The Short Story Thread

[Jayaprakash Satyamurthy]

The Author Of The Acacia Seeds, subtitled And other extracts from the Journal of the Association of Therolinguists, by Ursula K. Le Guin. An incredibly imaginative, evocative and thought-provoking little piece, it consists of three excerpts from a putative journal for academics who interpret animal and insect languages. The first piece looks at the poetry 'written' on a series of acacia seeds by a renegade worker ant who leaves her tribe to be a hermit. The second deals with strides in interpreting penguin language, with ballet dancers producing renditions of pieces from the penguins' language of gesture. The piece ends with a suggestion that researchers have focussed too much on the more overt language of the smaller, more active penguins and suggests that the relatively quiescent Emperor penguin may have a far more subtle and rich language-world. Finally, the head of the Association imagines new areas of study altogether - the language of plants, of lichen, and finally of minerals.

But my summary does this story no justice. It's a fascinating study of our ideas of communication and art, where one shades into another, and where behaviour or even just existence shade into language. Le Guin has gone on record describing Philip K Dick as America's own home-grown Borges, a title she herself can lay claim to with tales like this.

 

[Fried Egg]

I've started readin "Terror by Night" by Ambrose Biece an already I think I'm getting a sense of his bitter and unfair view of life.

I particularly liked "An occurrence at Owl creek bridge", set during the American civil war, and a civillian is about to be hanged from a bridge by Union soldiers but he lets himself dream about managing to escape and return to his family...

Also, "Haiti the Shepherd" is an excellent tale, almost like a parable, about hapinness (and it's elusiveness).

 

[Connavar]

House Dick by by Dashiell Hammett in Nightmare Town collection.

Of course a story with The Continental OP, a short one but a great one as must stories with The OP. The collection has 3 short stories about Same Spade that Hammett wrote as sequals for The Maltese Falcon after bieng forced publisher,fans.

But i bought the collection to get a complete collection of all the OP stories, i couldnt care less about Sam Spade at the moment.

 

[dask]

"Dagon" from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES edited by S.T. Joshi.

Later in his career H.P. Lovecraft would develop what August Derleth has coined the Cthulhu mythos, Lovecraft's literary "cosmicism", to help offset the burden of "mechanistic materialism," the philosophical light he bent to see the world around him. (Man, the hours I spent pilfering --- er, researching S.T. Joshi's introduction.) But early on he stayed closer to home. In "Dagon", Lovecraft's first foray into the printed landscape of WEIRD TALES, the supercargo of a passenger boat is captured by a German warship, deftly escapes in a small lifeboat and is set adrift in the middle of the ocean with no navigational aid. While asleep he is washed ashore a vast expanse of "black slime...putrid with the carcasses of decaying fish and other less describle things...protruding from the nasty mud of the unending plain." This is no fifth dimension he has been tossed into, no alternate earth shooting up at right angles to our own, but a national park size chunk of ocean floor "innumerable millions of years" old risen to the surface. To the horizon and beyond, "monotonous undulations" of Stygian scope, reminiscent "of Satan's hideous climb through the unfashioned realms of darkness" claim him as their own. But as any good explorer with no hope in sight, he sets "out boldly for an unknown goal." Eventually he comes across a monolithic piece of rock, not the work of Nature, however, but "of living and thinking creatures."

Then Dagon, the Fish-God appears, but rather than preemptively squashing the human interloper out of existence, it runs to the aid of the "Cyclopean monolith", protectively wrapping it's arms around it and hurling verbally grotesque admonishments like a wild animal staking out it's territory. Evidently Lovecraft does not hold his gods in very high esteem. Still, its enough to drive our hero into morphine addiction and eventual suicide.

Well written and creepy, I can't think of a better way to kick off a career in weird tale telling.

 

[Fried Egg]

"Dagon" from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER WEIRD STORIES edited by S.T. Joshi.
...
Well written and creepy, I can't think of a better way to kick off a career in weird tale telling.

That was my first Lovecraft tale. I quite enjoyed it but, looking back, I think he far surpassed it later on...

I've just finished a collection by Theodore Sturgeon and the highlight for me was "The Pod and the Barrier" about a hotch potch array of scientists on a space expedition to try to penetrate an inpenetratable barrier that is inhibiting mankind's galactic expansion. Quintisential Sturgeon in that it is well written, thought provoking and never quite unfolds as you might expect...

 

[Connavar]

I read Second Skin by Paul J McAuley, a writer i wanted to try for a time. He had good smooth prose,suspenseful,inventive. Kind of far future,biological SF i like. I will try one of his novels very soon.

Right now i'm reading The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

A bit too much science talk for most of the story. The twist at the end,the writing of the lead character about her life,daugther was interesting. An different writer but this story was one of few sf stories i thought was too slow.

 

[jojajihisc]

I read Second Skin recently too. Also recently:

The People of Sand and Slag - Paolo Bacigalupi
Bait - Robin Aurelian
Hell is the Absence of God - Ted Chiang
Mother Grasshopper - Michael Swanwick
Flowers for Algernon - Daniel Keyes

 

[Fried Egg]

Right now i'm reading The Story of Your Life by Ted Chiang.

A bit too much science talk for most of the story. The twist at the end,the writing of the lead character about her life,daugther was interesting. An different writer but this story was one of few sf stories i thought was too slow.

Did you think so? I loved it. I've loved both the stories of his I have read so far. So much so that I'm sorely tempted to go out and get his entire collection.

 

[Connavar]

Did you think so? I loved it. I've loved both the stories of his I have read so far. So much so that I'm sorely tempted to go out and get his entire collection.

The actual story,the different times story was good i liked it. The early parts of learning the alien's language,writing was disappointing. Lot of pointless science talk. I have read a very similar story by Jack Vance about learning a weird aliens language where the science story behind that was written much better.

Interesting writer but this story was like two different stories and didnt make me think i have to read his novels, or collections. I mean the interesting part of the story had nothing to do with a SF story. It was the story of the mother remembering her daughter life.

Unlike Bruce Sterling,McAuley stories i read just before it which i thought was better balanced and more interested in reading their novels. Ted Chiang i have to try again.

 

[Fried Egg]

I don't think Ted Chiang has any novels?

He has a single collection out called Stories of Your Life and others.

Interesting writer but this story was like two different stories...

Well yes, but there is a connection. Her study of the Alien language helped her see her own life differently and come to terms with the death of her Daughter.

 

[Connavar]

I don't think Ted Chiang has any novels?

He has a single collection out called Stories of Your Life and others.

Well yes, but there is a connection. Her study of the Alien language helped her see her own life differently and come to terms with the death of her Daughter.

Yeah i meant i'm reading the SF anthologies i have to find authors interesting enough to try their novels or collections if they are a short story writer.

Yeah the connection was there and i only had issues with early part of the story. It just dont stand out among the other new authors,stories in 20 Year special of Year's Best SF.

 

[GOLLUM]

I don't think Ted Chiang has any novels?

He has a single collection out called Stories of Your Life and others..

When I attended a press conference featuring Mr. Chiang in '07 and this question was put to him, he appeared to be sticking to short fiction for the time being and to my knowledge this hasn't changed, partly because he has consistently maintained that writing is a particularly problematic process for him and a novel would pose an entirely new set of challenges that may be difficult to overcome. Fortunately Mr. Chiang happens IMO to be amongst the best short story writers around at this point in time, probably outside of SFF as well as within the Genre. Kelly Link is another such writer that springs readily to mind.

Sorry...I don't mean to name drop but I think this is an interesting, indeed relevant point to keep in mind when reading Chiang's fiction.

 

[Connavar]

I dont mind the lack of novels i like strictly short story writer when they are good enough.
Him having only one collection is the problem if i come to enjoy his writing. Him being the opposite of prolific having only one collection from 2002.

I have heard good things about him but didnt know the acclaim come from a single collection...

 

[GOLLUM]

I dont mind the lack of novels i like strictly short story writer when they are good enough.
Him having only one collection is the problem if i come to enjoy his writing. Him being the opposite of prolific having only one collection from 2002.

I have heard good things about him but didn't know the acclaim come from a single collection...

Well he has written a little more short fiction than that collection Conn in some magazines but that's the only publication to date that we've seen in book form. Having said that, he has not written a lot more than what you would find in that collection but also has a novelette The Merchant and The Alchemist's Gate to his name that I'll be getting a copy of at some stage. I know you don't generally make a big thing of authors that win awards but for the record Chiang has won many awards including The John W Campbell award in 2002 for best new SFF writer, multiple Hugos, multiple Nebulas, Theodore Sturgeon Award, Locus award etc.. primarily for his short fiction, which doesn't surprise me particularly given the quality of his work. As he said during our discussion, he takes him a long time, sometimes years to formulate and then write about a particular story but given the quality of the work I'm happy to have to wait. Fortunately, there's a lot of other very fine writers out there.

OH...and I would also recommended Kelly Link to you if you ever get a chance to read her stuff in anthologies and the 2 short story collections she's so far had published. A third one I can recommend to you is Jeffrey Ford. He's possibly a little more prolific than the other two and I've got 2 of his collections I'm currently dipping into and they're both very good. He recently won the double at the World Fantasy Awards for best short story collection and best Novel, a joint winner in the Novel category in fact with our very own Aussie writer Margo Lanagan, who is also quite excellent IMO.

If I keep this up I may not need to make another recommendation for a few years, in which case a large crate of Sofiero will be adequate downpayment Sir...

 

[Connavar]

Jeffrey Ford is not new to me, his Physiognomy novel is one i must read,get on my next fantasy,sf book haul.

Kelly Link,Margo Lanagan is new to me.

Also SFF fantasy awards i value almost every award except Nebula,Hugo, they are too mainstream,big for my taste. I like the smaller awards like World Fantasy,author named awards like PKD,JWC,ACC awards etc

The story,setting in "The Merchant and The Alchemist's Gate" by Chiang reminds me of "Dinner in Audoghast" by Bruce Sterling. A story i enjoyed alot in Year's Best 20 year special.

 

[GOLLUM]

Jeffrey Ford is not new to me, his Physiognomy novel is one i must read,get on my next fantasy,sf book haul.

Kelly Link,Margo Lanagan is new to me.

Also SFF fantasy awards.....I like the smaller awards like World Fantasy,author named awards like PKD,JWC,ACC awards etc

In that case I want my beer now!.... Well OK, even a single bottle would be OK...

I look forward to reading your review of Physiognomy...

 

[dask]

"The Statement Of Randolph Carter" from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER STORIES edited by S.T.Joshi.

Though the title didn't ring any bells, from the first sentence I got the feeling I read this recently. Then it hit me, last October in AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, one of my Halloween reads. Tempted to skip it and go on to the next story I re-read it anyway. And I'm glad I did. As good as it was the first time, I enjoyed even more now. Not sure why but I have a hunch. A mystery writer (don't recall who) once wrote a novel (or any length story for that matter) shouldn't contain more words than necessary to tell the story, not one! That's the feeling I got here in a noticeable way. As prone to wander with words as Lovecraft could be, there wasn't as far as I could tell (no doubt proof to some I really don't know what I'm talking about) one word or phrase that could have improved the story by being cut or added. This was precise and intense storytelling about an unknowable and unnameable horror; a literary land mine and Lovecraft stepped on it dead center setting off an explosion of the most exquisite, magnificent dread.

 

[jojajihisc]

Yellow Card Man - Paolo Bacigalupi

This is the second story I've read by Bacigalupi and both portray bleak futures for the human race. Bizarre genetic amalgams struggle with regular humans for the most meager of existences in a very hot and filthy Bangkok. The main character is an old man who is barely surviving despite having been somewhat important earlier in his life. This is one of his "Windup" stories which, I believe, is set in the same world as his other popular short story The Calorie Man as well as his novel The Windup Girl.

The Girl With The Hungry Eyes - Fritz Leiber

A photographer tells the story of a mysterious model whose face turns up all over the world even though nobody knows the slightest thing about her. I read two messages from this excellent fifteen page short story. The first is explicit - the model is a type of vampire whose ability to feed off people does not require she bite them or even be in her victim's presence. The second must be inferred - the lure of advertising is always trying to offer something it never intends to give and that it's desire can never be satiated.

 

[j d worthington]

"The Statement Of Randolph Carter" from THE CALL OF CTHULHU AND OTHER STORIES edited by S.T.Joshi.

Though the title didn't ring any bells, from the first sentence I got the feeling I read this recently. Then it hit me, last October in AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS, one of my Halloween reads. Tempted to skip it and go on to the next story I re-read it anyway. And I'm glad I did. As good as it was the first time, I enjoyed even more now. Not sure why but I have a hunch. A mystery writer (don't recall who) once wrote a novel (or any length story for that matter) shouldn't contain more words than necessary to tell the story, not one! That's the feeling I got here in a noticeable way. As prone to wander with words as Lovecraft could be, there wasn't as far as I could tell (no doubt proof to some I really don't know what I'm talking about) one word or phrase that could have improved the story by being cut or added. This was precise and intense storytelling about an unknowable and unnameable horror; a literary land mine and Lovecraft stepped on it dead center setting off an explosion of the most exquisite, magnificent dread.

No, I think you are quite correct; and this has become more and more the opinion of critics and writers alike. He was the exact opposite of the Hemingway model, but for the sort of story and effect he was aiming at, he wasted no words, even in his longer pieces... something which can be seen if you ever have the chance to look at reproductions of his autograph manuscripts and the like: he was very painstaking in his fiction.

The Girl With The Hungry Eyes - Fritz Leiber

A photographer tells the story of a mysterious model whose face turns up all over the world even though nobody knows the slightest thing about her. I read two messages from this excellent fifteen page short story. The first is explicit - the model is a type of vampire whose ability to feed off people does not require she bite them or even be in her victim's presence. The second must be inferred - the lure of advertising is always trying to offer something it never intends to give and that it's desire can never be satiated.

Nice final note there -- and, again, probably spot on. Incidentally, have you ever read Harlan Ellison's hommage to Leiber and this story in particular? The title is "Nedra at f:5.6", and it can be found in his collection, No Doors, No Windows. Frankly, I feel it is among Ellison's weaker works, but you may find it of interest in connection with the Leiber... and it does have some quite good moments of its own... just not among his more memorable works....

 

[jojajihisc]

Nice final note there -- and, again, probably spot on. Incidentally, have you ever read Harlan Ellison's hommage to Leiber and this story in particular? The title is "Nedra at f:5.6", and it can be found in his collection, No Doors, No Windows. Frankly, I feel it is among Ellison's weaker works, but you may find it of interest in connection with the Leiber... and it does have some quite good moments of its own... just not among his more memorable works....

I have not. I haven't read all that much by Ellison yet. I did, however, just buy my first book of his called Stalking the Nightmare. I suppose there's not much chance of finding any free samples of his work due to his intellectual property militancy. Or is there?