Operation Luna
Encyclopedia
Operation Luna is a science fantasy novel by American writer Poul Anderson
, published in 2000; it is the sequel to the 1971 fixup novel
Operation Chaos by the same author.
It centers around a space flight
attempt and the efforts of Coyote
and several Oriental antagonists to stop it. The IRS (Inquisition for Revenue Securement) and NASA
(National Astral Spellcraft Administration) also become involved.
The two main characters from Operation Chaos, Steve Matuchek, a werewolf and engineer for Nornwell Scrytronics, and Virginia "Ginny" Matuchek continue in their fight against the forces of evil. Now married and in their 40s, they have three children—Val, the child they rescued from Hell in Operation Chaos when she was 3, now 14–15 years old; Ben, 10 years old; and Chryssa, 4 years old.
A few characters from Operation Chaos also reappear, such as Barney Sturlason, Steve's boss, and Bob Shining Knife, a Native American F.B.I. agent, though they have small roles in this novel.
instead of fossil fuels and electricity. For example, the main mode of transportation is broomsticks and magic carpets fitted with cabins for people to sit in; radios are called "runers," apparently activated by runes; and the propulsion behind space flight is achieved by a combination of mechanical technology, spelled crystals, and arcane materials such as mummy dust.
Steve helped in the construction of a spacecraft for Operation Selene, the United States' first attempt to send a manned craft to the Moon. However, a disaster caused by beings adverse to the mission destroy the vehicle and nearly kill the celestonaut, Curtice Newton, although Steve, in wolf form, saves her.
Afterward, Steve, Ginny, and a handful of people begin to investigate the disaster and make plans to put Operation Luna into effect, a smaller version of Operation Selene independent from NASA.
Since the identities of the entities behind the Operation Selene disaster remain somewhat veiled and mysterious, Steve and Ginny enlist the help of a number of people, including Balawahdiwa, a Zuni high priest; Fotherwick-Botts, an enchanted sword
that can talk; and Fjalar, a Norwegian dwarf who forged Fotherwick-Botts.
Though the characters live in Gallup, New Mexico
, the characters travel to various other locations in their investigations, including London
, England, various parts of Norway
, and even Yggdrasil
, the legendary Norse site of the World Tree. The time period is roughly in the late 1990s.
Although vague, their initial investigations reveal that the malevolent spirits who collaborated with Coyote are Asian in origin, leading them to suspect a connection to Dr. Fu Ch'ing, a Chinese scientist, government agent, and thaumaturge. (The U.S.' largest competitor for space exploration in the novel is China rather than Russia.) Meanwhile, the F.B.I. suspects Ginny's brother, Will, an astronomer who helped in the planning of Operation Selene and who has an interest in Chinese culture and connections with people in the country. Steve and Ginny themselves worry that he may be possessed by an evil spirit, though tests reveal no trace of a foreign entity.
Poul Anderson
Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories...
, published in 2000; it is the sequel to the 1971 fixup novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
Operation Chaos by the same author.
It centers around a space flight
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
attempt and the efforts of Coyote
Coyote (mythology)
Coyote is a mythological character common to many Native American cultures, based on the coyote animal. This character is usually male and is generally anthropomorphic although he may have some coyote-like physical features such as fur, pointed ears, yellow eyes, a tail and claws...
and several Oriental antagonists to stop it. The IRS (Inquisition for Revenue Securement) and NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
(National Astral Spellcraft Administration) also become involved.
The two main characters from Operation Chaos, Steve Matuchek, a werewolf and engineer for Nornwell Scrytronics, and Virginia "Ginny" Matuchek continue in their fight against the forces of evil. Now married and in their 40s, they have three children—Val, the child they rescued from Hell in Operation Chaos when she was 3, now 14–15 years old; Ben, 10 years old; and Chryssa, 4 years old.
A few characters from Operation Chaos also reappear, such as Barney Sturlason, Steve's boss, and Bob Shining Knife, a Native American F.B.I. agent, though they have small roles in this novel.
Plot summary
The world of Operation Luna has an alternative history, which mostly resembled our own until a great "Awakening" brought awareness of supernatural forces to the world at large. This Awakening led to drastic changes in society; industrial machinery was largely replaced by technology driven by magic, spells, and "goetic forces"Goetia
refers to a practice which includes the invocation of angels or the evocation of demons, and usage of the term in English largely derives from the 17th century grimoire The Lesser Key of Solomon, which features an Ars Goetia as its first section...
instead of fossil fuels and electricity. For example, the main mode of transportation is broomsticks and magic carpets fitted with cabins for people to sit in; radios are called "runers," apparently activated by runes; and the propulsion behind space flight is achieved by a combination of mechanical technology, spelled crystals, and arcane materials such as mummy dust.
Steve helped in the construction of a spacecraft for Operation Selene, the United States' first attempt to send a manned craft to the Moon. However, a disaster caused by beings adverse to the mission destroy the vehicle and nearly kill the celestonaut, Curtice Newton, although Steve, in wolf form, saves her.
Afterward, Steve, Ginny, and a handful of people begin to investigate the disaster and make plans to put Operation Luna into effect, a smaller version of Operation Selene independent from NASA.
Since the identities of the entities behind the Operation Selene disaster remain somewhat veiled and mysterious, Steve and Ginny enlist the help of a number of people, including Balawahdiwa, a Zuni high priest; Fotherwick-Botts, an enchanted sword
Magic sword
The term magic sword refers to any kind of mythological or fictional sword imbued with magical power to increase its strength or grant it other supernatural qualities. The archetype originated in myth and legend, and occurs regularly in fantasy fiction....
that can talk; and Fjalar, a Norwegian dwarf who forged Fotherwick-Botts.
Though the characters live in Gallup, New Mexico
Gallup, New Mexico
- Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 20,209 people, 6,810 households, and 4,869 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,513.7 people per square mile...
, the characters travel to various other locations in their investigations, including London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England, various parts of Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
, and even Yggdrasil
Yggdrasil
In Norse mythology, Yggdrasil is an immense tree that is central in Norse cosmology. It was said to be the world tree around which the nine worlds existed...
, the legendary Norse site of the World Tree. The time period is roughly in the late 1990s.
Although vague, their initial investigations reveal that the malevolent spirits who collaborated with Coyote are Asian in origin, leading them to suspect a connection to Dr. Fu Ch'ing, a Chinese scientist, government agent, and thaumaturge. (The U.S.' largest competitor for space exploration in the novel is China rather than Russia.) Meanwhile, the F.B.I. suspects Ginny's brother, Will, an astronomer who helped in the planning of Operation Selene and who has an interest in Chinese culture and connections with people in the country. Steve and Ginny themselves worry that he may be possessed by an evil spirit, though tests reveal no trace of a foreign entity.
Themes
There are a number of themes explored in this book. Among them are:- Religious diversity: Although the narrator, Steve, hints at his and his wife's vague Christianity mitigated by agnosticism, and the existence of a "One True God" is assumed, the reality of a diverse number of religious traditions is affirmed, including Native American (specifically ZuniZuni mythologyZuni mythology is the oral history, cosmology, and religion of the Zuni people. The Zuni are a Pueblo people located in New Mexico. Their religion is integrated into their daily lives and respects ancestors, nature, and animals. Due to a history of religious persecution by non-native peoples, they...
) beliefs, Norse mythologyNorse mythologyNorse mythology, a subset of Germanic mythology, is the overall term for the myths, legends and beliefs about supernatural beings of Norse pagans. It flourished prior to the Christianization of Scandinavia, during the Early Middle Ages, and passed into Nordic folklore, with some aspects surviving...
, Asian traditions (specifically Chinese mythologyChinese mythologyChinese mythology is a collection of cultural history, folktales, and religions that have been passed down in oral or written tradition. These include creation myths and legends and myths concerning the founding of Chinese culture and the Chinese state...
), and JudaismJudaismJudaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
(in a small part, as Steve regards the holiness of his Jewish neighbors with reverence). Though Steve sees deities in other pantheons as powerful creatures subservient to the power of the One True God, the beliefs of followers have an important role in the power and disposition toward humanity of such beings. Also, holiness is regarded as something admirable in and of itself, no matter the tradition, so long as the spiritual principles behind it are benign. - Political satire: As in Operation Chaos, Anderson's libertarian ideas are reflected in the portrayal of government. While Anderson had a disdain for some leftist ideas (such as protestation against scientific research and anarchist ideals, more clearly evident in Operation Chaos), his criticism of "big government" and bureaucracy also shines through, as the I.R.S. draws the characters into a financial nightmare, beleaguering them with obscure tax codes.
- Racism and colonialism: Because the site of Operation Selene is amidst Native American reservations, the characters confront the question of white atrocities. Some Native Americans see NASA's site as an incursion on sacred land, while others bless the site with protection spells. Steve deals with these issues by asserting to his companion, Balawahdiwa, and several deities who he encounters, that though whites have engaged in horrible things, so have Native Americans, citing everything from large mammals in North America to the more malicious activities of tribes such as the ApacheApacheApache is the collective term for several culturally related groups of Native Americans in the United States originally from the Southwest United States. These indigenous peoples of North America speak a Southern Athabaskan language, which is related linguistically to the languages of Athabaskan...
and Anasazi. Although Steve's (and perhaps Anderson's) view may be seen as a case of special pleadingSpecial pleadingSpecial pleading is a form of spurious argumentation where a position in a dispute introduces favorable details or excludes unfavorable details by alleging a need to apply additional considerations without proper criticism of these considerations themselves. Essentially, this involves someone...
, those who ally with him agree that the forces they fight against are malevolent to the Earth itself, to humanity and nature, not just to whites. Colonial attitudes are also exposed in other characters, such as Fotherwick-Botts, largely an English nationalist (since most of his battles were carried out by Englishmen), who has a prejudice against "natives". - Scientific progress: With the very different principles that their world operates under, Steve and Will discuss the possible limitations of technology without the influence of magic. For example, they imagine what it would be like if Albert EinsteinAlbert EinsteinAlbert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist who developed the theory of general relativity, effecting a revolution in physics. For this achievement, Einstein is often regarded as the father of modern physics and one of the most prolific intellects in human history...
and Max PlanckMax PlanckMax Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck, ForMemRS, was a German physicist who actualized the quantum physics, initiating a revolution in natural science and philosophy. He is regarded as the founder of the quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.-Life and career:Planck came...
did not synthesize their ideas, which would result in separate theories of relativityTheory of relativityThe theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word relativity is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance....
and quantum mechanicsQuantum mechanicsQuantum mechanics, also known as quantum physics or quantum theory, is a branch of physics providing a mathematical description of much of the dual particle-like and wave-like behavior and interactions of energy and matter. It departs from classical mechanics primarily at the atomic and subatomic...
. Also, the relevance and viability of space exploration is also questioned. Though not given as much space as might be expected, Anderson was a supporter of space exploration, and the adversity encountered by public and governmental voices is challenged by the benefits that will be gained through knowledge of the cosmos. - Gender roles: Though not directly discussed, some of the characters, especially Ginny, are powerful women, and some of the male characters (such as Fjalar and Fotherwick-Botts) have more traditional views of women as domestic servants. However, even those characters come to respect the power that the women have, and Steve, who fits a largely masculine stereotype, often remarks that Ginny has much more power than he does, and in several situations he has to sit aside while she effects spells or does research he is not able to do.