The novel “The Heaven Makers” by Frank Herbert published for the first time in 1967 is based on the idea that human history is manipulated by an alien species, the Chems.
Human dramas are recorded with sophisticated devices that catch not just image and sound but also emotions for the Chems’ amusement. They’re immortal so they need a diversion that can save them from boredom. These aliens are forced to live second hand emotions exploiting human beings dramas because humans are mortal and dynamics while the Chems already tried anything their society could give them during their extremely long lives.
Fraffin, the Chem who directs Earth operations finding a perfect way to avoid boredom has however violated his people’s laws as he’s supposed to record the events on the planet without interfering with them.
Among Chem authorities someone suspects that Fraffin is creating dramas illegally and inspector Kalexel is sent incognito to expose his crimes but Fraffin is expecting that kind of move and is ready. The two Chems will face each other in a dangerous game of cunning that will reveal manipulations on human being far deeper than Chem authorities could imagine. The confrontation will be made more complicated by a human being whose eyes were altered by an accident so he can see through the cloaking that normally hide Chem devices.
Other novels had already got inspired by Charles Fort idea that human history was manipulated by external forces: for example Eric Frank Russell published his novel “Sinister Barrier” in 1939 and Kurt Vonnegut published his novel “The Sirens of Titan” in 1959. Frank Herbert however interprets this concept in a very different way: certainly he doesn’t have a satyrical intention like Vonnegut and the discovery of the existance of the aliens simply isn’t the beginning of a fight for freedom like in Russell’s novel.
Herbert seems almost more interested in using the Earth as an excuse to talk about the aliens, particularly about the consequences of reaching immortality, a topic he also explores in “The God-emperor of Dune” and “The Eyes of Heisenberg“. For the writer the static situation derived from immortality ends up taking away the sense of life bringing a sense of incompleteness.
“The Heaven Makers” is a little gem by Frank Herbert. It’s not a long novel so the plot isn’t as sophisticated as other novels he wrote such as the famous “Dune” nonetheless it’s far from trite and it contains reflections about life and death. Recommended.
