Short Story Sunday: Joe Haldeman and Kay Kenyon

It’s time for a new project here at Shared Universe Reviews. Spurred on by the success I’ve had with The Blog Fantastic project, I wanted to do something that was related to science fiction, another genre I love but I feel I haven’t explored deeply enough. Heck, I’m well aware that I’ve only scratched the surface. As much as I’d like to give science fiction its due by discover some of the classic and contemporary works by authors new and familiar to me, I just don’t have the time. While my output has slowly gone down since I first started SUR, I’ve stabilized it to a regular schedule of one post a week. The problem is that I’m not fully satisfied with that. It doesn’t feel like enough but it might already be too much since some weeks I struggle to hit my self-imposed deadline.

All of this led to an idea. Writing smaller posts on short stories and uploading them once a week. This way I can combined my goal of posting more frequently while exploring more science fiction authors. That the goal is also for writing smaller posts, I figured short stories are perfect for this. Additionally, short story is a form of writing very closely linked to science fiction publications in the last hundred years, it makes sense to combine these ideas together. Short Story Sunday might not always be exclusively made up of science fiction reviews, but I’m pretty happy letting that be the main focus. With each post I’ll include where I found and read the story (online publication, best of anthology, magazine, etc.) and give the story one of the following rankings: 

Brooklyn (2015) Movie Review

Last year I attended Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival and I watched a riveting dramatic movie titled TheDisappearance of Eleanor Rigby: Them. As annual film festivals are known to do, Cinéfest took place again this year and I went to go see another movie. It looks like I’ve got a new tradition on my hands and that’s fine by me because I’ve enjoyed myself both times. If nothing else, seeing a movie in this kind of environment, where dramatic stories tend to dominate and international films abound, I know to expect something different from your average Hollywood movie. If I’m lucky, I’ll even get to see a movie with an actual story and that’s very refreshing when you’re used to being bombarded by shit blowing up, showy yet poorly crafted special effects, and more guns and ammo than Rambo knows what to do with. I think I got lucky again this year when my wife and I went to go see Brooklyn.

Brooklyn, an Irish-American-Canadian production directed by John Crowley, tells the story of Eilis Lacey (a confident Saoirse Ronan in the leading role), an Irish immigrant during the early 1950s. The movie, based on the novel of the same name by Irish author Colm Tóibín, chronicles Ms. Lacey’s departure to America at the behest of her sister who wishes a better life for her. During her stay in Brooklyn as well as her return to her home country, Eilis establishes a new life for herself and finds romantic attachment. The movie’s climax sees her making a decision between two countries and two men.

Neil and Me: The Neil Young Story by Scott Young Review (Unread 025)

I remember the first time I heard a Neil Young song. I was 17 and I had recently moved out of my parent’s house to attend university in Ottawa. A friend and co-worker with whom I worked at Tim Hortons in my home town sent me a song through MSN Messenger. That song was a live version of “Sugar Mountain” (I think it was from Live Rust). I liked the song and for years kept it on my computer, listening to it from time to time. There was something mystifying about it. I really responded to the melancholic tone of the song.

It took me several years to dig up more songs by Young and begin my exploration of his discography. I remember discovering that he was the writer of “Heart of Gold”, a song I first heard on a Boney M CD my mom had. It took me a few years to listen to about half of Young’s prodigious output. It’s time consuming because he has so many albums and some of them are so damn good they kept me busy for weeks on end. Naturally, I listened to other music while working my way through his back catalogue and because of this it took me years to get relatively knowledgeable about the man and his music. Throughout those years my respect and admiration for Young has steadily increase. So much so that when I found a battered copy of Neil and Me: The Neil Young Story by Scott Young, I picked it up without hesitation.

The Blog Fantastic 042: Yendi Review (Unread 024)

The main reason I started The Blog Fantastic project was to integrate my desire to read more fantasy books with my (then) new habit of blogging. Ever since reading Dragonlance by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman I’ve been a fan of the genre. As it happens, I’m also a very distracted reader, with bookshelves filled with various works, in many genres, and penned by many different authors. Some are familiar, often revisited, and some are still new to me. Because of this I tend to jump around, rather randomly, from series to series and from one genre to the other. I have no clear pattern. The Blog Fantastic was a way to give me a reason to focus my attention on fantasy titles, at least more than I had since my university days. As a whole, the project has been a success. Still, I’ve had a few disappointments, such as discovering the Redwall series by Brian Jacques no longer has any appeal to me and that while I can understand the appeal of other series, such as the successful Forgotten Realms novels of R. A. Salvatore, they just don’t impress me or entertain as well as I want them to (or as well as they used to).

It’s sometimes a bit of a bummer to realize you don’t like something anymore, but they’re good realization to make. Why continue reading a series of books you know you probably won’t enjoy?  Both of the above examples are series I first tried out a decade or more ago and knowing that they’re not my kind of thing anymore is helpful when I’m searching for other series and writers to discover. Besides, I like variety enough that I’m in no danger of reading through my entire pile of unread books.

The Blog Fantastic 041: Tehanu Review (Unread 023)

When I look at my bookshelves, certain books stand out. Some of them do so simply because their covers or spines are visually alluring. They catch the eye without much effort and they immediately distance themselves from other books next to them. Some books practically leap off the shelf because the sight of them causes a flow of memories to rush into my mind. Feelings, passages of the book, memories of my time reading them, all appear in my head. Other books with a strong presence, perhaps the strongest, are the works I consider to be classic. The books I consider to be masterpieces and written by some of my favourite authors. I’ve reread them before and I’ll read them again because they’ve stirred something up inside of me.

Not all book lovers make lists about the best books they’ve ever read or who their favourite authors are, but I do. I’m one of those people. While I’ve admired Ursula K. LeGuin’s writing since I’ve read The Wind’s Twelve Quarters, Volume 1. While slowly reading my way through her Earthsea series she steadily made a place for herself amongst favourite authors. Reading her online blog made me like her as a person (and I’ve come to learn quite a bit about her cat in the process). After reading Tehanu, the fourth book in the series, I’ve had to shuffle around some of my best of lists. Earthsea is an unconventional, sometimes emotionally devastating, and always masterfully written fantasy series. Tehanu is one of the best fantasy book I’ve read in my life. I was so thoroughly impressed by LeGuin and this novel that I’ve been living in a state of deep thought ever since. Why don’t more people talk about LeGuin? Why doesn’t anybody mention Tehanu as one of her great works?

My Beloved Brontosaurus by Brian Switek Review (Unread 022)

I read very few non-fiction books. I’m not sure why. There are plenty of subjects I find interesting. Of those subjects, many books have been written by writers who I’m sure did plenty of research and presented those already interesting subjects in a way that gave them new life. I’m not talking based on my experience reading non-fiction books, it’s just the probability of numbers. Like many young adults who grew up with the internet boom of the nineties, I’ve been bombarded every which way by information and because of it I have interests in many different fields of knowledge. Fiction has always been a dominating interest, maybe because of its inherent entertainment value. Growing up, I’ve always enjoyed learning but since I’ve finished high school, the amount of free time I have has been reduced and I’d rather spend my time being entertained than learning, no matter how curious I might be about a particular subject.

It’s not to say I’ve forgone any opportunity to learn, more that I’ve narrowed the time in which I give myself the chance to research and explore. The number of non-fiction books I read in comparison to fiction novels is very, very small. It’s a ratio of about one book in fifty. After creating a Goodreads account and tracking my annual reading progress, I’ve come to realize just how few non-fiction books I read. I’ve attempted to rectify that by buying a few non-fiction books in the recent past but I’ve yet to really read many of them. This year, I’ve managed to read one. I know, that’s not very impressive nor does it present a change in reading behaviour, but it’s a start.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Siege Review (Unread 021)

I liked to read Star Trek novels during weeks where I watch some of the TV episodes. Having the episodes fresh in my mind, I can very easily visualize the novels in ways that make me feel like I’m watching unaired episodes. I tend to enjoy my series (be it novels, comics, or television) in spurts. I’ll be hooked on Star Trek like a man who’s never seen an episode. I’ll watch it daily for a few weeks until stopping completely for a few months before starting again. During those weeks where I feel like a new fan, I liked to enjoy my Star Trek in bed before I go sleep, on the road to work, during my lunch break. Really, anywhere and anytime I have a moment to read a few pages. It’s a great way to feed an addiction.

Recently I’ve been watching Deep Space Nine and between episodes I’ve been reading the only DS9 novel written by my favourite Star Trek author, Peter David. Titled The Siege, it’s the first original DS9 paperback novel (the first was a novelization of the series premiere). According to Memory Beta Peter David only had the series bible and the script to the first five episodes at his disposal on which to base his novel. Because of these limitations, the novel suffers from odd or inconsistent character traits. Some of the characters are more rigidly defined than they often appeared to be in the first season. Odo’s character is a good example, as he’s hooked on the idea of justice to the point where he willingly endangers himself. Dr. Bashir is another good example but before I get into that, here’s quick summary of the novel’s plot.

The Long Walk by Stephen King Review (Unread 020)

I continue to be rather amazed by Stephen King. At the same time, I continue to be rather ashamed of my ignorant and juvenile dismissal of the man and his impressive body of work in my youth. Impressive, I’m discovering one book at a time, not only in number of books he’s written but also in the quality of those books. The Long Walk, arguably the earliest book by King, written when he was still attending the University of Main in the mid-sixties, is a short book when compared to a lot of his other novels. It’s also very simple, very direct, but this little book packs a mean punch and I took the beating willingly.

Originally released as The Long Walk by Richard Bachman, a pseudonym of King’s, this novel surprisingly doesn’t represent an unpolished or unskilled attempt at crafting a story. It’s actually surprisingly engrossing and masterful in its focus and execution. I wasn’t sure this book would be any good at all considering just how simple the plot is and considering there is but a single point of view to sustain the reader from cover to cover. It’s putting it mildly to say that the book surprised me.

Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volume 3 review (Unread 019)

I’m a fan of Marvel’s Visionaries series. It can still be hard to find old comics in affordable trades (though it’s easier now than it’s ever been) and the entire reason for being of the Visionaries line is to provide readers with a chance to discover classic runs by popular creators. While they tend to focus more on collecting runs by one particular writer, artists aren’t left completely in the dark as there are a small handful of volumes that are popular because of the artists. It’s sad to see that so many of these volumes are currently out of print but they can still be purchased easily enough at conventions or online. Regular readers will know that the latest Visionaries title I’ve been reading has been Fantastic Four Visionaries: Walter Simonson volumes 1-3. It’s taken me a long time (9 months!) to read them, even though I’ve enjoyed every volume. That’s because my general reaction has been one of passive enjoyment. They’re good issues, certainly, and I like Simonson as s writer and as an artist, but there hasn’t really been anything to make me give the run overwhelming praise.

This volume is split into two stories. The first is the best and one of the better stories of the entire run. Issues #347-349 are written by Simonson with pencils by Arthur Adams, penciling assists (issues #348 and 349) by Gracine Tanaka, inks by Art Thibert and Al Milgrom, lettering by Bill Oakley, colouring by Steve Buccellato, and edited by Ralph Macchio.

Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon Review (Unread 018)

As a reader, I like a challenge. A lot of the stuff I typically read would be, and unfortunately often is, considered trash by a certain other type of reader. Snobbish readers, the worst kind of readers ever! I love fantasy novels, comics, science fiction, crime fiction, and other genre works. I have no real interest in what people call “literary” fiction. I don’t recall who said it, but I once read that what is often categorized as “literary fiction” is basically just drama. Now, there is nothing wrong with drama, but why not have some fantastic elements with your drama? Still, every once in a while I feel self-conscious about my reading choices and I can’t help but ask myself “why am I ready this trashy shit?!” The obvious answer is that I love it and I love it because it stimulates me in ways that the books I read as part of my high school curriculum did not. I like novels with a lot of ideas, regardless of how wild and impossible they may seem, and I love it when those books take what at first can look like an outlandish idea and turn it into something profound, into something that focuses on a facet of human existence. Much to my dismay, sometimes the genre literature I prefer gives me big ideas without taking the time to develop them properly. It’s at this point that I start looking for books and authors with more ambition.

This leads us to Thomas Pynchon. I’m not sure why but I only discovered him recently. After finding out that one of my favourite directors, Paul Thomas Anderson, would be developing an adaptation of a novel by Pynchon, I started to read about the elusive author. He is an extremely fascinating person and his bibliography is one of the most interesting ones I’ve ever encountered even though I’ve read none of his books prior to this one. Something about Pynchon, something that remains just out of reach, absolutely captivated me. It also scared me a little. Here is a man who has such an imposing reputation that despite my rapidly growing desire to read one of his books I shied away until just three months ago.