White Sands, Red Menace: Atomic age historical sf novel for young people that is sweet, sneaky, and exciting
Ellen Klages' young adult novel White Sands, Red Menace is quiet, magnificent, heartbreaking and inspirational. It's the story of Dewey and Suze, two girls growing up in Alamogordo after the end of WWII. They are both the children of atomic scientists from the Los Alamos project, and have found themselves in a period of weird and fragile peace after V-J day.
But the peace is only a skin stretched thin over a hundred bubbling tensions: Suze's mom has formed a league of atomic scientists against nuclear proliferation while her father has gone to work on the space program, ready to forgive the Nazi scientists he's working alongside if it means that he gets to play with giant sexy toys and fight Commies. Dewey -- a girl-inventor whose delightful ingenuity is the progeny of Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and a Cherry Ames novel -- is forced into "girl" classes at school and has to come to grips with her bespectacled awkwardness. Suze befriends a Mexican girl from Little Chihuahua and is delighted by the family's old artist grandmother, who tutors her on craftmaking; but she is also forced to confront the racial inequality in whitewashed New Mexico.
Set in the fascinating period right after the war, when "atomic" meant "new and exciting" and when empowered women had yet to be shoehorned all the way back into their kitchens, White Sands, Red Menace has the sweet and evocative nostalgia of Ray Bradbury; the ingenuity and sprightly pace of a Heinlein juvenile; and the sneaky and thought-provoking politics of PD James. Klages has pulled off the impossible: a moving, deeply political novel that both cherishes and critiques the American century. It is an extraordinary and moving book.
White Sands, Red Menace is the sequel to the 2006 The Green Glass Sea, though it stands alone just fine. But you should read 'em both.
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I was lucky enough to do a workshop taught by Ellen Klages. Got signed copies of both these books--though I haven't read White Sands yet, shhhh! She inscribed my copy of "Green Glass" thus: "Welcome to the Shazam Club!" Very cool.
The workshop was about writing historical fiction, and she gave us a lot to consider. For instance, your character will probably be taking a trip (hint from Ellen: you REALLY want them to). What would travel be like for that time period? Is travel easy or hard? How would your characters get help? Does the travel change your character? (Another hint: you REALLY hope it will.)
She also had thoughts to share about writing YA. Ellen's books stay in print longer, she said, "Because they keep making 10-year olds!" Another thing is that she doesn't write any differently for YA than for adult fiction. She read a passage from her short story that "Green Glass Sea" was based on, and the same passage in the book. Both were identical.
Plus, she's on the board for the James Tiptree Award. How cool is that?
Sounds like a great book for the students mentioned here: http://www.boingboing.net/2009/09/13/young-adult-writers.html
Hi Cory,
What exactly is a "girl-inventor" and how is she different from an inventor?
Thanks Cory! I clicked through to the original short story and read it, charming! I could definitely relate to Dewey.
A girl inventor is like a boy inventor -- minus the penis, plus ovaries. That is, a girl -- a female adolescent or child -- who invents things.
Here I was hoping it meant she invented girls.
EMJ @3, the "boy inventor" was a common stereotype of the early 20th century (and maybe the late 19th as well; I'm not sure). Boy inventor stories were a predecessor of Campbellian-era science fiction.
The phrase "girl inventor" takes that sterotype and subverts it by reversing the sex, much like Phil and Kaja Foglio did with their comic Girl Genius.
what part of that description is supposed to be SF? Are there aliens, FTL, ray guns, speculation about the future, cyberpunk, psionics or magic powers? Sounds more like a YA novel using science fact in a historical setting than a historic YA SF novel
I don't believe any part of that description is supposed to be SF. It's not published as science fiction. Ellen is a science fiction writer, but she's allowed to write other things too.
That said, The Green Glass Sea and White Sands, Red Menace are likely to appeal to science fiction readers for some of the same reasons that SF does. They're really good books, but you're especially likely to appreciate them if you're interested in history, science, and the ways that people cope with technological and societal change. These books are about the future, just the past's future.
What perfect timing! Just finished The Manhattan Project: The Birth of the Atomic Bomb in the Words of Its Creators, Eyewitnesses, and Historians by Cynthia Kelley. There are a few passages in the book recalled by the kids at Los Alamos... I don't know how I feel about The Bomb, the Cold War, the Red Menace, etc, but there's so much to turn over (and over and over) on the subject. And for sure, the history and story of the atomic bomb and the era that spawned it is fascinating.
I look forward to reading White Sands, Red Menace. Thanks Cory!
I was being sarcastic...
sorry you didn't get it.
Why call some people "girl inventors" if you are not calling others "boy inventors"?
By making "girl" the descriptor you are saying that "boy" is the norm and that "girl" is odd.
My suggestion is to drop gender descriptions and just call them inventors.
EMJ,
No, you didn't get it.
"Why call some people "girl inventors" if you are not calling others "boy inventors"?"
As explained above, the term "boy inventor" is used, and here it's being flipped, like "Girl Genius" was, as Avram pointed out.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=boy+inventor
the progeny of Heinlein's Have Spacesuit, Will Travel and a Cherry Ames novel
That sounds great.
Yep, "gets to play with giant sex toys" is one of my criteria for young adult novels.