Moving
into his third decade of writing, James Patrick Kelly keeps tightening his
skills. The truly original ideas perhaps
not appearing with the same consistency, his storytelling and craftsmanship,
however, just keep getting better and better. Exemplifying this evolution of
talent is Kelly’s 2008 collection The
Wreck of the Godspeed and Other Stories—his most recent collection as of
the posting of this review (leaving six years' worth of stories waiting to be
collected).
The
collection is bookended by fine novellas.
Holding up the left side is the title story “The Wreck of the Godspeed”. The story of a pilgrim who
wins a year’s travel aboard the search and colonization vessel the Godspeed, Adle Santos’ arrival aboard
ship means big changes. Raised a
religious conservative, his behavior undergoes shock treatment but he
eventually joins in with the liberal mindset of his fellow passengers. It’s the strange anomalies in reality and the
subterfuge of the Godspeed’s AI
captain, however, that really get him questioning the norms of his life. The titular wreck more allegorical than
actual, the novella ends up a fine voyage of self-discovery and religious
commentary. And Plus and Minus, the
virtual demon and angel resting on the shoulders of Adle’s brain? They are the icing on the science fiction cake.
Singularity
perhaps more about technology than humanity, there are two stories in
collection which feature sentient non-humans as the main characters—and not
androids. The first is “The Leila Torn
Show”. Leila-as-the-show/the-show-as-Leila
is the protagonist. Though her roots are
based in crime drama, the show has become more varied as audience tastes change
and the ideas of the show’s writers morph in different directions. Facing a small crisis in the middle of one
particular show, a great deal about the state of television is revealed as
virtual reality and reality clash. The
second is “Bernardo’s House”, and again the title doubles as the protagonist. Bernardo a rich bachelor, he purchased a
house with an AI that satisfies his every need.
From food to clothes, sex to companionship, she is always there for
him. But at the start of the story, she
is alone, and has been for more than a year, wondering when Bernardo will
return. A thirteen year old girl camping
out on her front lawn one day, the realities of what has transpired in the
outside world are slowly revealed, while a new bond created. This is an understated story that not only
uses hip neologisms effectively, but pulls, or at least tugs a little, at the
heartstrings.
But there
are stories that are truly post-human.
“The Best Christmas Ever” is, as the title indicates, a combination of
science fiction and the holidays. Two
subjects that would not seem to go hand in hand, Kelly makes it work; when the
world’s your post-human oyster, holiday presents take on a whole different
meaning. All manner of personalities are
combined, virtual and real, as yuletide becomes extra special for one man—and,
apparently, only one man. “Dividing the
Sustain”, originally published in Jonathan Strahan and Gardner Dozois’ The New Space Opera anthology, opens
with the line “Been Watanabe decided to
become gay two days before his one-hundred-and-thirty-second birthday” and
doesn’t take one post-human look back.
Watanabe on an inter-temporal trip to a distant planet, a conspiracy
aboard ship hits the operatic notes, while his decision, and the manner in
which it affects those around him, occupies the ‘space’.
Escalating
the post-human to surreal proportions, “The Edge of Nowhere”, apparently an
homage to Darger and Surplus stories, possesses all the Weird zaniness of
Swanwick’s canine heroes. Kelly’s story of two magic cookie shop owners who are
tasked by three dogs—a bloodhound and two terriers—to look for a book that does
not exist, the wackiness is only beginning.
Featuring some of Kelly’s wilder imaginings, there remains an anchor to
reality (covered in rainbow polka dots).
And then
the surrealness is escalated from the ‘possibly yet possible’ into the complete
‘impossible’. The first work of
paleolithic fantasy I’ve ever read, “Luck” is the story of the caveman Thumb,
the horse tribe he lives with, and the strange voices he hears in his
head. Though perhaps the story arc is
traditional, the individual elements and the plot’s driving force are not. The brief but powerful “Serpent” is not only
one of the best pieces in the collection, but perhaps one of the best pieces of
Kelly’s career. A work of commentary,
satire, and fantasy, it looks at what happened in the garden of Eden after Adam
and Eve were kicked out. Diverging
effectively, commenting cleverly and profoundly when need be, and dipping into
the lives of mortals, Satan’s perspectives on the Christian god, sin, angels,
and the underlying ideology of Christianity is dynamically and intensely
portrayed. Though brief, the story a
work of literary art. “The Ice Is Singing” is a paranormal horror story, that,
all things being considered, is a rather standard story—well written, but not
unique.
An homage
to Raymond Chandler in style and James Tiptree Jr. in concept, “Men Are Trouble” is a noir rendering of a earth where all the men have been
‘disappeared’ by an alien group nicknamed the devils by the women who
remain. All manner of social strife
unfolding in the chaos of the sudden loss, private eye for hire Fay Hardaway is
called in to investigate an apparent suicide. But what she finds is more than
just death. Kelly a true student of
writing, his deference to Chandler is spot on.
The similes, the dislocated personality, the world-weary atmosphere—he
nails it all.
The
bookend to the right, closing the collection, is the fine novella “Burn”. A thought experiment, Kelly locates a strict
interpretation of Henry David Thoreau’s philosophy on a distant planet to
examine the relationship between humanity and nature. The story of a man whose brother was killed
by natives fighting the overgrowth of forests with fire, it’s up to an alien
child, and his bizarre retinue, to oversee the resolution of the Walden’s
ills. I’m not entirely convinced Kelly
pulls off the voice of the children, but the premise remains relevant,
thought-provoking, and unlike anything I’ve read in science fiction.
In the
end, The Wreck of the Godspeed and Other
Stories is another good, quality collection from one of the genre’s
unheralded writers of short fiction. Its
features lack the consistency of the two previous collections, but what is lost
in some stories is made up for in others, balancing the whole. The two novellas, “The Wreck of the Godspeed”
and “Burn,” and the shorter “Serpent”, “Bernardo’s House”, and “The Leila Torn
Show” are some of the best of Kelly’s career—a career that as of 2014 is
creeping toward one hundred published stories.
The quality reflected in award nominations, this, like the previous
collections, has its share of recognition from the field at large. But published nearly six years ago, it’s due
time for Kelly’s fifth collection…
All
stories published between 2002 and 2007, the following is the collection’s
table of contents:
“The Best
Christmas Ever”
“Luck”
“The Dark
Side of Town”
“The Leila
Torn Show”
“Mother”
“Dividing
the Sustain”
“The Edge
of Nowhere”
“The Ice
Is Singing”
“Serpent”
“Bernardo's
House”
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