Blazing Reader,

"So be as difficult as you can," Ervin advises Charlie, in Harry Turtledove's Powerless.

This dystopian novel introduces us to an unlikely hero: Charlie Simpkins, a vegetable shop owner committing small acts of defiance against the communist government oppressing the west coast of what we know (in our reality) as the United States of America.

The novel isn't so much about rebellion as it is about irritation. It's not about overthrowing the machine of government, merely gumming up the gears.

For example, Charlie starts by refusing to hang a poster in his shop window. This leads to him losing not only his store but also the right to be employed. Forced into the black market, he soon finds himself being mentored by a senior member of the underground, a balding chainsmoker named Ervin.

Here is some of Ervin's dissident advice for toppling a totalitarian regime:

“So be as difficult as you can. Ask questions in public, where they’ve got to give you some kind of answer. If you get a chance, check the laws. A lot of time, they sound good — it’s just how the bastards use ’em that screws ordinary people. If you quote what they really say, you scare the crap out of the apparatchiks.”

“Isn’t that stuff, like, secret?”

“Nah.” Ervin waved his hand. “Any library has the MCPDR law codes. They’re in with the collected works of the past Party chairmen and General Secretaries, so they’ll have half an inch of dust on ’em, but they’re there. It’s boring shit, but it helps you play the game.”

Hence, most of Charlie's acts of defiance are subtle enough to avoid a one-way ticket to the Long Island labour camp, while disruptive enough to put a speedbump on "the road to true communism." It's this middle ground approach that I really appreciated about the novel: No one man has to martyr themselves for freedom. Instead, if enough people consistently push back against tyranny in small ways, then...

Well, I'll let Ervin explain:

Before Charlie left, he asked, "Think there’s any chance?"

“For my druthers? Maybe one day, but I don’t think soon,” Ervin answered. “For some wiggle room? Mostly you lose. Once in a while, though, you don’t. Trying’s better than not trying, or that’s how I see it.”

Powerless was a compelling read, as each time Charlie tries to disrupt the West Coast People's Democratic Republic, I kept turning the pages to find out what the consequences would be. Most of the consequences were negative. Yet, concomitant with the punishment, Charlie finds himself meeting and building friendships with wise old freedom fighters like Ervin.

But, make no mistake, Powerless is deliberately unsensational. The wins are small and the pushback harsh. As Ervin wisely warns:

"It’s hard. It’s the hardest thing in the whole damn world. You want to know what’s easy, Louie? I’ll tell you what’s easy. Going along is easy. Doing what they want you to do, doing what they tell you to do, that’s easy. The hard part comes when you say no and try and make it stick. Then you find out what trying to hold back the tide is all about."

Despite the hard subject matter, I found Powerless easy to read — a genuine page turner. As the excerpts above demonstrate, Harry Turtledove's narrative style is as natural as talking to Charlie Simpkins over a mug of rotgut at the novel's class-four tavern, the Valley Relic.

Likewise, the gritty realism of the story is quite pronounced, and the storyline, while never sensational, makes it hard to resist knowing what will happen next to Charlie Simpkins' family as he, per Ervin's counsel, tries to be as difficult as he can.

Powerless is a finalist for this year's Prometheus Award for Best Novel and is the book that James Corbett and I will be discussing in this month's episode of Film, Literature and the New World Order podcast.

It's the pro-freedom SF read of the month. You can purchase a copy in paperback, ebook, hardcover or audiobook through my Blazing Book Shop so you can join in on the discussion and even vote in the Prometheus Awards.

John C.A. Manley

P.S. This was part two of my review of Powerless. Part three is coming on Friday. For part one, check out: The Day Charlie Simpkins "Tired of Giving Lies a Helping Hand"

John C. A. Manley is the author of Much Ado About Corona, All The Humans Are Sleeping and other works of philosophical fiction that are "so completely engaging that you find yourself alternately laughing, gasping, hanging on for dear life." Get free samples of his stories by becoming a Blazing Pine Cone email subscriber.