Monthly Archives: April 2010

Short Story Challenge – Day 54-60

Short Science-Fiction from the pages of Interzone.

I always find it surprising that I don’t read more science fiction as it is a genre I read avidly in my teens and love in movies. Perhaps it is just that I read more selectively in the genre now, rather than gorging on books in a series or by particular authors. I have spent this week of the Short Story Challenge catching up on my Interzone subscription. This was as much a recon of the magazine prior to my drafting and submitting the three sci-fi stories I have bubbling away in my notebooks as it was reading for enjoyment. Having said that, I was well and truly carried away by the majority of the stories in the last two issues of Interzone.

I have already covered some stories read in previous weeks, here and here. Of the stories read this week it would be hard to pick a favourite. Chris Beckett’s chilling ‘Johnny’s New Job’ has me itching to read his prize winning collection (currently sitting on my short fiction shelf), while The History of Poly-V and its temporal unraveling will certainly see me revisiting it in the future. ‘Flying in the Face of God’ by Nina allen had an air of ‘Defying Gravity’ about it, a compliment considering how much I enjoy that show, with its exploration of the human story in space exploration. ‘Dance of the Kawkawroons’ by Mercurio D. Rivera is a sweeping, powerful tale told through the eyes of the humans and an ‘alien’ Kawkawroon. A great example of how to do dual narrative view points and a twist ending.

The story I read this morning while sitting in a waiting room, ‘Chimbwi’ by Jim Hawkins has been flashing back to me over the course of the rest of today. It’s a classic quest story, the backdrop of which is a post climate change African continent that has emerged from the chaos as the new world power thanks to its development of proper, efficient solar energy. The main characters quest to escape the new fascist order in the West provides the thrust of the story but it is the ending which has stuck its hooks in me.

Which leads me to what I feel I have gained, as a writer, from reading these stories. Each one is a great example of building a compelling and original world in a short space. Each one uses structure in a way that serves the story rather than just for flashy effect. Each one eschews the option of just using a clever sci-fi idea and instead uses character to draw the reader in and make them care. Each one provides a thought provoking and sometimes shocking ending that sits with the reader for some time after. All things purveyors and critics of literary fiction will tell you are needed for truly great literary fiction. Proof if proof were needed that science fiction is bigger and better than the genre ghetto some would try to make of it.

And what have I gained as a reader? Well, I’ll be renewing my subscription to Interzone. That should tell you something.

Short Story Challenge Day 40-53

The Instruction Manual for Swallowing by Adam Marek

I spent the fortnight of the challenge between March 25th – April 7th in the company of the often excellent and always interesting debut collection from Adam Marek. There are some absolutely blinding stories here, featuring such disparate subjects as robot wasps, a woman pregnant with 37 babies, a restaurant for zombies, and a pet shop where every pet is measured by volume.

The collection has many high points and largely manages to maintain this level of work, though, inevitably, a few stories fall short in the face of the truly exceptional ones. I suppose it says a lot about me as a writer as much as a reader that I enjoyed the more emotional stories, the most striking of which being those where the emotional core merged seamlessly with the more outlandish ideas; Belly Full of Rain, Testicular Cancer vs The Behemoth and Meaty’s Boys.

Having snagged a copy of Short Circuit, I also read Adam Marek’s contributing chapter in which he discusses what makes a great piece of short fiction. The idea he discusses, of merging something mundane with something extraordinary to create a unique piece of fiction, permeates all of the best stories in his collection, most notably, Belly Full of Rain, Testicular Cancer vs The Behemoth and Meaty’s Boys. Each of these tales has a unique concept yet is firmly grounded in emotional reality through the lens of the main characters.

Instruction Manual for Swallowing is a compelling collection that anyone trying to write contemporary short fiction should read. It shows what the medium is capable of and, while let down a little by a few weaker selections, the core of the book is swimming with originality and characters you can care about.

You can listen to Adam Marek read Testicular Cancer vs The Behemoth here and The 40 Litre Monkey here. If you like these stories, I’d recommend getting a copy of the collection.

 

Saturday Stuff

This week I have been…..

…….writing my first draft for the Chinese Whisperings Yang book (due to be published later this year); but more on that whole process in a future post.

…….reading a lot of intresting stuff about Andy Devine’s Words. Looking at the site and the ‘story’ “As Day Same That the the Was Year” confused me at first. It seemed all a bit arty and irritating if I’m honest. Having thought about it a bit more and read through the elimae interview I am warming to the concept. This video is as intriguing as the work itself and swayed me more than anything else I have seen.

http://vimeo.com/moogaloop.swf?clip_id=10594096server=vimeo.comshow_title=1show_byline=1show_portrait=0color=fullscreen=1

Andy Devine’s WORDS from Little Burn Films on Vimeo.

……getting excited about seeing how Steven Moffat’s vision of Doctor Who will ultimately shape up. Yes, I know Matthew Smith and Karen Gillen seem hand-picked to appeal to the Twilight fans out there (understandably, considering their number) and yes, before they were cast, I was hoping that we might see a return to an older Doctor. Still, I am prepared to give the young’uns the benefit of the doubt as Moffat has consistently proven himself capable of crafting high quality Who scripts. I’ll be watching to see what happens with him masterminding the show, hoping the new faces will have something more than just freshness going for them.

….. feeling sad about the news of Mark Linkous’ tragic suicide.I managed to miss this on the internet over the last month and was stunned to find him featured in Uncut’s May 2010 ‘And It’s Good Night From….’ column. Sparklehorse have long been one of my favourite bands and their first two albums soundtracked a wearying few years of my life, brightening dark corners with their emotive music and striking imagery. Too many truly beautiful songs to list from the 15 years of output, but I leave you with, probably my favourite, certainly the track that helped me deal with things beyond my control way back when. I picked this video for the cool animation, particularly the dancing man midway through.