Throughout its phenomenal and interesting history, science fiction has created fans with possibly the highest standards for entertainment. With characters as unforgettable as Data or Chewbacca, and storylines as ingenious as Lord of the Rings or The Matrix, these expectations are self-explanatory. Obviously, Dave Duncan never reviewed these standards when he wrote West of January, or he would have saved the mother ship of fans from the torture of this flavourless, sadistic drama, mistakenly categorized as sci-fi. It should have been placed in the 'self-help' section, because that's exac…
