My life in books

I have not been reading much short fiction this year; in fact, I've nit been doing as much reading as I normally do, because of health issues and depression and the effects of pain medication. But lately I seem to have regained my interest in reading despite the continued presence of these issues, and I'm taking advantage of this to do some concentrated reading of new short fiction. Among other sources, I'm using the Nebula Reading List (https://www.sfwa.org/forum/reading/4-shortstory/) as a general guide to finding stories of interest. So expect to see a fair number of posts about my short fiction reading in the next little while. Assuming that I don't fall into another of those rather scary not-reading phases.


Hiromi Goto, "Notes from Liminal Spaces"; Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2017
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/notes-liminal-spaces/

I don't actually have a simple word for categorising this piece of writing. It was published with a footnote which says "Originally delivered as a keynote speech at the 2015 Academic Conference of Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy." Certainly, it is not a traditional short story. Oh, there's a fictional narrative, and characters that are truly, strongly realised, and a climax that reminds me if nothing so much as Russ' story "The Women Men Don't See." And there is a speech about the meanings of story and the techniques if storytelling and the experiences of bring an 'other' - a queer Japanese-Canadian woman and mother living on unceded indigenous land - and how those experiences, those aggressions and insults and those things that shape her own perceptions of her identity go into her writing and her thinking about writing.

It's challenging and it's moving and it's thought-provoking in both its different parts and in the ways Goto has combined them.


JY Yang, "Auspicium Melioris Aevi"; Uncanny Magazine, March/April
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/auspicium-melioris-aevi/

In the future, clones of people who had special gifts and abilities, who had done significant things because of those gifts and abilities, are created, trained and tested to ensure that they are as perfect copies as they can be, then 'hired' out to clients who require someone with their original's ability and experience. A civil administrator, a statesman, even an assassin - all are imbued through training that simulates the conditions of their original's lives with the combination of experience and knowledge that, in combination with their genetic potentials, will result in predictable, bankable, behaviour. But sometimes, a clone breaks the mould and becomes, not a copy, but himself.


Naomi Kritzer, "Paradox"; Uncanny Magazine, May/June 2017
https://uncannymagazine.com/article/paradox/

In which a confused monologue by a time traveller becomes an argument for taking responsibility to act in one's own present. This well-crafted short story goes through all the established sff tropes about time travel, all the while building a subtle case against the all-too-human tendency to look for a saviour - for someone else, anyone else, who can solve the big problems and leave us alone to live our small and private lives. But as Kritzer's unknown protagonist says: "What exactly is it that you think time travelers should be doing? You’re here. Why aren’t you doing it?"


A. Merc Rustad, "Later, Let's Tear Up the Inner Sanctum"; Lightspeed Magazine, February 201y
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/later-lets-tear-inner-sanctum/

A chilling deconstruction of the 'superhero' and 'supervillain' mythology that questions everything from the canonical disregard for damage and civilian casualties to the over-complicated villainous plots that always have one fatal flaw. What would happen if the whole thing were a vast morality play - one that measures its cost in human lives - and the real behaviours of heroes and villains were shades of grey carefully concealed by PR, not the black and white craved by their audiences? A very readable and enjoyable story.


S. B. Divya, "Mictobiota and the Masses: A Love Story"; Tor.com, January 11, 2017
https://www.tor.com/2017/01/11/microbiota-and-the-masses-a-love-story/

Ok, let's get the biases out of the way first. Like the protagonist in this story, Moena Sivaram, I suffer from extreme environmental illness. Allowing people into my living space can make me ill for days. It's been well over a decade since I was able to function in the outside world. My triggers are mostly industrial products rather than biological organisms - plastics, personal care and cleaning products, petroleum derivatives, all sorts of man-made compounds - but the situation Moena must live in to survive is so similar to my own, her general concerns so familiar to me, that this story drove right into my gut and wrenched it. I know this woman like I know myself.

So, yes, I found this deeply moving and sad and hopeful and I cried. I suspect that even without the impact of recognising one's life in a public text, I'd find this a powerful story. The things it has to say about our callous treatment of our environment, and about the power of love to transcend fear, are important messages in themselves. And it's a damn good story, with a happy ending, and heaven knows we need a few more of those.


Shweta Narayan, "World of the Three"; Lightspeed Magazine, June 2017
https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/world-of-the-three/

Narayan's delightful short story is based loosely on traditional Indian legends about Vikramaditya, who is usually cast as a model king. In Narayan's tale, the legendary ruler is no human, but a member if a race of mechanical beings - origin unknown, they simply are - who live mostly apart from humans but who trade with them and sometimes provide advisors to the courts of rulers. Vikramaditya is an exception, who lived among humans and sought to help them as their ruler. The story itself is told by Vikramaditya's parent to three more of their children, who are preparing to go to the court of a queen whose people have long had ties of trade and alliance with the mechanicals. It is a story of love, trust and betrayal, and tells some hard truths about human nature through the eyes of an outsider.

I've decided that I need to read more short fiction, and so I've begun poking around the net for short stories available online, since I can't read paper magazines any more. And I want to keep a record of what I'm reading, so welcome to the first in an ongoing series of posts sharing brief thoughts on the short fiction (primarily spec fic) I'm finding of interest on the net. My intention is to make notes as I read and then post my thoughts when I have five or six stories to put into a post.

I'm going to be reading material that's been around for a while, and material that's new. I'll be including date of net publication and website/URL along with my thoughts.



"Kia and Gio," Daniel Jose Elder, Jan 6, 2015, Tor.com

Atmospheric story about a young Hispanic girl who can't let go of a lost love. The closure that comes to her when she must help someone else face the ghosts of his past to be free of them works, and is a solid conclusion to her story, but the question of just what happened to Giovanni and his lover Jeremy leaves me unsatisfied. Are we to assume their mysterious disappearances (both are presumed dead, and Kia comes to believe this is so) are a result of violent homophobia, aliens seeking heaven knows what, or something else altogether?


"How to Become a Robot in 12 Easy Steps," A. Merc Rustad, Scigentasy Issue 4, March 1 2014
http://www.scigentasy.com/how-to-become-a-robot/

For anyone who has ever felt really, really different - so different you're not sure you are actually human or capable of "normal" human emotion - this story hits home, and hits it hard. A woman, in a pleasant platonic relationship with a gay man, finds that her deepest sense of emotional fulfillment comes from her regular contact with a somewhat out-moded service robot. A story about alienation, gender, sexuality, and the true meaning of family - it's the people who love you no matter what you are or love - that really hooked me.


“The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere," John Chu, February 2013, Tor.com

So, yes, I have only just now gotten around to reading last year's Hugo winner in the short story category. And it is indeed a very moving and thought-provoking story, dealing as it does with family, love, gender, sexuality, coming out, sibling relationships, culturally defined familial expectations, the importance of communication, and all that good stuff. I know that some critics have said that this isn't science fiction - and they are probably right to a degree. But the unexplained water falling from the sky whenever one lies is the mechanism for a very profound what-if: what if in all our relationships, our friends, family, lovers, could tell if we were being truthful. This story may not be science fiction, or fantasy, but it's definitely not realistic fiction either.


"Headwater LLC," Sequoia Nagamatsu, Jan 2015, Lightspeed Magazine
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/headwater-llc/

A dying people possess the ability to change water into a restorative, healing liquid. Discovered and ultimately betrayed by a naive young woman, these people are enslaved and forced to use their gift for the profit of their captors. Drawing on Japanese folklore, Nagamatsu has created a powerful and moving story that is, at its heart, about the damage caused by the heedless exploitation of nature and indigenous peoples, and the tragedy that results when we acquiesce in and are co-opted by those whose only thoughts are about greed and power.


"He Came From a Place of Openness and Truth," Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam, Jan 15 2015, Lightspeed Magazine
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/came-place-openness-truth/

This is a very different coming out story. A young man finds himself strongly attracted to a classmate, only to discover that his new lover is an alien who has come to Earth and selected him as a lover for a very specific reason. Closeted sex slowly evolves into deep affection, the protagonist learns his lover's secret, but there's still a chance that love will prevail. I was not fully satisfied with the story - tye protagonist's psychological journey was well delineated, but his alien lover remained somewhat of a cypher throughout, which frustrated me.


"i Can See Right Through You," Kelly Link, Dec 2014, McSweeney’s Quarterly 48.
http://www.mcsweeneys.net/pages/i-can-see-right-through-you

An aging actor famous for an early role as a vampire, his career in decline, visits his former co-star, now the host of a successful ghost-hunting TV series, on location in Florida, only to become part of a tragedy. Or an entity first encountered by a young girl via a Ouija board follows her for decades and eventually claims her for his own. Or fame and fortune and the unrealities of Hollywood life lead to mental breakdown and a desperate, violent, attempt to regain past glory. Or something else. Link is known for creating tales that are ambiguous, or that can be interpreted in many ways. This story certainly fits that category. Its structure is non-linear and episodic, but tells a fascinating story - no matter how you interpret it. The main characters - Will, the aging actor, and his former co-star and lover Maggie - are vividly drawn. I'm still trying to make up my mind over which interpretation I favour.