on piers anthony's "race against time"
Jan. 3rd, 2019 06:20 pmI wrote this in early 2018 in response to a tumblr friend asking if other folks remembered the Xanth series. I took the opportunity to rant about another Piers Anthony book.
Unfortunately, yes.
Also, apologies but I’m gonna hijack this post to rant a little about Piers Anthony’s Race Against Time, because I hardly ever get the opportunity.
I encountered Race Against Time in a library book sale when I was in my late teens. It was 10 cents, so I picked it up. And HOO BOY. (tons of spoilers behind the cut)
In Race Against Time, our protagonist is a white teenage boy living in what he thinks is 1950s in the USA. However, he quickly discovers that he’s in a sort of zoo/Truman Show set created by a race of short grey-skinned humanoids. He escapes and, assuming they’ve been kidnapped by aliens, attempts to get back to Earth with the one other “real person” from his simulation, a white teenage girl.
While escaping, they pick up some companions: two Chinese teens (one male and one female) who were living in a simulation of 10th (?) century China and two African teens (again, one male and one female) who were living in a simulation of, uh, a small village/tribe situation on the savannahs of, erm, somewhere in Africa.
(”But Ama, why are you being so weirdly specific about their ethnicities?” HOOOOOO BOY.)
After attempting a daring escape, and teasing some possible romances between various characters of different ethnicities (I don’t remember exactly who, but think: the Chinese girl and the African guy, the white girl and the Chinese guy, etc.) the set of teens discovers:
And that’s the end of the book.
It was written in 1973. At the time, it was apparently called “controversial” and “layered”.
The sad thing is, Piers Anthony has almost certainly written stuff that’s even worse than a YA-novel-length defense of racial eugenics and condemnation of mixed-race relationships. But Race Against Time (savor the retroactive awfulness of that title) was definitely what made me swear off his work.
Unfortunately, yes.
Also, apologies but I’m gonna hijack this post to rant a little about Piers Anthony’s Race Against Time, because I hardly ever get the opportunity.
I encountered Race Against Time in a library book sale when I was in my late teens. It was 10 cents, so I picked it up. And HOO BOY. (tons of spoilers behind the cut)
In Race Against Time, our protagonist is a white teenage boy living in what he thinks is 1950s in the USA. However, he quickly discovers that he’s in a sort of zoo/Truman Show set created by a race of short grey-skinned humanoids. He escapes and, assuming they’ve been kidnapped by aliens, attempts to get back to Earth with the one other “real person” from his simulation, a white teenage girl.
While escaping, they pick up some companions: two Chinese teens (one male and one female) who were living in a simulation of 10th (?) century China and two African teens (again, one male and one female) who were living in a simulation of, uh, a small village/tribe situation on the savannahs of, erm, somewhere in Africa.
(”But Ama, why are you being so weirdly specific about their ethnicities?” HOOOOOO BOY.)
After attempting a daring escape, and teasing some possible romances between various characters of different ethnicities (I don’t remember exactly who, but think: the Chinese girl and the African guy, the white girl and the Chinese guy, etc.) the set of teens discovers:
- They were on Earth the whole time, it’s just the future
- The grey humanoids are actually future!humans
- People are grey now because of pollution –> race wars (I think?) –> weaponized plagues –> much of the population was killed –> race mixing –> no more distinct human races and everyone is grey (???)
- The grey-skinned racially ambiguous humans no longer have any creativity or drive, because race mixing is the worst, and humanity is regressing (?!?!?!?!?) (this is not my interpretation, it is explicitly stated in the text)
- In conclusion, these grey-skinned, mixed-race and therefore inferior humans have created “pure” breeding pairs (of, of course, the only three races: U.S. White, African, and Chinese) and raised them in facsimiles of the ~pinnacles~ of their respective societies to fall in love with their designated Race Mate and have lots of Racially Pure Babies (?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!)
And that’s the end of the book.
It was written in 1973. At the time, it was apparently called “controversial” and “layered”.
The sad thing is, Piers Anthony has almost certainly written stuff that’s even worse than a YA-novel-length defense of racial eugenics and condemnation of mixed-race relationships. But Race Against Time (savor the retroactive awfulness of that title) was definitely what made me swear off his work.