cover image The Fata Morgana

The Fata Morgana

Leo Frankowski, Frankowski. Baen Books, $21 (320pp) ISBN 978-0-671-57822-0

This unabashedly politically incorrect male technophile's wet dream has all the elements designed to make a man good with tools feel like a genius--and to aggravate anyone who believes that racism, sexism or poverty are real problems without easy solutions. Nguyen Hien Treet, second-generation American and owner of a small Special Machinery business, has strange and unpleasant things happen to his company and ends up on the open sea with his best buddy, Adam Kulczyinski, in a fabulous yacht that unfortunately develops a gaping hole in its hull. As luck would have it, these stalwart technicians are soon rescued by the inhabitants of a floating island. On the isolated island of 2000 souls, a Duke reigns over property and marriages; the population of ""real women"" ostentatiously shows off its cleavage; a Warlock is in charge of technology and progress; and an Archbishop is rigorous about keeping his people religiously pure, even if it kills them. Treet, with Adam's help, must figure out how to keep the island from sinking, avoid getting murdered by religious fanatics and hammer out out a trade deal that will make both men wealthy and powerful. Since the motto of the book seems to be, as Adam puts it, ""You're bleeding from twenty places, but that shouldn't bother a determined engineer,"" all things tend to work out in favor of the book's technically savvy heroes. Frankowski has a knack for writing amenable prose with enjoyable characters. Those not alienated by his Engineers-Know-Best attitude, and most especially those who share his women-as-eye-candy, religion-is-silly worldview, will find this to be a fun fantasy. (Aug.)