This is an exciting
installment of Short Story Sunday. Well, maybe not for you, but it is for me.
This marks the first collection that I’ve reviewed in its entirety (except for
all of the non-fiction articles). I hope to review many more science fiction and
fantasy stories and I hope you stick around and get inspired to read a few of
your own.
For a long time I
completely ignored short fiction, but in recent years it’s become an important
part of my life. Due to an increasingly busier schedule and new responsibilities,
I’ve got less time to read novels. I was sad about that at first (and I still
kind of am) but I decided to view this as an opportunity to explore another
part of literature I didn’t pay much attention to before. Like everything else,
not all of the short stories I read are good. Some, even with their short
length, aren’t even worth my time. Still, I’ve read plenty of good-to-great
stories to remind me of how satisfying short fiction can be. Below are just a
couple of good examples.
Read in New
Destinies Volume VI/Winter 1988 (1988), edited by Jim Baen
Originally
published in New Destinies Volume
VI/Winter 1988 (1988), edited by Jim
Baen
There is something
important to be said about brevity. In the right hands, a story can be more
effective and is served better by being told in a shorter length. That length
can help the writer, the story, and the reader focus on the important aspects
of a given story while eliminating any distractions. “Freeze Frame” is a good
example of a story that I believe is aided by it’s shorter than average length.
At a mere ten page, Moore is able to create a realistic portrayal of a genius artist
trapped in servitude to a family of incredibly wealthy businessmen and how that
artist manages to find new meaning in the creation of a self-destructive
masterpiece. Also, he’s essentially gained some form of immortality and doesn’t
care.
This is a story
with a punchline, one that I didn’t see coming but thoroughly enjoyed when I
reached it, mostly because it had been setup nicely. My reaction and
appreciation of “Freeze Frame” changed considerably as I read it. My initial
reaction was that it was bland and barely qualified as science fiction (which
disappointed me for a moment because I was in the mood for a particular flavour
of science fiction). By the time I read the last page, I was more than sold. I
want to champion this story, but a part of me knows that it’s not a
masterpiece. It’s a solid story with no fat to trim away and I think that’s why
I enjoy it so much. There is some room to expand which is something you can’t
always say of short stories, especially today, since so many of them tend to
run longer than they should or act as a springboard for a longer, novel length narrative.
By the time I realized just how much I liked it the story was over. And that’s
a good thing.
While Moore was
brief in telling his tale, I have a few more things I want to add. “Freeze
Frame” had plenty of really interesting ideas playing well together. They weren’t
a series of idea hazardously thrown together, they really worked well in
combination and that contributed to the success of the story. Things like the
use and creation of colours for painting, how things change, either gaining or
losing value, over time, the legacy of an artist. There are also themes are
play such as financial success vs. recognition vs. self-satisfaction. For such
a short story there is a lot more to chew on than I originally thought and I’m
really satisfied with what I read.
Ranking: 4 stars
There is a good
amount of subtlety to be found in “Freeze Frame”. It’s might not be
mind-expanding or life-changing, but it’s clearly a solidly constructed and
well written pieces of short fiction. I’d recommend it, in part because it has
a nice amount of substance for its length, and because Moore presents his story
in a way that benefits its themes and show offs its strength.
“King of All” by Harry Turtledove
Read in New
Destinies Volume VI/Winter 1988 (1988), edited by Jim Baen
Originally
published in New Destinies Volume
VI/Winter 1988 (1988), edited by Jim
Baen
“King of All” is a
not-so-sci-fi, mostly alt-history tale of illicit drugs. In this case:
caffeine. Inspired by comments from Jim Baen in New Destinies Volume IV about the legalization of drugs and their
subsequent taxation, Turtledove takes this idea and expands it in a very short
story about that same subject.
Instead of focusing
on the politics and economics of such a scenario, Turtledove makes the case
that change is really what we’re talking about when discussing the legalization
of drugs. The title is taken from a passage from Herodotus:
During his reign, Darius summoned some Greeks
who were present and asked them how much money it would take for them to eat
their fathers after they died. They said they would not do so for any amount of
money. Afterwards, while the Greeks were there and listening to what was
through an interpreter, Darius summoned the Indians known as Callatiae, who do
eat their parents’ bodies, and asked them how much they would take to cremate
them. They set up a great outcry and told him not to talk that way . . . And so
it seems to me that Pinda was right when he said custom was king of all.” –Herodotus,
III, 38
With this story
Turtledove argues that being the agents of change in our world is really what’s
scaring some of the most vocal parties against the legalization of caffeine (or
).
Ranking: 3 stars
A very on-the-nose
analogy which could have easily been a bore to read, but Turtledove manages to
avoid an overly preachy tone. Instead, he uses a very functional and unchanging
character to reframe the issue in an attempt to find the underlying concerns of
the real world debate on legalizing recreational drugs.
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