The Thousand Ruby Galaxy
by Martin Edmond (Kilmog Press)

Reviewed by Gordon McLauchlan

 
This is another imagination teaser from an author (pic left) who never fails to stimulate even when the reader may not be sure whether he’s pulling your leg or not. The Ruby Galaxians listen to, record and when necessary reconstitute memories so that nothing in the universe  is ever lost. A librarian called Samsara contacts the narrator on earth for information such as the dreams of Alexander the Great, the gods of Dogon (a tribe in Mali), what really happened at the Eureka Stockade, any missing letters from Shakespeare to the Dark Lady (of the sonnets), and documents  concerning Sha Na Na and the claim that they ‘invented the Fifties”.
    Are you with me?
    Well the plot most definitely thickens to the point where it would be too complicated to thin it out with a summary. Samsara keeps in touch with the narrator by what I would call super-Skype and he gets transmitted to the Thousand Ruby Galaxy and has a kind of affair with her – or perhaps this is only virtual travel (more than once) and love.
    If you want to know about the gods of Dogon, what might have happened at the Eureka Stockade (does it get through the “truth test software”?) and other stuff, read on. It’s great fun.
    This novella is an attractive production by Dunedin’s Kilmog Press, but contains no information on type-face or paper, interesting facts that craft printers usually provide.

Gordon McLauchlan is an Auckland writer and occasional reviewer on Beattie's Book Blog.