July 28 - "The Test"

“The Test”
by Richard Matheson
The Incredible Shrinking Man (1994)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

As an elderly man, Tom must pass The Test every five years in order to keep on living. His body failing him, Tom makes a difficult decision while on his way to The Test.

It is scary how some extrapolations of future public policy seem far-fetched, but not necessarily impossible. It would be tough enough knowing the punishment for failing the test is death, but knowing you couldn’t possibly pass the test would make the appointment a difficult one to keep. The story spent too much time at the beginning showing the test in detail, and could have been better served by leaving some of this up to the reader’s imagination. Overall, it’s a great, thought-provoking idea that provides a nice mix of thinking entertainment.

(This story was read July 28th, but the review was not posted until a day later due to a bout of unexpected sleep.)

July 27 - "The Island"

“The Island”
by Peter Watts
The New Space Opera 2 (2009)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

A work crew in space building travel gates across the universe comes in contact with an intelligent super-entity that directs them to build their new gate in a different location.

I hate when stories make me feel dumb. It’s the science here that seems beyond me. And I’m frustrated with the fact that it may not even be “real” science, but rather something fictional and thus not supposed to make sense in a real way. Still, once I finally keyed into the idea of the story, it was entertaining. It took me some time – over halfway through before I started to understand what was happening – but eventually things made enough sense that I could see the story. I may have not taken away what the author intended with the tale, but I got spaceships and drama and challenging questions: good science fiction.

July 6 - "Utriusque Cosmi"

“Utriusque Cosmi”
by Robert Charles Wilson
The New Space Opera 2 (2009)

* * * * * (Excellent) Science Fiction

In the planet’s final moments, Carlotta decides to shed her earthly body to become one with the Fleet, an interconnected intelligence spread across the universe. In her travels as part of the Fleet, Carlotta is given to opportunity to visit her past and remembers the night before the world ended.

The problem with (some) science fiction is that ambitious ideas can often become incomprehensible. That is not the case here, even though there are moments in the story that left me scratching my head in confusion. Wilson does a tremendous job balancing the world he created with the world we understand. I particularly enjoyed the time travel aspect to the story, cutting flashes of the past into the tale of how Carlotta arrived to the point in the future she narrates from. There were the occasional missteps in the prose – a clunky sentence or two – but overall, this was a fascinating introduction to a new collection of stories by some of “the most beloved names in science fiction.”

June 14 - "'Tis the Season to be Jelly"

A Week of Richard Matheson“’Tis the Season to Be Jelly”
by Richard Matheson
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories (2008)

* (Eh) Science Fiction

Luke is eager to propose to Annie Lou, despite the fact that everything in the world – including Luke and Annie Lou – is falling apart.

I don’t know what to make of this story. The thing is a confusing mess. An attempt at some messed up dialect has left the dialogue – most of the story – nearly unreadable. Sure, you can suss things out, but that’s no way to enjoy a story. And other than things falling apart, I can’t say much. I’m not even sure the characters are human. This is just not a story for me.

June 12 - "The Creeping Terror"

A Week of Richard Matheson“The Creeping Terror”
by Richard Matheson
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories (2008)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

Scientists prove that the city of Los Angeles is alive, and spreading outward across the country. As this creeping terror covers the land the people exposed begin to act differently, sometimes dangerously.

Formatted to appear as a true scientific article – complete with footnotes – the story comes to us in bits and pieces. With as crazy an idea as we have here, the format works to frame the craziness inside a border of authenticity we understand, we almost believe. And then again, you could look at the whole story as a metaphor, and not as science fiction, and be satisfied on a different level. I particularly enjoyed the image of the lone citrus tree popping up among the cornfields of the Midwest, and the famer’s wife’s sudden desire to “drive in to Hollywood.” Sometimes an image just fits the story so perfectly and memorably.

May 20 - "My Lawrence"

“My Lawrence”
by Claudia Smith
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

Mary Alice and her android, Lawrence, decide to move to the country.

Androids creep me out. So, I’m biased, and any story containing androids will inherently put me on edge. As sentimental – and it is sentimental – as this story is, my own prejudice tints every page with a shadow – a fear – I know wasn’t intended. It just goes to show how different readers will come to enjoy a story – or not – based in large part to factors no writer has any control over.

May 12 - "How to Talk to Girls at Parties"

“How to Talk to Girls at Parties”
by Neil Gaiman
M Is for Magic (2007)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

A couple of teenage boys in search of a party find a house filled with girls not quite like they expected to find.

Much like the poem the narrator cannot remember, this story is a mystery to me. The prose is pleasant and the story moves from beginning through to end, but I cannot explain what it all means. What I can do is relate to the narrator’s dilemma – talking to girls at parties. Gaiman does great job describing that unease – the hesitation to speak to strangers of the opposite sex. In fact, the foreignness of the girls’ discussions could almost work in a more realistic story in which two strangers meet, talk, and learn they couldn’t be two more different people.

I don’t think I’ve mentioned the spot illustrations by Teddy Kristiansen that accompany each story in this collection. They are amazing. I’ve been a fan of Kristiansen since his work on Vertigo’s House of Secrets. They are just “weird” enough to fit the stories in this collection perfectly.

May 4 - "We Ate the Children Last"

“We Ate the Children Last”
by Yann Martel
New Sudden Fiction (2007)

* * * * (Great) Science Fiction

A new treatment for inoperable digestive tract cancer involving the use of pigs’ organs proves successful. The only side effect is an unusual and voracious appetite.

This story pleasantly reminds me of Swift’s A Modest Proposal. While not as cleverly satirical as Proposal, it is a brief and enlightening piece of speculative science fiction. I particularly enjoy the seriousness in which the story is handled. Every detail sounds true and possible. When presenting such innovative ideas with such horrific consequences, the more believable the results, the more thought-provoking the tale. And to do all this in just a few short pages: impressive.

April 25 - "You Will Hear the Locust Sing"

“You Will Hear the Locust Sing”
by Joe Hill
20th Century Ghosts (2007)

* * * * (Great) Science Fiction

Francis woke up one morning to find that he had shed his human skin for a more insect existence. Terrified of people’s reaction to his transformation, Francis hides to plan his next move.

When I read the blub for this story on the back of the collection I immediately pictured a B-movie bug terrorizing some small town in the 1950’s. While I wasn’t far off in my imagination, the story ends up being better than that, better than I expected, really. Tales from the monster’s point-of-view are nothing new, and there have been many great ones (i.e. Grendel), so what sets this story above the merely mediocre? The character of Francis, bug boy, is expertly crafted. He’s given the backstory and development that allows us to care about his metamorphosis and eventual rampage. Throw in some mighty fine writing and all the elements of an entertaining read are present.

April 19 - "I Am the Doorway"

Sundays with Uncle Stevie“I Am the Doorway”
by Stephen King
Night Shift (1979)

* * (Okay) Science Fiction

An astronaut returned from a trip around Venus worries about the mysterious, itchy growths hidden under the bandages covering his hands.

There is a mix of science fiction and horror elements in this story that simply doesn’t add up to anything spectacular. The story seems run-of-the-mill – a recycled mass of 50’s and 60’s, B-class sci fi. Very little of King’s voice is apparent in the prose here. Granted, this is an earlier work, but while reading I found very little of the author I’ve come to enjoy so much.

March 19 - "Not Yet the End"

“Not Yet the End”
by Fredric Brown
From These Ashes (2000)

* * (Okay) Science Fiction

Two aliens in search of a race of replacement slaves for their world locates an inhabited planet, third from the sun, which may yield promising results.

It is my understanding that most short stories, especially science fiction tales from the 40’s and 50’s, follow a rather basic format: the twist ending. This short, short story is no exception to the format; in fact, it is a rather weak example of the rule. The aliens in this story make a mistake, and humans are saved from a life of slavery. The story is mainly told at us with some clunky exposition, and the only part of the tale that appears to be written with any care is that tacked on ending – the twist. I know this story comes at the beginning of a writing career, so it will be interesting to see how Brown evolves into a stronger writer.

March 10 - "Estoppel"

“Estoppel”
by Bentley Little
The Collection (2002)

* * * * (Great) Science Fiction

A man decides to stop speaking forever because his gift, his curse, is that everything he speaks suddenly becomes reality. After twenty years of silence, twenty years of formulating the exact phrase, the man decides to speak one final time.

The title comes from the Middle French, meaning to stop (thank you Dictionary.com). It is a fitting title for this story of man afraid to speak for the changes his speech exert on the world. I enjoy these trippy ideas where I find myself wondering what I would do – the choice I’d make – if I were in a similar situation. It is that age-old question: How would you handle the gift of power? I like to think I’d be as noble as the character in this story, but who knows. That’s one of the powers of fiction – good fiction – it allows you to live vicariously through its creatures and creations. To be as good or bad as the story, or your imagination, allows.

An interesting side note – There is a novel, Dispatch, by Little that must have found inspiration in this story. In Dispatch the main character has the ability to persuade anyone to do anything he writes in a letter. Blessed/cursed by a gift of similar persuasion, Little explores the idea in more detail, and it is a captivating and entertaining read.

March 8 - "The End of the Whole Mess"

Sundays with Uncle Stevie“The End of the Whole Mess”
by Stephen King
Nightmares & Dreamscapes (1993)

* * * * (Great) Science Fiction

Howard Fornoy feverishly types out the events that led up to the end of the world. This final manuscript follows the life of Howard’s younger brother, Bobby – a genius in search for a cure to the meanness of the human race.

I’m a sucker for stories from the edge of the end of the world. It is the hope that is often found in these darkest moments that interests me most in apocalyptic times (e.g. McCarthy’s The Road). However, there is no hope in this story, no happy ending, and yet I still enjoyed it. What I continue to discuss – and enjoy most – in King’s stories are the relationships unearthed between the characters. The Calmative, the end of the world, the bees and wasps, all of this is fine and good, but I was more engaged by the brothers in youth – one soaring, mad genius gliding over a park in D.C., while the other, older, shouts in fear and exasperation, and flashes upon images of tragedy. These true, human moments give the reader that empathetic connection that makes the end of the world – or hidden horror – seem all the more troubling, exciting, and ultimately satisfying.

March 4 - "Maybe A Superhero"

“Maybe A Superhero”
by Deb Olin Unferth
Minor Robberies (2007)

* * (Okay) Science Fiction

A woman finds she is transforming into a machine, and this change has led her life in two different directions.

I know there is symbolism at work here with the woman turning into a machine – a robot, essentially – who finds different kinds of love from two different men, but I don’t know if I understand what I’m supposed to understand. In the end neither life was satisfying, and she ended up alone, sitting on a swing set, rusting in the rain. For as tragic as the story sounds – and it is tragic – there are some beautiful images, such as the beauty of defeated love and rusting robots. Sometimes I wish I were smarter, and not so easily distracted by the pretty pictures in my head.

February 13 - "Dance of the Dead"

“Dance of the Dead”
by Richard Matheson
I Am Legend (1995)

* (Eh) Science Fiction

Peggy learns the danger of new friends as the group of twentysomethings speed toward St. Louis and the loopy’s dance. Her mother’s warnings ringing in her head, Peggy finds more than she anticipated as she observes a loopy twist and jitter firsthand.

The story’s only saving grace is that the characters seem real enough. Not that I particularly care for them, but I believe they could exist only because I’ve met people like them before. They were annoying in real life as well.

I struggled to get a handle on the prose; this was once again a story of stilted, fragmented sentences (see “Witch War”) that simply didn’t work for me. The futuristic slang and obsession with Popeye cartoons did little to keep my attention. Even the supposedly scary scene with the loopy – the dancing lifeless undead – staggering across the stage did little more than make me twitch in disinterest. Written in 1954, this is a story I wish I’d have left buried out there in the world of weak stories.

January 6 - "Armageddon"

“Armageddon”
by Fredric Brown
From These Ashes (2000)

* * * (Good) Science Fiction

Herbie Westerman had seen the magician - Gerber the Great - perform before. He knew the next trick would involve the aid of a young volunteer from out of the audience, and he didn’t waste a moment asking his mother for permission. But once on stage, events take a turn for the worst, and it’s up to Herbie and his recently acquired water pistol to save the world.

Written in 1941, it’s reassuring to know a story can survive 68 years and still stand proud. There are a few dated references and phrases peppered throughout, but the story – the idea – still works all this time later. The notion that a single, simple event, halfway across the world, can result in catastrophic consequences elsewhere can still be seen and heard in pop culture today. And it’s still entertaining.

Also, I found it impossible not to start the story with a slight smirk when I saw the title, “Armageddon,” and read the first sentence: “It happened – of all places – in Cincinnati.”

I, for one, was not at all surprised.