Heads would be a good example to use in studying the craft of the novel. Its construction is plain, straightforward, and undisguised. Bear begins with a paragraph that not only states the themes of the novel but tantalizingly foreshadows the mysteries to be revealed: The great silvery refrigerators four storeys tall hanging motionless in the dark void of the Ice Pit; the force disorder pumps with their constant sucking soundlessness; the dissolving ghost of my sister, Rho; and William Pierce's expression when he faced his lifetime goal, in the Quiet.

These are compelling images that promise exotic places and strange events. The refrigerators, the void, the disorder pumps, the dissolving ghost, and the Quiet each evoke questions that readers may want answered. The questions are answered bit by bit throughout the novel, the suspense building, until the Quiet itself is revealed. Tension is also created in...