Rob Swigart

Not much is known about the first humans on the Earth. What we do know is what we can extract from burial sites, artwork, dwellings, and artifacts that have been left behind. These artefacts combined with geologic and climatic knowledge begin to paint a picture of what life was like for the people of the Paleolithic and Neolithic eras. Mixed Harvest is a collection of short stories of the people from these eras. Moving forward through time from the Paleolithic to the formation of cities, the author combines knowledge of what we have found from our past and storytelling to bring these people to life. Each fictionalized story is prefaced and followed up by archeological evidence that led to the story.
The stories in Mixed Harvest tell of love, conflict, religion, growing up, birth and death; all things that we are familiar with. The people in the stories were dealing with all of this in a rapidly changing world, not too different from the one we are living in today. There is knowledge to be gained from their past mistakes and past triumphs. The writing evokes a familiarity without breaking what we know of human communication at the time. Feelings are conveyed without speech, using broad concepts to show emotion without words. Mixed Harvest is an insightful and unique style of storytelling that helps connect us to our past.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (más)

My reactions to reading this novel in 1993. Some spoilers follow.

This book was something of a disappointment, especially as a sf thriller.

It was obvious from the start that Ben Silver was involved in illegal genetic engineering. However, I did like the ruthless rationale for the secret project: to wipe out ethnic Russians in the U.S.S.R: to dictate terms of peace to the Evil Empire.) It was equally obvious that crazed psycho bushman/assassin Renfrew was going to battle akido master Shinawa. Nor did I care for the mystical element of the Kahunas.

However, the frightening notion of a plague tailored disease (while not new) was intriguing enough to make up for a lot. The naval intelligence cover story about genetically engineered replication of the oil secreted by dolphins (to help boats go faster) being the purpose of the project was a nice touch. I assumed – to my pretty much ignorant eyes – that the biological details were all correct.… (más)