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.

More short stories!

“eNGAGEMENT," Richard Oduor Oduku, Jan 15, 2015, Jalada
http://jalada.org/2015/01/15/engagement-by-richard-oduor-oduku/

A young plugged-in Nairobi resident explores love, sex, illusion and desire in a wired and virtual world.


"Blue Monday," Laurie Penny, Oct 22, 2015, Motherboard
http://motherboard.vice.com/read/blue-monday

A woman who only wants to retrieve her cat uncovers the extremes of manipulative callousness to which the establishment will go in its goal of controlling the people. Chilling cautionary fable.


“Who Will Greet You At Home," Lesly Nneka Arimah, Oct 26, 2015, The New Yorker
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/26/who-will-greet-you-at-home

In a world of women who choose what materials to create their daughters from - clay, twigs, porcelain - and their mothers bring these babies to life with blessings, Ogechi, at odds with her own mother, struggles to find the right substance to use for her child. Powerful and disturbing.


"So Much Cooking," Naomi Kritzer, Nov. 2015, Clarkesworld
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/kritzer_11_15/

The progress of an influenza epidemic, from early warning through the shut-down of a city and growing scarcity, and its effects on one family, is told through a series of foodie blog posts. Effective and moving reminder of how close the middle class urban world is to the loss of all the plenty and convenience we have come to take for granted.


"Last Wave," Ivor W. Hartmann, Jan 15, 2015, Jalada
http://jalada.org/2015/01/15/last-wave-by-ivor-w-hartmann/

The last words of the last human to live amid the ecological nightmare that the Earth has become land five million years later on unexpected ears. The narrative sets up an interesting plot twist but is somewhat lacking in depth.


“The Monkey House," Tade Thompson, Mar 5, 2015, Omenana Issue 2
http://omenana.com/2015/03/05/the-monkey-house/

An office worker in Lagos begins to see things around the office that should not be there. Unsettling story built around a Nigerian folk tale.

Naomi Kritzer's debut duology, Fires of the Faithful and Turning of the Storm, is a great read, and one that shows a great deal of promise for even greater reads to come. It's a well-written story about a young musician who becomes the catalyst for massive change in a war-torn land ruled by a corrupt and intolerant priesthood.

The character development arc of the protagonist, Eliana, was well-handled. She seems not so much a young person with a great destiny as she is just, by chance, the right person in the right place at the right time, who just barely manages to grow into waht is needed, which is what most people of destiny really are.

Considering that the overall title of the duology is Eliana's song, the importance of multiple uses of music and dance as repositories of information, tools of change and focus of emotion and magcal/spiritual power in the novel was not unexpected, but was certainly well integrated and very believable. As well, I particularly enjoyed Kritzer's portrayal of the processes of planning and executing a revolution - the posturing and political infighting and petty rivalries were a welcome change from some such tales where everyone is noble and high-minded.

As someone who is more naturally sympathetic to pagan, goddess-based religions, I found it a bit unsettling to be in a world where the savagely oppressed Old Religion is one that is strongly paralleled to Christianity and the theocratic Inquisitors do what they do in the name of The Lady, but ultimately this positioning of these two common religious types helps, I think, to underline what Kritzer is saying about the ubiquity of religious intolerance.

While there were a couple of over-used tropes that bothered me, particularly the one about the hero who arrives in the middle of planning a revolution and figures out what everyone was doing wrong, the novel impressed me for its treatment of religious intolerance and its exploration of how power can corrupt not only the opressor, but also the formerly oppressed. Kritzer's maturity in dealing with these questions, and with the issues of religious tension, prejudice and persecution, as well as her courage in leaving these issues unresolved more than compensates for her occasional use of some well-worn plot elements.

The voice is fresh, the world-building and characterization are very sound, the themes were well-handled (as well as being of particular interest to me), and I'm definitely looking forward to reading more from Kritzer.