The Short Story Thread

"To the Mountains" by Laura Haney -- A group of people are condemned to make a dangerous trek across a wilderness as a form of punishment for unspecified crimes. A powerful account of the need for co-operation under severe circumstances.

"Their Thousandth Season" by Ed Bryant -- Another tale of the city of Cinnabar. This one examines the lives of a group of people with greatly extended lives. Decadent in content and style.

"Get FDR!" by Robert Thurston -- Some folks hired to be part of a recreation of the 1930's attempt to change things. A dark satire of nostalgia.
 
"At the Second Solstice" by James Sutherland -- Husband and wife on an isolated station collect data from a dolphin. This brief story suggests a lot more than it reveals.

"Notes on a Restless Urge" by Robert Wissner -- Frustrated writer goes on a whirlwind trip of Europe, imagines all sorts of strange things. Always a problem when writers write about writing.
 
Haven't read many short stories of late, but out of curiosity I recently read Donald Wollheim's "Mimic" (note that it ends on page 122 even though the scan goes well past that). It's the basis for the 1997 movie directed by Guillermo del Toro.

The premise is that some insects have learned to hide themselves by disguising themselves as higher order predators.

I can certainly see why the Vandermeer's included this one in The Weird. It works really well as a mood piece.


Randy M.
 
"And Dragons in the Sky" by Glen Cook -- Fast-moving, complex space opera narrated by a spy infiltrating a vessel which obtains a valuable substance from strange alien beings. Holds the interest.

"A Modest Proposal" by Russell Bates -- A man sets off bombs which kill hundreds of people, for an unusual reason. Has a premise similar to the John Brunner story "The Vitanuls."

"Omnia Triste" by Rick Norwood -- One-page joke variation on the three wishes theme.

"Stranger in the House" by Lisa Tuttle -- A woman returns to the home of her childhood. Subtle and haunting.

"The Good Life" by Robert Thurston -- Satiric story of a man for whom nothing ever goes wrong. Amusing.

"Sand and Stones" by Geo. Alec Effinger -- A soldier marches through a featureless wasteland, fearful of making any mistakes. Could be read as an allegory of any form of conformity to authority.

And that's the end of that anthology.
 
Starting a series of reviews of the stories in this anthology:

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"Angouleme" by Thomas M. Disch -- Part of the "334" series of stories set in future New York City, this one is about a group of preteens to early teens who vaguely plan to murder someone. Realistic and sardonic.

"Journey Across a Crater" by J. G. Ballard (reprinted from New Worlds, February 1970) -- One of the author's fragmented stories. Almost a pastiche of Ballard, with car wrecks as erotica, empty swimming pools, and so on. Strictly a series of images and impressions.

"The Lamia and Lord Cromis" by M. John Harrison -- Part of the Viriconium series. This one is closer to traditional fantasy than many of them, as an aristocrat tracks the immortal beast he is doomed to kill and be killed by. Rather decadent in style.

"The Day We Embarked for Cytherea" by Brian W. Aldiss (reprinted from the author's collection The Moment of Eclipse, 1970) -- Alternates sections of a group of people at an outdoor party talking and frolicking with sections of mechanical carnivores devouring mechanical herbivores. I don't think I understood what the author was trying to say.

"Pemberly's Start-Afresh Calliope or, The New Proteus" by John Sladek -- Parody of H. G. Wells as a fellow in the 19th century invents a gizmo which gives him multiple identities. Droll.
 
"The God House" by Keith Roberts -- Part of a series of stories set in a post-apocalyptic Britain which has reverted to tribalism, collected in the book The Chalk Giants. In this one a young woman is selected to become the bride of the Corn Lord, and learns the secrets behind this god and his religion. Realistic, and overall quite dark in tone, despite some lovely passages.
 
"Prisoners of Paradise" by David Redd (reprinted from New Worlds, October 1966) -- An alien being encounters a human visitor. Manages to create an extremely exotic alien protagonist and a very strange alien world.

"The Short, Happy Wife of Mansard Eliot" by John Sladek -- Joky tale of a rich fellow's attempt to win the unattractive, lower class wife of another fellow. Mixes mock advertising slogans into the narration.

"A Place and a Time to Die" by J. G. Ballard (reprinted from New Worlds, September-October 1969) -- Depicts the invasion of (I think) the USA by a massive number of Chinese (I think.) Despite the vastness implied, focuses on just a few characters.

"Exit from City 5" by Barrington Bayley -- Offbeat hard SF set in a city which has gone beyond "material space" after all the matter in the universe has begun shrinking, soon to disappear. Not the same old thing.

And that's the end of that anthology.
 
Starting the next volume:

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"Monkey and Pru and Sal" by Keith Roberts -- Part of the same post-apocalyptic series as "The God House" and collected in The Chalk Giants. In this one, set not long after the disaster, the deformed "Monkey" travels around in a wagon drawn by the nearly mindless "Pru" and "Sal." A dark vision of a bleak future.

"No Direction Home" by Norman Spinrad -- Frequently reprinted story made up of multiple vignettes set in a future where everybody is on designer psychedelic drugs. Ironic ending.

"The Meek" by William A. Woodrow -- Arctic explorers discover a new form of life emerging from a glacier. Almost reads like a scenario for a horror film.
 
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"The Causeway" by M. John Harrison -- In what seems to be the far future on another world, the protagonist investigates two mysteries: A gigantic, ancient causeway across the ocean, and the seemingly pointless migration of the planet's human population. Sounds like a hard SF puzzle story, but it's more of a mood piece.

"The Four-Color Problem" by Barrington J. Bayley -- Starts with the unexpected discovery of unknown places on the Earth's surface, but quickly becomes a very jumpy melange of satire, surrealism, and mathematics. Seems to be influenced by William S. Burroughs.

"Fifth Person Singular" by Peter Tate (reprinted from New Worlds, May 1966) -- A man in what seems to be an exotic far future has a strange connection with someone in the past. A bit of a head-scratcher, although you'll probably figure out the source of the man's name -- "Spirsh'ak" -- and the person in the past with whom he is connected.

"Listen, Love" by Jack Dann and George Zebrowski -- Brief tale of a humanoid alien and her encounter with two humans arriving on her planet. A tragic ending.

"Feathers from the Wings of an Angel: A Prize Story" by Thomas M. Disch (reprinted from New Worlds, March 1971) -- Deliberately sentimental story of a penniless miner's attempt to win a writing contest in order to treat his wife's illness and obtain an operation for his blind child. Given that the magazine in which it appeared was subtitled "Special Good Taste Subscription Only Issue," and the censorship problems that New Worlds had at the time, this appears to be a sarcastic response to the controversy over New Wave writing. At least the author maintains the deadpan style of a very old-fashioned tearjerker, and never resorts to jokes or exaggeration.
 
"Monitor Found in Orbit" by Michael G. Coney -- Seems at first to be a stream of consciousness account of an elderly scientist, seriously injured in an accident many years ago, going to meet his son, who went behind the Iron Curtain, for the first time in decades. The important science fiction content isn't revealed until the end, and it serves to explain the narrative technique. Cleverly done.

"Pandora's Bust" by Richard A. Pollack -- If that last name sounds familiar, that's because this is the only story, to my knowledge, published by the person who is now Rachel Pollack before her sex reassignment. In any case, this is a wild, surreal, satiric, and down right blasphemous fantasy about a woman arrested by the Vagina Police and who she really turns out to be. If there was ever a story that tested the boundaries of what could be published in an SF magazine/anthology, this is it.

"The Key of the Door" by Arthur Sellings (reprinted from New Worlds and SF Impulse, April 1967) -- Light comedy of a man in the 19th century with a time machine which he uses to visit his lover in the 21st century, and how his teenage son uses it to visit his own girlfriend in the 20th century. Complications ensue. Amusing.

And that's the end of that anthology.
 
On to the next volume:

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"The Exploration of Space" by Barrington Bayley -- While taking opium the narrator communicates with a being from another kind of reality who has taken on the form of a knight on the narrator's chessboard. Mostly a philosophical discussion of possible kinds of space.

"Simon" by William A. Woodrow -- A fellow wakes to find himself in a strange sort of hospital, tended by a strange kind of nurse. Takes place after an ecological disaster, and you may be able to predict the nature of the beings in this future. Nicely written.

"The First of Two Raped Prospects" by Marek Obtulowicz -- Surrealistic story which is hard to describe. Full of quietly unsettling images.
 
"334" by Thomas A. Disch -- Long novella which forms the heart of the book of the same title. Relates the lives of several different people in a future New York City. The speculative content is minimal and almost entirely cultural. Written in a series of short sections which go back and forth in time, but more in a mainstream way than in a New Wave way. SF as literature.
 
"Man in Transit" by Alan Aumbry -- Narrated by a fellow born on an airplane who, for legal reasons, is not allowed to remain in any nation, but must keep in flight all his life. Oddly, it evolves into a philosophical discussion of Western and Eastern religions. Interesting.

"The Locked Room: Another Fenton Worth Mystery" by John Sladek -- Postmodern spoof of traditional mysteries as a detective who specializes in solving locked room mysteries reads a book about a locked room mystery, eventually becoming part of it, along with the reader and the author. Amusing metafiction.

"Weihnachtabend" by Keith Roberts -- A bureaucrat working for the allied governments of the UK and Nazi Germany spends Christmas Eve with his superior and faces terrible decisions. Powerful alternate history story.

And that's the end of that anthology.
 
Starting a series of reviews of the stories in this anthology:

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(1970 American reprint of 1965 British original)

"Potential" by Donald Malcolm -- Dream researchers discover that a common laborer who happens to have a gift for mathematics is telepathically communicating with something unexpected. An interesting premise, told in a matter-of-fact style, with lots of everyday details thrown in for verisimilitude*, and a strong ending. (*One of the researchers is anxiously waiting for his wife to give birth. This is not directly related to the plot in any way, but on second thought it seems to serve as a reinforcement of the theme of "potential.")

"The Liberators" by Lee Harding -- In the far future, a vast, mobile, sentient city carries a few remaining degenerated, dreaming humans inside itself, until someone comes along to rescue them. Written in a rather poetic style.
 
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"Takeover Bid" by John Baxter -- The use of an experimental force field which shields off the person inside it from all forms of radiation leads to unexpected effects. In addition to that, there's an interesting portrait of future Australia and some thoughtful speculation about the relationship between that nation, Europe, and the USA.
 
"Acclimatization" by "David Stringer" (Keith Roberts) -- A spaceman returns to Earth to await his next assignment and has a difficult encounter with his lover. Deals primarily with the human cost of space exploration.
 
"The Expanding Man" by R. W. Mackelworth -- A man relates the strange encounter he had with an unusual person to another unusual person. Odd little story packs a lot of concepts into a short space.

"Treasure Hunt" by Joseph Green -- A philosopher has his mind placed inside the body of a silicon-based alien in order to capture a valuable object. Full of exotic details.
 
"Sunout" by Eric C. Williams -- Astronomers discover that the sun is going to stop producing heat and light in a matter of days. The apocalyptic theme is treated in a realistic, inevitable way that reminds me of On the Beach.
 
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