The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a collection of nine short stories. They are all about Black women and result from conflicts between sexuality anThe Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a collection of nine short stories. They are all about Black women and result from conflicts between sexuality and being a member of church.
I have to admit, it wasn't quite what I thought it would be. The prose is very stripped down. I think Deesha Philyaw was going for the neutral viewpoint that frees the reader from a predefined judgment that comes with a more personal or reflective narrative. Instead, the depiction of events is very direct and on-point. Still, to my mind the writing style felt somewhat cold.
Without the more experiential storytelling, I think much depends on whether you can personally identify with the characters. I would be lying if I said I could (which probably shouldn't come as a big surprise). Or to put it differently: although the stories are sad or melancholic, they didn't make me feel sad or otherwise moved on any deeper level.
This is not to say that they weren't full of memorable moments. Philyaw demonstrates a great sense for the intricacies of interpersonal relationships. For instance, the first story tells us of two bachelor women around 40 who certainly have feelings for each other. Even when their relationship becomes sexual, one of them still expresses regret that they never found the right man. She doesn't even consider being with the woman she... well, it's not an easy matter to decide whether they love each other, but the ambiguity only adds to the quality of the story.
The stories hit you when you imagine the people to be real. It's not too difficult, since there really isn't anything too much out of the ordinary. Well, it's the not-quite-ordinary, but you get what I mean. No big disasters or life-changing decisions. Only the hardships of the everyday.
Above I've talked about the sober prose. I should clarify that this doesn't mean that it's simplistic. In fact, the different stories are told in very different modes of narration. We have a letter (to a lost sister), a guide (or a second-person account on how to make love to a physicist), instructions (for how to handle the affair). We have stories that talk of a single episode, and others that span many years. We have diary entries read by, and commented on, by another person with a very different viewpoint (young vs. old). It renders the stories playful even within a rather narrow framework.
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies a good book with all the potential to be a very special book. Maybe for me it couldn't have been.
Edgar Allan Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. But as writers are often commentators on matters of public concern, Poe too foEdgar Allan Poe is best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre. But as writers are often commentators on matters of public concern, Poe too found inspiration in the zeitgeist of his day. He lived in what was termed the age of science and progress by his contemporaries. What emerged in his short stories and dialogs was science-themed fiction.
Poe was critical of the spirit of optimism. In "Some Words with a Mummy" he mocks the pride that modern men take in their recent technical achievements. In "The Colloquy of Monos and Una" he warns us that our attempts to rationalize every aspect of society turned us into slaves of reason and rendered as incapable of the intuitive appreciation of beauty.
Above I've said that Poe wrote tales of mystery, and some of his science-fiction writings fall under this umbrella, too. There are two stories about balloon journeys. "The Unparalleled Adventure of One Hans Pfaall" reports the wondrous journey to the moon. The unpopular tale was later republished in The Sun presented as non-fiction and soon called "Great Moon Hoax". Another hoax was consciously produced by Poe when, in the same paper, he publishes an article about balloonist Monck Mason and others crossing the Atlantic Ocean in a balloon. The tales are rich in technical detail and convey the impression that engineers could follow the advice and succeed.
Much darker – and more in the vain of what people will expect of Poe – are his two naval tales included here. "MS. Found in a Bottle" and "A Descent into the Maelström" tell us about journeys more straining that men are able to endure. They are classical adventures and, for this reason, more easily enjoyable reads. Similarly, "A Tale of the Ragged Mountains" and "The Thousand-and-Second Tale of Scheherazade" tell us of adventuring men, though their journeys appear significantly more fantastical.
Frankly, many contributions to the collection are small philosophical treatises in disguise. "The Conversation of Eiros and Charmion", "The Colloquy of Monos and Una", and "The Power of Words" share the common setting of interlocutors discussing worldly and metaphysical matters after death. In "Mesmeric Revelation" and "The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar" Poe puts his trust in accounts of Mesmerism that were taken seriously by scientific authorities of his day to create a communicational bridge between the mortal world and the realm beyond. "Von Kempelen and his Discovery" discusses the potential consequences of another pseudoscience once held in serious regard, alchemy.
I fully recognize the unquestionable quality of Poe's writing. Yet, to my mind it's an exemplary case of where the mind has to force the sentiment to take pleasure in what to read. Which is a rather convoluted way of say that it wasn't a lot of fun. The only exception is a story I haven't yet mentioned, "The System of Dr Tarr and Prof Fether". If we talk Poe I'm sure this is the kind of storytelling that comes to mind. It doesn't come as a surprise that many of his other pieces are mostly forgotten.
You might be surprised to learn that witchers are sword-wielding warriors that kill monsters for a monetary reward. Actually, they carry two differentYou might be surprised to learn that witchers are sword-wielding warriors that kill monsters for a monetary reward. Actually, they carry two different swords, one of meteoroid silver for more magical beasts (like vampires) and one of iron for more common creatures (including humans). In one sense they are related to sorcerers, though. Due to the torturous mutagen treatment they had to endure as children, they are able to cast spells by the drawing of signs.
Now only few witchers remain. One of them is Geralt of Rivia whose most distinguishing feature is his ashen hair, a pigment disorder caused by a particularly severe exposure to mutagens. As a character he's always confident and mostly on top of things and you quickly gain your trust in his abilities to solve the mysteries he encounters. Yet, at times ends up being the butt of a joke. There is always this humorous quality without being downright comical (don't think Terry Pratchett). His actions are guided by more ethical principles that turn the assassin into a hard-to-define hero of many bard tales.
Of course, Geralt ia no stranger to the players of video-game. Indeed, fans of the series based on the literary model will recognize many staples that define the game experience. There are the smaller details, like the kinds of spells Geralt makes us of or even the pirouettes he performs to evade attacks. There is also the whole catalog of monsters, many originally taken from fairy tales or folklore that inspires the general atmosphere of this fantasy realm.
One main aspect of the witcher occupation is to investigate and make their deductions. For one thing, Geralt is confronted with what you might call crime scenes, or at least the bloody sights of violent confrontations. Similarly, he finds himself instrumentalized in political scheming and has to find ways to transform the situations in accord with his own ideas. The developments and reveals are often surprising (to the reader, not necessarily to the protagonist) and I loved how naturally they progress from the original setup.
The six stories (seven if you count the framing narrative) are very rich in detail and the narratives are strikingly different from each other. Unlike many traditional SFF short stories, It feels as if every dialog, every finding, every character matters. They are full of memorable moments and always culminate in spectacle, be it through a stunning reveal or because the conclusion is negotiated by swords rather than words.
Other than Geralt, easily the greatest character of the book is the sorceress Yennefer of Vengerberg. It's clear from the beginning that you cannot trust her, but it's an example of great writing how the self-interest behind her help is only gradually revealed. She's not downright evil – she's not quite the malicious witch of scary children's stories – but she sure can be more than intimidating. Naturally, to Geralt it's irresistible.
It's incredible to think that this is only a first prequel to a main series that spans five books of greater length. I'm excited to find out how this works in long form. Well, after Sword of Destiny, of course.
When I think about why I've started this little book, I would probably be hard-pressed for reasons. So far I've read two books of one of science-fictiWhen I think about why I've started this little book, I would probably be hard-pressed for reasons. So far I've read two books of one of science-fiction's most popular writers, Isaac Asimov. I liked his first novel, Pebble in the Sky, as well as the massive classic Foundation, but neither blew me away. I've read a couple of science-fiction short story collections, but with the exception of Ted Chiang's Story of Your Life and Others, nothing really stuck with me. And Asimov was known for rather inappropriately touchy behavior, right? Maybe it was just that I saw the book on the shelf and started reading.
Coming from this vantage point, the stories collected here - which form the second half of what was originally published as Nightfall - were much more exciting than what I expected. The media often talks about Asimov's brilliant ideas, and there really is at least one very strong idea to all of the stories. As a new perspective on things is one of the main reasons for why I read science-fiction, I really got something out of reading this.
"Breeds there a Man?" (1951) Some popular scientists and mathematics are known to have been fighting with their own personal demons. Kurt Gödel, for instance, lived under constant fear of being poisoned and would only eat the meals prepared by his wife; when she wasn't able to care for him anymore, he starved to death. John Nash is another tragic example. "Breeds there a Man?" is about a similar personality, even though it leaves open the possibility that the delusional theories of the brilliant man may actually be based in fact.
As Asimov explains in the introduction, the story was written as a response to the catastrophe of Hiroshima, with the intention of giving the topic a more interesting spin than (according to its writer) it received in most of the science-fiction of his time. Elwood Ralson is a nuclear scientist whose brilliant contributions are praised by many of his peers. He is mentally very unstable, though, and he is struggling to keep afloat as suicidal thoughts more and more push him towards the edge. He is very much needed, though, as the invention of a protective screen against nuclear attacks from the East is imminent. If only he would recover and lend them his insight, others are convinced they would gain the upper hand in no time.
There is much more to Ralson's mental illness. He developed a conspiracy theory of cosmic proportions that would account for humankind's global death drive, the rise and fall of powerful civilizations, and the role of the human race in the cosmic order. According to his favorite analogy, we are to an alien intelligence what bacteria strains are to researches in the field of nuclear biology. All our strive, our talents, human progress, it's all part of an elaborate experiment of which we are unaware. If individuals are getting too good at what they do or may even begin to grasp the bigger picture, there are mechanisms that lead them to their death.
After a bit of a rough start, with a man who calls on the police to save him from committing suicide, the pacing of the story was great and for me it got increasingly more exciting as it progressed towards its ending. The mysteries about the content of Ralson's ideas and why the government has such a strong interest in him were quite intriguing, and the resolution mostly satisfying. The tragedy added some emotional touch and I liked that the story never reveals whether his ideas really are nothing more than delusions (the parallel to John Nash's case are striking). So, maybe most of the science-fiction here wasn't really real.
"C-Chute" (1951) I have to admit, I think I'm prone to prejudice. When I learn about someone's occupation, if someone looks a certain way or wears certain clothes, I often jump to conclusions as to who these people really are. I presume many people do, and I even suspect that often we are right. Within the setting of a dangerous space adventure, "C-Chute" holds up a mirror to us not only in that we may be wrong (that's obvious). It may be that we have exactly the negative traits we narrow-mindedly attribute to others.
Human kind is fighting its first interstellar war, against an intelligent race called the Kloros. The reasons behind the war are not easy to understand, as they are a chlorine-breathing species, so their planets are for us as deadly as oxygen-based worlds are for them. They tend to treat even their prisoners with dignity and good will, so that six human civilians - who find themselves captured as prisoners of war when their ship is seized by alien attackers - are able to freely move and speak within their quarters and are not threatened with violence.
The story is mainly about courage. Naturally, the prisoners want to escape, but it soon shows that they are not ready to seize an opportunity presented to them. There is the so-called C-Chute, short for "casualty chute" and normally used to send dead bodies into space, but a brave individual could use it to go outside of the ship and walk his way to the bridge to kill the two Kloros on board. Of course, most are very hesitant to be this brave individual. Ironically, only a man called Mullen, who is perceived by others as very boring and too cold and calculating, mainly because of his job as bookkeeper and his very short stature, is willing to do it.
The story is not primarily about the action, though there are some cool parts even in this respect (like when the presumed dead Kloros suddenly wakes up again). It's not about the world-building, either, although I liked the descriptions of the Kloros as being more humane than many humans. It's about the misperception with which the others looked at Mullen and who is now doing what he can to save them all. It's made the more interesting even by Mullen openly admitting that his motives were much more prosaic than heroism and the fact that his actions would save the others too are more of a side-effect. Still, the others are ashamed by their own cowardice and his behavior sparks something in them. Inspiring in many ways.
In a good Cause... (1951) "In a good Cause..." is massive in scope and probably my favorite in the collection. The plot is incredibly twisted and not easy to wrap your head around. As its epigram, it begins with the words: "In a good cause, there are no failures. There are only delayed successes", written on the statue of a man still celebrated centuries later. The man is Richard "Dick" Altmayer. Even though he is not a good man believing strongly in the end justifying the means, and even though his direct intentions never really come to fruition, in the end he was the cause for a better future. Or for a state of the world he and his successors take to be the better future.
After the prelude, the story is told in three parts, delineating the events that lead to the three prison sentences he served in his lifetime. As even the law acknowledges (think of the failure to render assistance), not doing something may have consequences too (and ones whose occurrence you may aim at). There is a war of Earth against another of humankind's colonies. Altmayer protests against being conscripted to participate in this war, and he hopes to be one among many who do the same. His dream is to unite the human peoples in an interplanetary federation. His youthful ideals come to nothing and he is send to prison for his civil disobedience.
Things get only more complicated later on. As becomes clear, humankind is not the only intelligent species in the universe. They are approached by the Diaboli (named so for their devilish outer appearance). After his release, Altmayer formed a party that still champions his idea of universal peace among all humans, but he is increasingly wary towards the Diaboli. He plans to cause a war by assassinating high-ranking diplomats, scheming that in this way humankind would be united against a common enemy. His attempts fail and he again ends up in prison.
In the final episode, Altmayer found out that the Diaboli are planning to transform an oxygen planet into a sulfuric planet to increase their sphere of influence. He wants to transmit the information via an interstellar broadcasting to all human listeners, again to make them aware of the common threat. But again the government knows all about his plans. In fact, they want the information to be leaked.
The Earth government can then dispute the fact as vehemently as the Diaboli, and the other human races will be lead to think Earth and the Diaboli are working together. But there won't be a war, as non-Earth colonies would have no chance against a united Earth and Diaboli alliance. In case of a war Earth against Diaboli the other human colonies would remain neutral. When in fact such a war ensues, war gains motivate other colonies to join Earth in battle. Ironically, this leads to the United Worlds Altmayer always wanted.
I thought with all the political scheming, the twisted morality, and the deception, the story was very thrillingly construed. When I was talking to friends about the story, everyone was going: "Wait, this all happens in just one short story?!", and I felt exactly the same way when reading it. Science-fiction in a nutshell done completely right.
What If... (1952) When modern-day philosophers are thinking about the multiverse, they are often concerned with necessity and possibility. For instance, they explain the vaguely understood idea of necessity (or so-called de re necessity) by asking what would be the case in all possible worlds. Or more precisely, what state of affairs about individuals would obtain in all possible worlds, given that the individuals in question exist in that world at all. They are rarely concerned, however, with the connections of events in different possible scenarios (conditional actualization, so to speak). To put the point more romantically, how many changes to the actual events can the love of two people survive?
A couple is in the train and on their way to New York to celebrate their five year marriage anniversary. They talk about how they met - in a train where Livvy fell in future husband Norman's lap on a sudden turn. They also reflect how things might have been different, for instance, if he had missed the train or if she didn't fell. She doesn't like the idea that there are still two empty seats in front of them (oh, I know that feeling), and alas, a strange man comes and sits himself in front of them! He has a case on which "What If" is written and the husband correctly assumes that this must be the name of the completely silent man. As you may have guessed, he opens the case and gets out a device that vividly shows them what could have been.
There are some intriguing thoughts here. For instance, in one scene the husband expresses an interesting idea: "The crucial thing is that we cannot be held responsible in the real world for the things we might have done!" Maybe you could say that one thing that could remain the same in the contrafactual situations are our character dispositions (the personality that makes us us). Dispositions are essentially described in the modal vocabulary of "if this-and-this happened, then that-and-that would happen", so I don't think it's entirely unreasonable to reject his plea for excuse. For instance, I guess a husband could be rebuked for his willingness to betray his wife with another sexual partner (if you could somehow know about his ambitions), even if he was never presented with the opportunity.
As the ending of the story proves, maybe the two were meant for each other. Even if their lives had taken very different turns, eventually they still would have become husband and wife. I thought this happy-ending was kind of sweet. Very different from the big blockbuster escapades that currently explore the idea of a multiverse.
Segregationist (1967) "Segregationist" is a very unusual story, as it is very short and was written for an audience of doctors. There was still a very interesting twist to it, though. In fact, the twist was almost mind-blowing. Did you ever look at C-3PO and wondered, what if he was made of organic parts, would we even perceive him as substantially different from human beings?
You could say that there already are cyborgs among us, human beings who have machine parts. For instance, we are using artificial hearts and limbs. We are very close to new ways of interacting with the internet. So, even in the real world the line between humans and robots is being blurred (albeit we are only at the very beginning of this process). On the other hand, machines are getting increasingly smarter, more believably simulating human intelligence. Maybe there will be a future in which they are not just simulating; they do fully realize intelligence.
"Segregationist" realizes these possibilities. For all intents and purposes, robots are as mentally capable as humans are. So it's only natural that they were granted the status of equal citizenship. One thing has not changed, though: human are still made of organic flesh while robots are still made from metal. In the story, they are at the point in history where this is about to change. This transition is dramatized by means of a medical decision: Does the (human) patient want the hitherto used metallic heart, or does he want one of the more organic new developments (as recommended by his doctor)?
It poses the crucial question (made popular by Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep, for instance), when artificial creations are indistinguishable from human beings in their intelligence, what is it that still makes us human? One answer could be that we are born human and made from different material (so to speak). But what if we could create robots from biological materials similar to our own make-up? And is it really impossible to think that they could be able to breed naturally (Blade Runner 2049 makes us think differently)?
There were two aspects to the ending of "Segregationist" that made the story even more exciting. Most humans consciously choose the metallic parts (they seem to think that metal symbolizes longevity and strength). I loved the final twist that the vehement advocate of organic body parts for humans turns out to be an intelligent robot. Apparently, even the robots have developed ideas of separation of intelligent species.
I had such a blast reading these Conan stories. The richly descriptive prose draws a very detailed picture of every scene and character, and it's onlyI had such a blast reading these Conan stories. The richly descriptive prose draws a very detailed picture of every scene and character, and it's only my personal lack of imagination that in my head it doesn't look exactly like the famous Bill Frazetta artwork that graces every book's cover. It's kind of pulpy, of course, but I was surprised how well-written the stories actually are. They are inventive, complex in narration and their development of background lore, and the action is every bit like you always wanted your video game RPGs to play out.
Conan the Warrior includes three tales, all of which are frequently cited as being among the very best of the 17 stories that Robert H. Howard had written before his untimely death.
Red Nails (1936) "Red Nails" is of novella length and the last Conan story that Howard had written. I think many fans regard this as their favorite, and it's easy to see why. I really has it all: a hilariously dated prelude where the Cimmerian drools over the sword woman before the two face a dragon, a seemingly abandoned palace without external areas, ghostly apparitions with a burning skull for a face, an eternal feud between two races, a witch who possess the secret of everlasting youth, creatures from the catacombs, betrayal, strange rituals, the return with powerful magic, you name it.
The story gives you a very good idea as to what makes Conan so barbarous. He openly lusts after Valeria, and the first act is full of sentences like, "Do you want me to take that toy away from you and spank you with it?" or "He burned with eagerness to seize that splendid figure and crush it in his iron arms, yet he greatly desired not to hurt the girl. He was torn between a desire to shake her soundly, and a desire to caress her." Of course the depiction of women here is problematic to say the least, but at least it serves a purpose. And I liked that Valeria can stand her own in battle, and at one point she even laments "Why men let [her] live a man's life". I think one paragraph brilliantly puts into words Conan's primitivism, so I thought I would quote it here:
"Conan was too close to the primitive himself to feel anything but a comprehending interest. To the barbarian, no such gulf existed between himself and other men, and the animals, as existed in the conception of Valeria. The monster below them, to Conan, was merely a form of life differing from himself mainly in physical shape. He attributed to it characteristics similar to his own, and saw in its wrath a counterpart of his rages, in its roars and bellowings merely reptilian equivalents to the curses he had bestowed upon it. Feeling a kinship with all wild things, even dragons, it was impossible for him to experience the sick horror which assailed Valeria at the sight of the brute's ferocity."
There are numerous twists and moments of great action (as when Conan appears at the last moment to strike down five attackers), unapologetic silliness (like with Conan rolling down some steps), and gratifying revenge. The city felt unnervingly claustrophobic, as there are no windows or doors that would lead out into the open streets. The mystery of this place was truly intriguing, especially in the beginning, and I loved the level of detail when its history is developed meticulously in one of the middle chapters. So, while it's significantly longer than most of the Conan stories, it remains exciting and highly enjoyable throughout.
Jewels of Gwahlur (1935) This is probably my favorite of the three stories collected here. It's incredibly picturesque and just so damn entertaining. From the first moment when Conan is taking the exhausting climb upon himself to get to the legendary palace of Alkmeenon I've felt fully invested in the story. He is after the Teeth of Gwahlur, precious jewels that are said to be hidden there.
I loved how the story is set up. In the past, the people of Keshan traveled to the ancient palace to find guidance by consulting an oracle, an ageless woman who sleeps in one of the palace's chambers. The tradition was violently interrupted when a king (I think it was) found his doom under mysterious circumstances. Now, over one hundred years later, the priests (lead by a man called Gorulga) decide to revive the custom and are themselves on their way to the palace. And also on his way is Zargheba, an old adversary of Conan's.
At the center of the story is the hoax with the old witch, that is the subject of more than one twist throughout the story. It is given structure by posing various questions, as to who rang the gong that Conan has heard, what happened to the servants of an old sorcerer whose account Conan had found, or who killed certain people. The outcome is predictable, of course, but especially the ceremonial approach of the priests, with their torches and speeches, was pretty fucking awesome.
What I find also noteworthy about this story is how it depicts Conan. In stark opposition to "Red Nails", he is portrayed as familiar with foreign tongues and able to decipher a scroll he finds the the pocket of a dead body outside the palace. Still, it doesn't feel incoherent with other descriptions of the barbarian at all. Quite the contrary, We know Conan as well-traveled and absorbing of the impressions he has on his many journeys and quests. It made me rethink my understanding of the character as simply brutish and archetypical, and I like him more for it.
Beyond the Black River (1935) Another stark change of scenery, we now find ourselves in Conajohara, a swampy forest that was recently conquered by the Aquilonians in their ongoing military conflict with the dispersed clans of the Pict. Conan joins forces with a young man, Balthus, who in the beginning of the story is on his way to Fort Tuscelan, the last stand against the Picts and the place from which Conan hails too.
The main foe is the Pict wizard Zogar Sag, who is able to summon demons and who has already left five men headless (his magic had lured into the forest). The man himself remains completely faceless, but there is a great scene where the fettered Balthus wakes up in his camp and becomes witness of how the dark shaman invokes a sabertooth tiger and a gigantic serpent. The descriptions make you imagine massive beasts of limitless force and rage.
The atmosphere especially in the first half is absolutely amazing. When Conan and his raiding-party set off on the titular river in canoes, you can almost feel the sticky and damp air. The attack shortly thereafter brings in an element of horror that is continued in the before-mentioned scene in the camp.
The second half is way more action-oriented. You knew all along that the Fort doesn't have the manpower to hold off a serious attack of the Picts, especially when they come united through the leadership of Zogar Sag. On their way back to warn the other men, Conan and Balthus suddenly see the Fort in flames. They are too late, but Conan and his companion still run bravely towards battle. I liked how the story then takes an unexpected turn, and uncharacteristically for a man like Conan, they try to save as many people from the area as they can.
I thought it was pretty cool that the narrative eventually focuses on the heroic actions of Balthus. The back-to-the-wild hound at his side, he courageously fights off the barbaric attackers. He is obviously not as invincible as our muscle-packed hero and for him the stakes are much higher. The way he is praised at the end well rounds-up the story.
One last word on the glaring racism present in all three stories. At every occasion where an inferiority or superiority of people is of relevance, Howard doesn't tire of explicitly mentioning the skin color (as if that proves that it couldn't have been any other way). It isn't quite as bad as in some Solomon Kane stories, where people are portrayed as hideous or degenerate, but certainly enough to take offense. For instance, at one point Conan is surprised to find a walled city - here, so far from civilization, where only "the black people" and "the mysterious brown race" dwell. Every odd page you find a sentence like, "The people were a mixed race, a dusky nobility ruling a population that was largely pure Negro." Really annoying and enough to take half a star off my rating.
The Shadow over Innsmouth was probably the first Lovecraft story that I thoroughly loved. Compared to other works of his, especially the very surreal The Shadow over Innsmouth was probably the first Lovecraft story that I thoroughly loved. Compared to other works of his, especially the very surreal early short-stories, the plot here is quite clear and orderly. Maybe I wasn't terrified while reading it, but I sure felt the suspense all the way through.
The way the story is told invoked clear (yet dismal) mental images of what is going on. Hence, the bus ride to the town made me almost see the scenery, and another sense is even more affected by the description of the fishy odour that is constantly present as soon as he arrives at his destination. This is probably not the least reason why the protagonist must feel deeply uneasy when he wanders these roads even in daylight. Everywhere he turns there are ruinous buildings and dilapidated industry. He is shunned by most of the inhabitants, but the strange demeanor of the few individuals he comes across is enough to speculate that some disfiguring sickness befell its people.
When he comes to the seaside parts of town, you imagine the cold air and the gray sky as he looks upon the myth-enshrouded reef. Then there is the part with the local drunk retelling the legends. You may feel slightly nauseated by the idea of bestial heritage and demonic cult. But to be honest, I thought the development of lore (not the least the cultish Esoteric Order of Dagon and their ritual objects and robes) was really totally awesome. It's really epic fantasy in horror disguise.
At least as atmospheric was the last third when the narrator tells us how he fled the city at night. I loved the way he portrays the terrifying (possibly imagined) soundscape when staying the night at the local hotel. When finally outside on the roads again, he appears to be pursued by an army of demonic creatures who seem to emerge from the Devil Reef (what the old man called the "Gate of Hell"). Given the fact that he survived to tell the tale, we know that the narrator will make it out alive. Still, finding out about his family heritage in the last part of the story again sent cold shivers down my spine.
I guess many people are familiar with the general plot points, although they may not be aware that it's a Lovecraft story. For me it was pretty much the same, so I knew where the story was going. Nonetheless, it was still an incredible experience of horror done in its most successful form. For some reason, I always considered Lovecraft to be the pulp version of Poe, and I may still stand to that. But still, The Shadow over Innsmouth has every right to be considered a classic of its genre.
The Expensive Delicate Ship (1973) Two friends hike over a way that connects Denmark and Sweden. One of the two is telling a story and(Continues this.)
The Expensive Delicate Ship (1973) Two friends hike over a way that connects Denmark and Sweden. One of the two is telling a story and the narrator of story retells this story within his story. He is on the high sea. Suddenly another boat appears and the swell becomes very dangerous. He sees that the other arc (the "Doppelganger arc") carries many animals and even dinosaurs. Eventually, he reveals that this story is the product of his imagination and that for a man like him, making up such anecdotes is truly living (again a theme familiar from earlier stories).
The Coins in Clockwork Fountains (1975) This again a collection of three stories. However, this time I wasn't able to see any connection between the stories collected under the header. The first story (probably my least favorite in the entire collection) is narrated by the servant of a sick old woman. He tells about the numerous visits that the woman received and secretly lusts for some of her guests. Noticeably, the time scale seems different, as people live for much longer numbers of years and pregnancies take "longer". Possibly things in fact are different, but since it's a different planet the more plausible explanation is a different calendar and time scale. Eventually he reveals that he is the creator of the universe (maybe the initiator of time that the sect believes in?).. The second story is epic fantasy. Moolab is a many-legged being that gives "blood water" to other creatures (whatever that means). But tonight he is destined for a higher purpose. A priest and a "swarm master" (of the swarm that Moolab is part of) ceremonially introduce him to his quest. He is about to set out and kill a Kimarsun and bring back its eye. These creatures are so completely immobile that their position is part of the collective memory of his swarm. After some struggle he is able to defeat the being. The third story, well it's very short and I have no idea what it is about.
An Appearance of Life (1976) This story, easily my favorite in the collection, is about the museum of Norma. The museum was built by an highly advanced alien species, the Korlevalulaw, a race that had since then disappeared from the face of the known universe (there are many theories as to what happened to them). The museum is a huge, encompassing the whole equator in an underground facility. The Korlevalulaw left it completely empty, but at least parts of it are now filled with human artifacts which span long time frames. Female androids maintain the museum, which is noteworthy because it is said that there are now ten women on every man. The story is narrated by a "Erster Esenplastischer Sucher", which seems to be some sort of scientist who draws links between things for which many don't see a connection. In the cause of the visit to the museum, the Suchender sees space ships from the First Galactic era and later from the Second Galactic era. The Suchender also finds a wedding ring and is surprised by the type of relationship that used to by symbolically expressed by this sort of artifact (there are no longer love relations like this). The climax of the story is reached when he (or she?) finds two so-called holocaps, first of a woman and later of a man, created 65 Thousand years earlier. The two encapsel two sides of a long dead relationship. The Sucher decides to reunite the two, who were talking about each other in the recording. At first, it looks as if they talk to each other, emphasizing that they always upheld their marriage even after the separation. Tragically, it soon becomes clear that their messages were preprogrammed and cannot escape the boundaries of what is to be said would they ever meet again. The story ends on a contemplative note. Maybe this is the horizon of the human race as a whole, the Sucher hypothesize, created by the Korlevalulaw a long time ago. Maybe human beings too are just responding in programmed ways.
Wired for Sound (1974) An alternative history set in the UK after the Fall or Europe. Great Britain has become a dystopian country that eavesdrops on its citizens at all times. Companies are partly socialized. The protagonist of the story tries to strike a secret deal with the sheik who visits him. While certainly nothing special, I enjoyed the way it's establishing a very complex setting for the cause of a story that is barely a couple of pages long.
Journey to the Heartland (1976) This is the story of another dream researcher, Andrew Angsteed, and his favorite subject, Rose-Jean Depson. As in previous stories, his institute's main purpose is to classify the dreams of its experimentees. Angsteed forms a theory: he thinks that life is determined by the eternal return of the same (well, he doesn't quite put this in these Nietzschean terms, but this is the idea), that all people make the same kinds of experiences. This is comparable to what many psychoanalysts found in dreams, that dreams instantiate the same archetypes of the collective unconscious. Philosophically, this is a very intriguing idea. The fact that we share concepts such as friendship, accomplishment, etc. is probably the main reason why we understand each other's endeavors in the first place. Angsteed is having a love affair with Rose-Jean, who is afraid that she is repeating the same mistakes as with her husband (from which she lives separated but occasionally still has sex with). In the end, Andrew may have found a way to live in the dreamscape. As Aldiss explains in a fictional interview attached to the story, in the sad non-sf ending, the imminent break-through is part of his schizophrenia. Exhaustion as well as the realization that he and Rose-Jean are not fit for each other lead to the eventual breakdown. According to the science-fiction interpretation, his ideas are true. He comes back, changed, now living within the dream time. He is determined to lead other people to this Heartland of dreams....more
The short-stories collected in Last Orders, And other Stories are difficult and, frankly, sometimes even exhausting. Throughout the book, I was hopingThe short-stories collected in Last Orders, And other Stories are difficult and, frankly, sometimes even exhausting. Throughout the book, I was hoping for some sort of revelation as to what this was all about and how the elements in the story really are connected. However, as I was approaching the final story there was no doubt left that I would be disappointed in that respect. The stories are mostly taken to stand for themselves, confusing as they may be.
There are recurring characters and themes, so that it seems safe to say that the events take place in the same universe (or at least some of them). The interconnections are not very tightly knit, though. It's more like you are getting very small glimpses at worlds you know other things about, but this knowledge is very limited and partly based on inferences that may not be fully warranted. So, maybe you could say that your access to this world is similar to our narratives in regard to prehistoric times, only that these times are far or even further into the future rather than the past.
The stories are full of dreams, fictional worlds, the nature of life, the nature of time (standstill as well as multiple times), schizophrenia, failure, and the opposition of living life and intellectualizing it. Stylistically, I often felt reminded of Milan Kundera in the way the stories were told, and in substance I don't think it's too much of a stretch to say that the stories sometime feel as if Jorge Luis Borges had written science-fiction (even though the ideas are not quite as sharply laid out).
While I'm not sure I can give a coherent picture of all these stories, I thought I give some comments on them individually.
Last Order (1976) The world is dying. A policeman is driving around, looking for people who still weren't evacuated. In a pub he meets two people, and decides to have one last drink with them. The story is a bit silly and you won't find any deep ideas in here. However, the setting of course is honest-to-God science-fiction and I love the sort of everyday stories you would find in Raymond Carver and others. So, why not make the end of the world the scenery of a very everyday encounter?
Creatures of Apogee (1977) The four pages that make up this hybrid of fantasy/science-fiction story are quite obscure. It revolves around two peoples, the beings of Apogee and the beings of Perihelion and a mysterious Time of Change, with the latter taking over from the first. This reads like the lore you find summarized in an holy book, stimulating to the imagination, but with very little actual substance to it.
Year by Year the Evil Gains (1976) This story is made up of three different stories which roughly revolve around the theme expressed in the story's title. The first and autobiographical story is about a girl who lived in the Kremlin between the wars and during WWII. She talks about how she gradually lost all her relatives. Her mother committed suicide, driven there by her father. Her father was an important figure in Russia and she hints at his descent into darkness. The story is again only hinting at events, but I really liked its atmosphere. There are also the girls "inventions", like her color-coding of emotions or how to experience things differently when looked at from different angles (at first literally, later in regard to historical events). In the second story, men of a maritime research team go for a hunt of sea creatures, brutally killing them even though they regard them as intelligent and aware that this constitutes a violation of the Galactic Law. A so-called sector arbitrator arrives and rebukes the men for their ruthless actions. After research of the environment, the arbitrator suddenly feels the inexplicable desire to go for the hunt himself. You can totally see how this would make for an interesting development in a larger story. In the last of the three stories we follow two events simultaneously. After centuries, a spaceship rediscovers the Sun. They realize that one planet is missing from the solar system (after "Last Order" more than certainly Earth). They find the missing planet as melded with another planet, presumably Jupiter (because of the Red Spot). On the surface they discover an unidentifiable artifact which has FORD written on it. We also follow Jackson Paramour, the son of Jack Paramour. He lived most of his life thinking of his father as a boring designer of costume jewelry (incidentally, it's possibly the same person as, or a relative of, the arbitrator of the previous story). He discovers a book written by his father, which leads him to an old farm where he and his mother had lived. Next to a Ford he finds the place where he was conceived. Very well written and the outcome is amusing enough.
Diagrams for three enigmatic Stories (1976) The stories collected under this header are told in a very confusing way. They are introduced by an author (Aldiss?) and only parts of these stories are actually written, while they mostly are sketches explaining what would have ended up in there if they had ever been completed. The narrator in the stories seems to be the same as the narrator who is talking about the stories, explaining what he intended to include. He is a psychologist doing research on three types of dreams, all three being crucial elements in the stories to come. The first is a love-story-to-be. The psychologist is telling about his relationship with a woman called Olga, who he met after she had a car accident. He is working on a theory of dreams, currently focusing on what he calls tau dreams. Olga often appears in his dreams. Later the two become lovers, before she finally dies in a car accident. In the second story, said to be an adventure story, four men are part of what the narrator calls an immobility experiment. This experiment has three aspects, immobility, sameness of the environment and deconstruction of reality. The adventure part comes in when the subjects are attacked by "entities". Everything is very confusing. They are said to have sigma and ypsilon dreams (but no longer tau dreams) marked by the fact that "external psychic life" makes an appearance. I liked this almost Freddy Krueger-y atmosphere, but again I would have liked this to be developed further. This time, the psychologist meets with a "foreigner", the boy Ben Avangle, who seems to be humanoid extraterrestrial being with blue skin. They talk about Robert Louis Stevenson. The boy tells him about numerous brilliant works (including musical pieces). Coincidentally, the title of these works, which are unknown to the narrator, can be created by certain permutations. He claims that he used these rules to acquire an hitherto unknown manuscript. After some experiments, the narrator is sure that the Foreigners are materializing objects when in states of upsilon dreams. This story I thought was really cool and its ending satisfactory for once.
Life? Our Computers Do that for Us (1974) So-called destimeters allow predestination. A man from one of Earth's colonies is planning a visit to humanity's home planet in order to meet with his dying father. On Earth there are also his daughter and ex-wife. While there, he is also visited by his ex-lover, a woman called Anna Kavan. This event is noteworthy for two reasons. For once thing, she is thought to have died in an accident five years earlier. Moreover, it's the drug-addicted woman who was the girlfriend at the time when the man from the love story part within the last story meets the woman called Olga, and Anna is re-appearing in many of the stories to come. The conversations are interesting and I liked the central theme of: Does knowledge of the future turn humans into machines?
Monster of Ingratitude IV (1974) On Ingratitude IV (another planet colonized by Earth) Hazelgard Neff coincidentally runs into an old acquaintance, Lurido Ponds. They decide to have an Afranosta in an afrobar (this seems to be some sort of drug to be taken in in the nose). The talk about the cult already mentioned in the previous story, Wombud, lead by a man called Mister Queen Elizabeth and who believe that their real life is as an embryo. Ponds tells him that he is co-founder of a psychological institute of accelerative psychosis. Neff is an artist who works on teleceptors, which seem to be a device for creating worlds of virtual reality. According to him this is the most important discovery of the century comparable with with neocortal evolution of an earlier time. In the second half, the story takes a rather surrealist turn when Neff goes back to his family. He directs very harsh words of disappoint towards his son and a strangely psychedelic episode occurs when he meets is wife. In the end, they go to the Ponds-Karmon clinic, where Neff has another weird episode. Finally, it is revealed that he is treated for multiple personality disorder and that it is in fact him (or one of his personalities) who is the head of the cult (Mister Queen Elizabeth).
The Aperture Moment (1976) This is again made up of three loosely connected stories. The first story is set some time after the previous story. Hazelgard Neff's son, Chin Ping, visits him. Before he arrives there, we get some hints to the organization's plans, but the detail of main importance is presumably the disagreement with Neff's right hand man. On his way to Aldo Karmin, who treads him for his schizophrenia, he meets his son. For some reason, they discuss the nature of time, and Hazelgard argues that time froze and that we are in fact dreaming. As the cult holds, we are before the beginning of the universe. In the conversation with Karmin, he emphasis that he is happy the way it is and that he wants to be diagnosed but not cured. Karmin uses his birds to predict Hazelgard's future, which looks very bad and he is about to be betrayed by his right-hand man. In the beginning of the second (and best) story we get to know that Hazelgard Neff was obsessed with the fleeting so that he always wore a wire to record the events that were happening to him. The story itself begins with one of his recordings. A man (him, presumably, or a dream incarnation of his) visits a woman and her two daughters. He talks about an event that he experienced with Tiepo-Neff technology. Afterwards he is accomplished to his car by one of the daughters and they have sex in the garden. It is explained that the story isn't real and that his death prevented Neff from competing it. In the cause of the story, we get to know quite a lot of the art or Neffpanimation and that he worked on animating a painting from the Victorian era (by Holman Hunt) and that the model for the woman in the incomplete story was participating in the creation of that story. The Victorian era (in which Hunt worked) is of interest because the paintings seem to force the future onto you. The latter half of the story is a conversation that her daughter has with this woman, now old. In the cause of this conversation it is revealed that the woman really is the woman from that story and that the other person in the conversation is her daughter (the one who had sex in the garden). It is also revealed that she maybe killed Neff (even though he may have committed suicide, as the claims), as we know for sure that she killed her brother (which may or may not be Neff, who may or may not be her real brother as she regards him as a "brother"). (The next story suggests that he was literally her brother and that his is what drew her towards her.) After being publicly presented for the first time on an exhibition, Neff's art receives a very negative review. Her crime is motivated by the fact that she couldn't endure the idea of him being a failure. The next story is about said exhibition of Neffpanimation. While the evening is somewhat happy (and features numerous characters to appear in other stories) the story ends with the disastrous review. It is explained that his art was created by feeding data to a computer computer which uses information about Hunt's life and work to generate surrounding scenes of painting in animation form (thereby completing the idea of a set future in the Victorian art). The reviewer calls this approach the end of art itself, comparing it to the way that photography killed the visual art. Afterwards, the mystery of Neff's death occurs (here it is suggested that it may have been suicide).
Backwater (1977) This story focuses on James (Jimmy) Petersen, who lives together with Anna Cavan (the drug addict and ex-lover that appeared in earlier stories). Petersen is a writer who is very committed to his art and longs for success. Frank Krawstadt (who like Anna was present at the exhibition in the previous story) appears at their door step. Krafwstadt is working on his dissertation, a theory of how "reactives" such as art, politics, history, the economy etc. determine each other reciprocally. He asks Petersen for an interview. Petersen naturally assumes that it's about his work as a writer and he starts telling Krawstadt about his new ideas. However, Krawstadt shows a surprising interest in his huge collection of vintage pinball machines. Suddenly, Anna appears and drunkly ridicules the two for their theoretical mind rather than just living life. Eventually, it is revealed that Krawstadt never actually heard about his novels but came for the pinball machines which he regards as influential reaktives. Confronted with failure Petersen falls into resignation.
The Eternal Theme of Exile (1973) This collection comprises three stories which symbolize different aspects of exile and are interconnected in an amusing way. In the first story, the narrator tells that Anna K. (again) thinks that he following her around. To proof that he is not, he travels to the Outer Zodiac Planets. When he comes back, Anna will be much older than him. Yeah, I don't know. The second story is about a man who wants to escape from Anna K.'s affection towards him and he travels to the Artificial Planets. There he discovers a grave of his ancestors which holds his grandmother. He revives her and seeks her affection. Tragically, his efforts are in vain and his affections for her not reciprocated. Finally, the last story seems to be narrated by Anna. However, it's a bit confusing because in the story she loses one of Anna's diaries to which she refers in third person. In the beginning of the story, her "master" leaves (as explained in story 1) and she falls for another man. He acquired a new personality but eventually leaves without reciprocating Anna's affections (see story 2).
From the descriptions on here I was well-prepared for a very hard form of sf. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to contain many lighter-From the descriptions on here I was well-prepared for a very hard form of sf. So I was pleasantly surprised to find this book to contain many lighter-spirited moments as well. Sure, the titular story is very technical (and a bit dry), but for me it was made interesting through the amazing world worldbuilding throughout, with the later stories also back-referring to other stories. Some interesting technology and the depiction of alien races (and the foreigner's look on Earth in "Flatlander"), too. To be honest, I liked the less "physical" stories (the ones after "Neutron Star" and "At the Core") better than what it probably Niven's more popular work. Niven has some interesting takes on familiar ideas like decisions under uncertainty (in "Flatlander"), mental health and responsibility (in "The Ethics of Madness") and evolution (in "The Handicapped"). Actually, espeically "The Handicapped", but also the general feeling, made me think of Lem's earlier works (which is a good thing).
Unfortunately, my German version is missing half of the stories. I should look out for "A Relic of the Empire", "The Soft Weapon", and "Grendel". And I should certainly get my hands on Ringworld!...more