Even the most dedicated Stakhanovite must occasionally take time off to recharge their batteries. But one must admit that vacations can sometimes be less than relaxing—sometimes they feel more like ordeals to be endured. Fictional vacations can be even more fraught. If they’re to keep readers interested, authors are likely to ratchet up the drama and suspense…although one author below found an entirely different way to entice readers. For your consideration: five SF novels about vacations.
Picnic on Paradise by Joanna Russ (1968)
Paradise, while lacking useful minerals or commercial lifeforms, does enjoy a wealth of beautiful landscapes. The otherwise useless world has been commandeered by the tourist industry. Provided they have access to advanced technology, off-world tourists have little to worry about as they wander the planet.
Thanks to the ongoing war, however, tourists very much do not have access to advanced technology, as it is easily detected and would invite attack. It falls to adventurer Alyx, retrieved from the depths of time, to shepherd her charges to safety. The tourists will not make the task an easy one.
While Alyx is not entirely successful in her attempt to convey the visitors to safety, she is functioning in a context alien to her, in a war zone, and has been denied the information she needs.
Despite setbacks, the survival rate is considerably better than it is for the characters in Russ’s We Who Are About To….
Hello Summer, Goodbye by Michael G. Coney (1975)
Alika-Drove accepts his circumstances as unremarkable. His world’s extreme climate—shaped by both extreme obliquity and orbital eccentricity—would seem odd to us, but to him, it’s just the way things are.
He is taking a summer holiday in the backwater fishing village of Pallahaxi when he meets Browneyes and his world is upended. She’s the daughter of the local tavern owner; he is smitten.
But he’s upper class; she’s lower class. This will make any long-lasting relationship impossible. It’s not just the relatives; it’s the impending end of the world as the lovers know it. Some will survive, but not people like Browneyes.
I cannot emphasize strongly enough to readers increasingly concerned about the fate of the two teens and of Browneyes in particular that you must read this short novel all the way to the end, especially the final page.
The Hostage of Zir by L. Sprague de Camp (1977)
Tau Ceti’s Krishna is not as technologically advanced as Earth and its peers in the interstellar community. It exists under a strict Interplanetary Council technological embargo, as the Council fears that its exuberantly violent principalities might learn how to make and use nuclear weapons. Off-worlders can may visit, however, which leads to an unfortunate development: the arrival of Magic Carpet Tour Company’s debut party of off-world tourists.
Tour guide Fergus Reith’s task would be challenging enough on Earth. On Krishna, where his charges combine ignorance of local mores with a careless willingness to violate them, the job of keeping the tourists happy and alive is nearly impossible. Being declared a god is therefore a most unwelcome complication.
Krishna’s rulers are ruthless, entitled, and sometimes impetuous. What they are not is stupid. Unlike other settings with non-interference policies, the Krishnans have twigged to the big secret of Terran technology, which is that it is possible at all. At least one prince has seen the giant flaw in the embargo, which is that it does not preclude local R&D.
It’s kind of a pity de Camp never set any of his sword and blaster stories after the embargoed worlds caught up technologically to Earth and its peers. There would be lots of drama in the embargoed forcing a reassessment of their second-class status.
Kitty Takes a Holiday by Carrie Vaughn (2007)
A quiet holiday allows werewolf radio personality Kitty Norville a chance to grapple with her writer’s block. Grappling fails, and she would welcome a distraction. Cue the appearance of her lawyer Ben in the company of self-appointed monster hunter Cormac.
Bitten by a werewolf, Ben is now one himself. It falls to Kitty to teach Ben how to do werewolf in a manner that doesn’t attract the attention of people like Cormac. The situation is complicated by not one but two escalating vendettas. Deadly violence is guaranteed.
The Kitty Norville books deviated from the standard urban fantasy/paranormal romance conventions in many ways. For example, it turned out that Kitty’s former pack master wasn’t really an alpha male, just a garden variety abusive asshole. In this novel, it turns out that even an experienced and well-meaning monster hunter can’t go around killing people (or paranormal entities) without running afoul of the law at some point. Who knew?
The Hands of the Emperor by Victoria Goddard (2018)
Personal secretary to the semi-divine figure the Lord of Rising Stars (also known as the Lord Magus of Zunidh, the Sun-on-Earth, and—thanks to some regrettable policy decisions—the Last Emperor of Astandalas), Cliopher Mdang’s relentless hard work does not go unnoticed by the Last Emperor. Cliopher is provided with periodic holidays.
Aware of the benefits of rest, and equally aware that his only semi-divine boss works as hard as Cliopher, Cliopher makes the bold suggestion that the Sun-on-Earth might enjoy a vacation as well. The Last Emperor agrees…a decision that will have historic consequences.
This is a weighty tome remarkable because despite being focused on the final days of a declining empire, the plot is notably short on spectacular on-stage violence of any sort. Instead, the book offers crucial paperwork and heartfelt conversations between friends. Readers who felt the pace in The Goblin Emperor was too breakneck might like this book.
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There are many vacation-focused works I could have mentioned but did not. John Varley’s, for example, I omitted because I discussed them here. If one or more of your favorites were skipped, please mention them in comments below.
In the words of fanfiction author Musty181, four-time Hugo finalist, prolific book reviewer, and perennial Darwin Award nominee James Davis Nicoll “looks like a default mii with glasses.” His work has appeared in Interzone, Publishers Weekly and Romantic Times as well as on his own websites, James Nicoll Reviews (where he is assisted by editor Karen Lofstrom and web person Adrienne L. Travis) and the 2021, 2022, and 2023 Aurora Award finalist Young People Read Old SFF (where he is assisted by web person Adrienne L. Travis). His Patreon can be found here.
