Going Solo

Someone recently asked me if I was "concerned" about the state of short SF and the tone of his voice implied that concern was warranted. I replied, rather icily, that I was less concerned with the state of short SF than I was about global warming, but later, while relaxing in my study, I realized why I'd answered my friend's question so sarcastically.

I am concerned.

No, I'm not worried that the short SF form is an endangered species, nor do I feel its audience is vanishing. However, a certain malaise seems to hover over the genre -- with a homogenized set of "standards" more or less dominating the short SF landscape.

Brand names have a way of monopolizing any sphere of commercial endeavor. When this happens within an artistic milieu, however, the consequences can be more tragic than within, say, the realm of computer software. People choose to read short SF as a luxury or recreation; for most it is not a necessity. If variety -- sweet and spicy -- is not available, then many people will simply spend their time and money elsewhere.

When yawns supplant shivers and amazement, inertia settles in and everyone starts to murmur things like, "There aren't any good ideas left." Certainly, there are good ideas remaining for the imaginative and brave. Pubs like: FUTURE ORBITS, FANTASTIC STORIES, ARTEMIS, and others continue to publish adventurous and thoughtful stories. A veritable plethora of good SF is to be had FOR FREE on the web at great sites like: SCIFI DIMENSIONS, ELYSIAN FICTION, DEEP OUTSIDE, and many more.

The less we astound our audience, the less audience we'll have left to astound. So many publishing ventures fail that it's easy to blame a "lack of interest" on the part of the audience. But even a cursory glance around the web will show just how much interest there is in the SF field. Finding a way to capture and hold that interest is our job -- and, in a very real sense, the future of short SF hangs in the balance.

End of editorial.

One of the best risk-takers -- and ironically a burgeoning "monopoly" in the short print SF field is DNA Publications. We've already done a full column "Horn of Plenty" on the DNA pubs, so I'll forego any further discussion of the company in general. Suffice to say, I have every reason to believe that the editors of the various DNA pubs are optimistic risk-takers who, for the most part, seem to "think outside the box".

WEIRD TALES is my personal favorite of the DNA SF sextet and seems to have survived its recent shift to glossy format (with a corresponding cut in total pages) moderately well.

I was slightly disappointed with the Summer issue, # 328. Containing only four stories, the issue seemed a bit uneven and more than a bit too brief. This is, of course, a subjective response, but I have always looked forward to finding WEIRD TALES in my mailbox, knowing that escape from mundane reality awaited and I cherish these escapes. So, when I found myself plunged back into the "real" world a bit sooner than is usual for a WT reading, I felt a little frustrated.

Be that as it may, two of issue #328's stories more than adequately fulfilled my need for escapism, and the other two, while falling short of outright praise, at least strove for originality.

The lead-off number, "The Little Night Music That Could", is an undeniably original offering from Stephen Woodworth. Just as the opening allegro of the tale's main character, the melody of Mozart's "Eine Klein Nachtmusik", is stunning and memorable, Woodworth's short is fascinating and unforgettable. That's right, I said the main character of the story is a Mozart melody.

Achieving "sentience" in the living room of an aging piano tuner who has recently learned he will soon become deaf, the melody, or "Eine" as it is known in the story, begins a trek through London, infecting a progressively more hilarious cast of characters with its boisterous and joyous energy, as it strives to find "others of its kind".

Woodworth's tone for the story is suitably airy and sparkly, though this effect is somewhat diminished by the story's excessive length. Latching onto advertising executive named Symons, the melody explores the King's Cross tube station, and then (still in search of its brethren) uses its infectious energy to compel Symons' wife to demand he take her to the Symphony at Albert Hall. There, the melody is devastated to witness a lackluster performance of itself and of Beethoven's 5th.

Vowing to reinvigorate London society, Eine returns the next evening to Albert Hall and this time enters the minds of the various musicians, inspiring them to a pyrotechnical performance that leaves the audience electrified and begging for more. When the next piece is played, Beethoven's 5th, the energy transmitted by the audience is vibrant enough to awaken the Fifth into sentience, and Eine is no longer alone.

The Fifth, however, is predictably a snob who refuses to associate with Eine. Through a chain of uproariously funny scenes, the story resolves itself through Symons' inspiration to turn the melody of "Eine Klein Nachtmusik" into an ad campaign for Vienna Sausages, thus gaining glory and a new secretary-mistress in the bargain.

Woodworth's story is rather tangled and, uh, baroque -- and this is its only real flaw. In a commendable effort to symbolize the "spirit" of music and how its inspirational qualities permeate the workaday world, he has slightly overexerted himself. That aside, "The Little Music That Could", is a funny and inspired flight. Energetically recommended.

The next tale, "The Disciple", by David Barr Kirtley is one of WT's obligatory Lovecraftian permutations. Being only slightly acquainted with Lovecraft's works, I'm certainly not qualified to pass judgment on this story as an example in that mythos. However, I found it ironic that S.T. Joshi's column, "The Den", (one of WT's best regular offerings) spent a considerable amount of time arguing that new works in the Lovecraft mythos, by and large, are disappointing -- if not outright worthless.

Kirtley's story extends issue 328's theme of "permeating energies" through an account of a student at Miskatonic University who ingratiates himself to a foreboding and charismatic Professor Brose, who is reputed to teach his student/disciples the secrets of acquiring occult powers. By demonstrating his cruelty, the narrator is able to convince Brose to take him on as a student. We then follow an account of "pupil" rivalry as the narrator becomes a roommate with Brose's most gifted student, Adrian, who can do neat things like make your eyes and nose bleed just by willing it to happen.

Brose is seemingly maniacal and driven to prepare his students for the imminent arrival of "The Traveler on Oceans of Night" -- an other-dimensional being of dark power and chaos. The students are being trained to "bind" with this force, ostensibly to acquire personal power -- though Brose is a despicable enough character that the reader will have grim reservations about the "binding".

The story's resolution is a "twist' ending that shades toward light, briefly, and then resounds with grim righteousness. Certainly a tale that Lovecraft aficionados will either hate or love passionately. As a non-disciple, I can't quite praise Kirtley's piece because I found the pacing to be a bit off, rather lurching, although I suspect this may be an intentional texture designed to swathe the story in nightmare tones.

"Alicia", by Ian Watson was the weakest and most poorly constructed offering in the Summer issue. Try as I might, I just couldn't seem to get any kind of rapport going with this story. It extends the "permeating energy" theme of the issue quite well enough and transposes the healing nature of the "nameless energies" to a blatantly sociological level. The problem here is with Watson's characters. None of them are sympathetic or believable, least of all the protagonist, Jenny, a grade school teacher who, after dreaming of strangling one her young students, becomes embroiled in a class-conscious/gender-conscious melodrama.

Returning to the setting of London, Watson's story attempts to show how the psychic submissiveness of a young black girl, Alicia, leads others to "link" with her psychically -- with the devastating result that they begin to dream of murdering her.

Traveling to the girl's "dysfunctional" home in search of an explanation, Jenny finds more than she bargained for -- including a personal revelation of her own submissiveness, and an uncanny simpatico with the underprivileged family. The story strives for compassion and feminine empowerment, but I found the constant bombardment of clichés: cheating husband, abusive working-class mother, the 'idiot savant' of the little black girl, just a trifle too trite to follow with pleasure. I also found Watson's bit about burning the kids with cigarettes gratuitous and the mother's explanation that "If I hurt the kids a bit - doesn't matter which one - this seems to... Let the balloon down a bit" completely superfluous to the story's theme.

The resolution here is also too brightly painted considering the traumatic build-up of the tale, and the overt theme -- that this is a story of women's empowerment -- is completely unconvincing given the barely concealed misogyny threading through the violence and caricatures of the tale's female characters. Mr. Watson seems to have grafted an obligatory, feminine "communal sense" onto an otherwise masculine interpretation of violence and social degradation.

The final fiction offering Keith Taylor's magnificent, "What Are You When the Moon Shall Rise?" As another installment in Taylor's "Egyptian" series, this story seems a bit disordered by comparison with the other two I've read, but even so, it is a brilliant piece, rife with studied, shining prose. Due to Taylor's masterful narration, the tale is completely accessible to those sad souls who have yet to encounter his series character and setting.

As the story opens, we find the Archpriest, Kamose, still weakened by a wound he received from a Demon -- with the Egyptian moon rising, causing the power of his enemies, the Priests and followers of Thoth, to correspondingly ascend. A master intriguer, Kamose has acquired material and spiritual power enough to have incurred the wrath of many enemies both mortal and immortal. Hatefully, he chants curses at the moon in vain, willing it to fall out of existence and thus rid his enemies of their most potent symbol (and source) of power.

Kamose's main concern is that he will be assassinated by way of a written spell secreted somewhere on his vast estate, which will blossom into full power against him as the moon's light provides a magical catalyst. Knowing that his enemies are only slightly less devious and inventive than himself, Kamose resorts to a desperate and dangerous magical rite which will allow him to assume a spirit form outside of his body and so gain mystical vision of any magical glyphs surreptitiously planted within his estate.

Kamose's spirit flight, as a crimson colored vulture, through the magical "ether" and his confrontation with various spiritual antagonists is a magnificently penned episode, through which Taylor is able to articulate profound observations of a mystical and philosophical nature. This is also an extension of the "permeating energy" theme of issue #328, but Taylor puts the reader in direct, visceral contact with said energy, with remarkable insight and skill. Here, I found myself in complete admiration of Taylor's narrative abilities and also astounded by the depth of his understanding of ancient occult knowledge.

There is something distinctly visionary about Mr. Taylor's Egyptian stories, which strike a unique blend of verisimilitude and shocking flights of poetic imagination. His plotting is (usually) worthy of the best "detective" writers and his historical detail similarly impressive. Add to that his vibrant and compelling inquiry into the metaphysical consequence of self-determination and self-preservation, and you have a writer whose style, theme, and characterization is nothing less than awe-inspiring.

"What Are You When the Moon Shall Rise" suffers a little from repetitive exposition, particularly concerning the designs and methods of Kamose's enemies, and even with said exposition, Taylor resorts to an Epilogue to tie up the loose ends of his plot.
Nonetheless, the story is an unqualified success, beautifully penned, and I strongly encourage you to seek out all of his Egyptian stories -- you'll be glad you did.

WEIRD TALES offers sprinklings of "Weird Poetry" and limericks which are unique in their combination of hilarity and despair. Also, the editorial offerings, "The Eyrie" and "The Den" are consistently absorbing and thoughtful. All in all, the pub is a vibrant and exciting source of SF, undeniably worthy of winning our very first Great Fiction Brand back in the April 1st debut column. If you don't read WEIRD TALES, you should, and if you have a subscription, thank Anubis, or Thoth, or Cthulhu for this magical pub, which will hopefully continue to appear in your mailbox and mine, providing at least momentary escape from our often mundane world.

Free fiction this bi-week comes from Deep Outside an online pub that I have not yet perused thoroughly enough to extensively review. One story you don't want to miss is the recently posted Fantasy, "Bounty", by Trent Jamieson. This heartfelt allegory poignantly portrays the serious environmental crisis of our "real" world through an imaginative vision of a magical world facing a similar disaster. The wizard Pin embarks on a mission to reverse the apocalyptic cycle facing his world, where birds fall dead out of the sky, forests dwindle, and meanwhile the Royal families cloak themselves in wanton ignorance. Jamieson's story is rather inelegantly penned and might have benefited from additional "fleshing out". However, the streamlined approach serves to heighten his moral imperative and the denoument of this tale is nothing less than breathtaking. A must read story from a writer I will be keeping a close eye on in the future.

This bi-week our Great Fiction Brand award goes to Keith Taylor for his remarkable Egyptian stories. Congrats Mr. Taylor and my highest compliments for your skills as a SF scribe. If ever we should mention your name again in our humble column, it shall be followed by our Brand!

This makes the third Brand won by DNA Publications and the second for WEIRD TALES. Hats off to the DNA editors, one and all, and to Warren Lapine, the Master of Ceremonies -- and best wishes for your continued success!

All readers, writers, and SF fanatics are heartily invited to the SFReader.com discussion Forums for conversation and debate.

Lady E. returns next bi-week, when we'll take a look at some online fiction, including IDEOMANCER and DEEP OUTSIDE.

Until Next Time,
Daniel E. Blackston

Firebrand Fiction Reviews: all content © 2002, Daniel E. Blackston