-alone hardback volume by Subterranean Press
. The story consists of two parallel narratives, one set in the novella's present-day (early 24th-Century Paris
) and the other in the novel's past (the 23rd Century). Told as a first-person narrative, the story is being written down with three antique ballpoint pens by Audrey Cather, an exopaleontologist and the lone survivor of an ill-fated mission to an extrasolar planet
, Cecrops, a gas giant
orbiting the low-mass red dwarf star Gliese 876
. The Montelius mission included two other human astronauts, Peter Connor (also a paleontologist) and Joakim Hamilton (a biologist
), and one parahuman
astronaut, Umachandra Murdin (a computer scientist), along with a number of androids. Its object was to investigate evidence of an extraterrestrial
civilization which had long ago mined Piros, a moon of Cecrops. A blend of dystopian sf, Lovecraftian horror, and cyberpunk
, along with elements of space opera
, the novella paints a grim view of the future and of interstellar travel and alien contact. Earth has been ravaged by war, pollution, and violent climactic changes, and the menacing intelligence the crew of the Montelius (and its predecessor, the Gilgamesh) discover on Piros leads to a government cover-up. The author uses Audrey Cather's three reconditioned ballpoint pens as a literary device, dividing the story into three sections, "The First Pen," "The Second Pen," and "The Third (and Final) Pen." The Dry Salvages provides an example of an unreliable narrator
, as Audrey Cather continually makes mistakes and contradicts herself regarding events aboard the Montelius.
The cover art was provided by Ryan Obermeyer
. Kiernan's title is a reference to T. S. Eliot
's poem of the same name.
s. In the story, Kiernan names a number of these discoveries:
In the novella, we are told that life on Piros predated terran biosphere
s by almost a billion years and that marine life flourished on Piros until a time coequal to Earth's Silurian Period. Chordate
s never evolved there, despite five billion years of evolution, and the Pirosan biosphere collapsed when its seas abruptly dried up in less than a hundred thousand years. No evidence of land-dwelling organisms is discovered. We are told that the crew of the Gilgamesh collected fossils representing a minimum of 20,000 species.
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
story of novella
Novella
A novella is a written, fictional, prose narrative usually longer than a novelette but shorter than a novel. The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America Nebula Awards for science fiction define the novella as having a word count between 17,500 and 40,000...
length by Caitlín R. Kiernan
Caitlin R. Kiernan
Caitlín Rebekah Kiernan is the author of many science fiction and dark fantasy works, including seven novels, many comic books, more than one hundred published short stories, novellas, and vignettes, and numerous scientific papers.- Overview :Born in Dublin, Ireland, she moved to the United States...
, published in 2004 as a stand-alone hardback volume by Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press
Subterranean Press is a small press publisher in Michigan. Subterranean is best known for publishing genre fiction, primarily horror, suspense and dark mystery, fantasy, and science fiction...
. The story consists of two parallel narratives, one set in the novella's present-day (early 24th-Century Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) and the other in the novel's past (the 23rd Century). Told as a first-person narrative, the story is being written down with three antique ballpoint pens by Audrey Cather, an exopaleontologist and the lone survivor of an ill-fated mission to an extrasolar planet
Extrasolar planet
An extrasolar planet, or exoplanet, is a planet outside the Solar System. A total of such planets have been identified as of . It is now known that a substantial fraction of stars have planets, including perhaps half of all Sun-like stars...
, Cecrops, a gas giant
Gas giant
A gas giant is a large planet that is not primarily composed of rock or other solid matter. There are four gas giants in the Solar System: Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune...
orbiting the low-mass red dwarf star Gliese 876
Gliese 876
Gliese 876 is a red dwarf star approximately 15 light-years away from Earth in the constellation of Aquarius. As of 2011, it has been confirmed that four extrasolar planets orbit the star...
. The Montelius mission included two other human astronauts, Peter Connor (also a paleontologist) and Joakim Hamilton (a biologist
Biologist
A biologist is a scientist devoted to and producing results in biology through the study of life. Typically biologists study organisms and their relationship to their environment. Biologists involved in basic research attempt to discover underlying mechanisms that govern how organisms work...
), and one parahuman
Parahuman
A parahuman or para-human is a term used to describe a human-animal hybrid or chimera. Scientists have done extensive research into the mixing of genes or cells from different species, e.g...
astronaut, Umachandra Murdin (a computer scientist), along with a number of androids. Its object was to investigate evidence of an extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
civilization which had long ago mined Piros, a moon of Cecrops. A blend of dystopian sf, Lovecraftian horror, and cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
, along with elements of space opera
Space opera
Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes romantic, often melodramatic adventure, set mainly or entirely in outer space, generally involving conflict between opponents possessing advanced technologies and abilities. The term has no relation to music and it is analogous to "soap...
, the novella paints a grim view of the future and of interstellar travel and alien contact. Earth has been ravaged by war, pollution, and violent climactic changes, and the menacing intelligence the crew of the Montelius (and its predecessor, the Gilgamesh) discover on Piros leads to a government cover-up. The author uses Audrey Cather's three reconditioned ballpoint pens as a literary device, dividing the story into three sections, "The First Pen," "The Second Pen," and "The Third (and Final) Pen." The Dry Salvages provides an example of an unreliable narrator
Unreliable narrator
An unreliable narrator is a narrator, whether in literature, film, or theatre, whose credibility has been seriously compromised. The term was coined in 1961 by Wayne C. Booth in The Rhetoric of Fiction. This narrative mode is one that can be developed by an author for a number of reasons, usually...
, as Audrey Cather continually makes mistakes and contradicts herself regarding events aboard the Montelius.
The cover art was provided by Ryan Obermeyer
Ryan Obermeyer
Ryan Obermeyer is an internationally acclaimed American artist who works in photography, drawing, sculpting, and painting. He is most widely recognized for his surreal digital photographs that have often appeared on album packaging for recording artists, book jackets, and ad campaigns...
. Kiernan's title is a reference to T. S. Eliot
T. S. Eliot
Thomas Stearns "T. S." Eliot OM was a playwright, literary critic, and arguably the most important English-language poet of the 20th century. Although he was born an American he moved to the United Kingdom in 1914 and was naturalised as a British subject in 1927 at age 39.The poem that made his...
's poem of the same name.
Exopaleontology
In part, the The Dry Salvages is concerned with the discovery of extraterrestrial fossilFossil
Fossils are the preserved remains or traces of animals , plants, and other organisms from the remote past...
s. In the story, Kiernan names a number of these discoveries:
- Piros piros ("europmolluscans," from Europa (moon)Europa (moon)Europa Slightly smaller than Earth's Moon, Europa is primarily made of silicate rock and probably has an iron core. It has a tenuous atmosphere composed primarily of oxygen. Its surface is composed of ice and is one of the smoothest in the Solar System. This surface is striated by cracks and...
) - Deinopharyngos (from Piros, an armored predaory invertebrateInvertebrateAn invertebrate is an animal without a backbone. The group includes 97% of all animal species – all animals except those in the chordate subphylum Vertebrata .Invertebrates form a paraphyletic group...
, >7.6 meters long) - Pseudotrilobitamorpha (from Piros, blind, trilobiteTrilobiteTrilobites are a well-known fossil group of extinct marine arthropods that form the class Trilobita. The first appearance of trilobites in the fossil record defines the base of the Atdabanian stage of the Early Cambrian period , and they flourished throughout the lower Paleozoic era before...
-like creatures) - Osmolskia ceratognathus (from Piros, a huge sea slugSea slugSea slug is a common name used for several different groups of saltwater snails that either lack a shell or have only an internal shell, in other words this name is used for various lineages of marine gastropod mollusks that are either not conchiferous or appear not to be.The phrase "sea slug" is...
-like creature)
In the novella, we are told that life on Piros predated terran biosphere
Biosphere
The biosphere is the global sum of all ecosystems. It can also be called the zone of life on Earth, a closed and self-regulating system...
s by almost a billion years and that marine life flourished on Piros until a time coequal to Earth's Silurian Period. Chordate
Chordate
Chordates are animals which are either vertebrates or one of several closely related invertebrates. They are united by having, for at least some period of their life cycle, a notochord, a hollow dorsal nerve cord, pharyngeal slits, an endostyle, and a post-anal tail...
s never evolved there, despite five billion years of evolution, and the Pirosan biosphere collapsed when its seas abruptly dried up in less than a hundred thousand years. No evidence of land-dwelling organisms is discovered. We are told that the crew of the Gilgamesh collected fossils representing a minimum of 20,000 species.