Ray Melnik is a master at writing mind-bending science fiction that can also touch your heart, and he does so by using science in very plausible ways to open our minds to new possibilities.
In his novels there are no aliens, no shooting stormtroopers and no spaceships going at the speed of light. Instead, they are set in our contemporary world and include familiar places and people. Typically, the plot centers on one or more scientists conducting an experiment that has surprising results, affects the characters emotionally, and changes their perspectives on life and love.
Melnik’s most recent novel, Ghost in the Park, follows a similar pattern, but while all of his books have a twist, for me, the twist was even more unexpected than in his earlier books. In his previous works, such as The Room and Eyes in this World, Melnik has used concepts such as string theory and alternate universes to influence understanding of human relationships. This time, the paranormal is also at the center of the story’s scientific experiment. Ghosts are a subject most scientists avoid, and Melnik, realizing this, allows a tone of skepticism to enter his book in the mouth of his scientist persona, but he also counters that skepticism with insights. of other characters. He then provides an amazing explanation of ghosts that blends both points of view, but is completely original.
The story is about Sami, a young graphic designer, who until a few weeks ago was married to a beautiful young woman named Amber. The two lived on Staten Island and were just beginning their married life, but they were already having problems. Amber had always suffered from anxiety and had a history of child abuse; consequently, her problems sometimes overwhelmed her, and Sami sometimes found it difficult to deal with her resulting behavior.
When the novel begins, Amber has been dead for several weeks. The last conversation between her and Sami had turned into an argument, and then Amber was out for a walk and was hit by a car, driven by a woman who lost control of her vehicle due to a heart attack. The accident isn’t really anyone’s fault, but Sami is chastising himself for how he and Amber last broke up in anger.
A second plot concerns Dr. Noah Braxton, a physicist. Noah has borrowed equipment from SciLab (a nod to the scientific organization that has appeared in previous Melnik novels) to run experiments. He wants to use the equipment to learn more about some “ghost particles” or unexplained matter that he saw in a previous experiment. Like his friend, to whom Noah explains his experiment, he admits that he doesn’t really understand all the details, but the reader doesn’t need to. I’ll leave it up to the scientists if Noah’s experiment is plausible. I only know that Melnik does the research on him, so my suspension of disbelief remains suspended throughout the novel.
As the story continues, one day, Sami walks home past the park where Amber used to wait for him. He is stunned when he inexplicably sees her. She’s not just a fuzzy ghost; she seems real, so real he can’t believe she’s there with him. He wonders if it will now be as if her death never happened. They apologize to each other, Sami takes Amber’s hand and they start walking towards his apartment. Suddenly her hand is no longer on it and it has vanished.
Obviously, the reader will realize that Amber’s appearance has something to do with the experiment, but the reader will be in for a few more surprises before the book is over. I won’t give away the ending by saying more, but I assure readers that this is not a modern Frankenstein story about raising the dead, although the book turns out to be as surprising as that novel must have been for Mary Shelley. readers two centuries ago. Ghost in the Park also strikes a chord with the reader because it’s like the surreal dreams many of us have after the death of a loved one when we see the person we love and are surprised that he (or she) isn’t dead, only to go up to hug him and find him vanish and we wake up stunned and disappointed. Melnik delves into real-life themes of death and mourning here, and uses a bit of wish fulfillment to grab readers’ attention and maybe even comfort them a bit.
Ghost in the Park is a sixty-five page novella, but I think it’s all the better for it. I usually like long novels, but sometimes, less is more, and that’s often the case with Melnik novels because the main idea and powerful climax wouldn’t be as mind-blowing with a lot of extraneous detail.
Melnik has often included comments on the back of his books about the science behind them, but this time he does something different. It includes two short “essays” that are actually fictional vignettes as well. The first is a letter from a boy praying to God, explaining how his father lost his job and asking God to help his family. It would be a strange piece in itself, but it is compensated by the following essay in which God, who is a woman, takes over all the airwaves, screens and social networks to deliver a message to humanity, affirming that this is not his purpose . interfere in human affairs. She has given us all the tools to make a better world for us; therefore, we must be self-reliant and focus not on praying for others but on helping them.
These two essays suggest that Melnik is open to a larger force in the Universe, perhaps beyond what science can explain. This possibility is supported in the novel when Dr. Noah speaks with a coffee shop owner, Stewart, who is interested in mysticism and spirituality and feels that the answers lie there and not in science. Dr. Noah, instead of discussing or mocking Stewart’s spiritual beliefs, rationally replies that science doesn’t have all the answers, though it does have the best ones. I think Melnik is trying to find common ground here between science and spirituality, and although the novel ends up going in a different direction, it will be interesting to see if Melnik expands on these ideas or uses the two essays to be the seed of a future book. .
In any case, Ghost in the Park is a new twist on the paranormal. It’s actually a hybrid of science fiction and the paranormal, pushing the boundaries of both genres to create something new, something emergent, which explains why Melnik has called his website Emergent Novels. Hopefully many more will emerge from his pen.