MARTIN AMIS IS ONE OF THE WORLD’S BEST-KNOWN writers. Martin Amis’ work sometimes mimics classic science fiction. That the first fact is better known than the second gives Amis a bit more reputation for originality than he deserves.Imitation science-fantasy makes up nearly half of the collection Heavy Water and Other Stories. The results are mixed: “Straight Fiction” reads like a knockoff of Charles Beaumont’s dark 1955 fable “The Crooked Man.” Both stories posit a world in which gay is normal and straight is queer, but Beaumont’s mirror-image vignette shoved its heterosexual readers into a pitch-black awareness of sexual persecution, while Amis’ tale is a mere pastiche of gay and straight culture.In another reverse-universe fable, “Career Move,” screenwriters and poets have exchanged roles; Poul Anderson and Fritz Leiber both based sci-fi stories on similar reversals. Amis’ version is neither pointed nor funny enough to work. “The Janitor on Mars,” on the other hand, is rip-roaring wise- ass sci-fi with an original plot turn. But again, the perils of aping a genre are evident: A good sci-fi editor would have corrected Amis’ slipshod science.
Source: The Short List | L.A. Weekly