The Last Theorem

There are a great many books and films masquerading as science fiction when, in fact, they are nothing of the kind. Take Star Wars as a classic example. The basic plot of a small band of heroes versus nasty regime could have been set in any time or place. It is only marketed as science fiction because George Lukas chose to set it "long, long ago in a galaxy far,far away". Any pretence at science is solely in the hands of the set and costume designers. The true science fiction novel has a plot that stems from the science itself and the science must be either current developments or extrapalations thereof. The greatest exponent of this type of novel was the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke whose death in March of this year was a blow to all lovers of the genre. Sir Arthur was fascinated by science from an early age and joined the British Interplanetary Society when it was formed in 1933 and as an officer in the RAF worked on the development of Radar. With this background it is not surprising that his fiction works are based firmly on fact, a standard that he has maintained right up to this his final work. The Last Theorem is, like other of his later novels, a collaboration this time with Frederik Pohl another revered name among science fiction fans. Set mainly in Sir Arthur's beloved Sri Lanka it concerns a young man, Ranjit, who succeeds in developing a proof of Fermat's Last Theorem, a goal of mathematicians since the seventeenth century. The fame that this brings him is not without it's dangers as international organisations seek to use Ranjit for their own ends. At the same time other species in the galaxy, alerted to the presence of the human race by the streams of photons generated by nuclear weapons tests, see Earth as a threat and set out to anihilate us. Like all good collaborations the narrative is seamless but one would expect no less from two such outstanding talents.