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The Eye

of the Tyger

NOVEMBER 2003

Despite being the shortest of the first twelve Telos novellas by far, The Eye of

the Tyger was probably afforded the most fanfare. Billed as the fortieth anniversary release, a run of just forty ‘special deluxe’ editions of this novella were released alongside the usual ‘standard’ and ‘deluxe’ formats, each featuring the ‘deluxe’ edition housed within a fortieth anniversary slipcase.

However, Paul McAuley’s tale is far less assuming than its packaging. With more emphasis on character than spectacle, McAuley’s rich, beautifully written adventure conveys both the wonder and the terror of the Doctor’s world through the narration of a man who is not quite able to comprehend it, let alone express it. Here McAuley shows us humanoid tigers, baby Dyson spheres, and creatures that live inside black holes, all as relayed by a 1920s colonial Brit who is slowly becoming an animal.

The novella opens superbly, McAuley throwing us straight into the

crux of his story as Lieutenant Fyne succumbs to the Tyger virus,

the Doctor powerless to intervene. From there, the narrative leaps

back and forth with the agility of a tiger as it takes us from India in

the 1920s to a far-flung solar system a million and a half years in

the future. McAuley’s first person narration is insightful and alluring

throughout, but especially as Fyne’s transformation nears compl-

etion and he begins to find himself attracted to Casimir, a fellow

humanoid feline.

On a final note, Neil Gaiman has to be praised for providing one

of the best forewords in the range thus far. Not only is it absolutely

fascinating (and perhaps even a little contentious), but it is wholly

relevant to the novella that it is charged with introducing, Gaiman’s

theme of ‘infection’ segueing beautifully into McAuley’s gripping opening…

Copyright © E.G. Wolverson 2010

E.G. Wolverson has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

This story is hard to place with any certainty. We have placed it after the Telos novella Rip Tide as the Doctor is travelling alone and apparently has his full memories in tact, as he did in his earliest Telos outing.

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