Bright
banner on the wall, neon letters on a billboard, cloud writing in the
sky! Catherynne Valente is one of the great writers of the 21st
century you’re not reading!! Go get some! But seriously. With
eighteen novels, seven collections, and more than one-hundred short
stories, why her writing is not spoken more widely I guess is due to
the fact she writes outside the mainstream (and between the lines as
much as in them, and thus often requires thought—god forbid), can
make erudite in-references only people as well-read as she will
understand, has a wit so sharp most people are unware they’ve been
cut, and displays a range of prose only a handful of her
contemporaries, if any, can match. No, Valente is much, much more
than the average, modern writer of fantastika, as her 2018 collection
The Future is Blue, proves.
One
of the first things one must come to terms with and accept if they
are to have a considered view of Valente’s world is her joy—her
reveling—in language. “Two and Two Is Seven”, “Down and Out
in R'lyeh”, “A Fall Counts Anywhere”—these are examples of
stories gonzo with words. Dripping lexical gusto, if the reader
cannot appreciate wordplay, wordsmithing, and word#$%^ (e.g.
alliteration, inventiveness, and the indescribable), then they
should stick to their work-a-day, golly gee whiz John
Scalzis or Seanan McGuires. Valente practically assaults the reader
with etymological agility, and if they are not ready or willing to
take up the gauntlet and wade in, they should just move on. (But
never, never say that it’s ‘bad’ or ‘poor’ writing.)
Sometimes leaving the reader wondering whether Valente has a
thesaurus no one else in the world possesses, stories like “A Fall
Counts Anywhere” display how truly clever and diverse the English
language can be used in its WWE battle royale between the baddest of
the bad robots and the most fearsome fairies. Such a premise perhaps
cheesy executed by any other writer, Valente makes the most of it
with lingual play and manga imagery, the resulting riot literal and
figurative.
For
other stories, particularly “Two and Two Is Seven”, it is equally
important to know a lot of Valente’s fiction is reactive—responsive
to other fiction, young and old. Whether it be Lem’s machine that
could only produce things which begin with the letter ‘n’ (as
mentioned), everybody’s favorite whipping boy Lovecraft, or fairy
tales in general, Valente is often riffing off some element of genre,
or fiction at large. “Down and Out in R'lyeh” is a brilliant
piss take on Cthulu. Utilizing A Clockwork Orange tone with
her own lingo, Valente dismantles the foolishness of Old Gods in the
course of one tentacle-ichor-oozing night on the town. And “The
Flame and the Candle” takes a real world girl, puts her in an Alice
in Wonderland scenario, and juxtaposes it against a ‘real world’
scenario featuring Alice and Peter Pan.
Something
which Valente herself laughs at in the term mythpunk, several of the
stories in Future indeed punk the fuck out of the likes of
Grimm and Andersen by instituting very contemporary ideas in fairy
tales. Another example, in “The Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland
Until the Very End and Further Still” three fantastical beasts
(undoubtedly with some allegorical meaning I am unaware of) rest on a
battlefield, contemplating the state of things. Part fairy tale and
part parable, the three learn a valuable lesson on the meaning of
defiance. In “Badgirl, the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune”, a
young girl deals with her father’s heroin addiction. “The
Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, the Luminescence of
Debauchery” is about a daughter left with the shittiest bit of her
father’s inheritance: an iron punty. While her brothers go off
with their inheritances, Master Peek (as she eventually comes to call
herself) is left to tend the father’s glassblowing business. That
the story proliferates into a kind of socio-politico anarchy is
perhaps its biggest surprise. In what could be considered the most
straight forward setting of the collection, “The Lily and the Horn”
is located in a classic Medieval fantasy kingdom and tells of a
poisoner and her domestic role in maintaining social stability. And
fully taking advantage of fantasy’s potential, “No One Dies in
Nowhere” juxtaposes mortality and immortality in a purgatory-esque
setting wherein bird-like gods oversee the lives of waiting humans.
One of the more straight-forward tales in the collection, it is a
small piece of detective fiction that digs a little deeper into the
meaning of being alive/mortal in mythopoeic fashion.
Despite
the fantastical elements, there is likewise a science fictional
artery pumping in the collection’s heart. Dedicated to a relative,
“Major Tom” is about a drifting consciousness trying to
understand its state of being. Possessing layers many sf stories do
not, it is one of the more somber pieces in the collection. A
classic sf premise, “Planet Lion” oscillates between a planetary
exploration crew and the lion-like (emphasis on ‘like’) creatures
which inhabit it. Tribal psychedelics abound, the difference in
viewpoints is where the story finds its substance. A spot of satire,
the title story opens on the line: “My name is Tetley Abednego
and I am the most hated girl in Garbagetown.” Tetley
a have-not among haves, she spends her days in subservience to a
collapsed civilization (due to rising ocean waters) still ruled by
the misguided. For the over-the-top dystopian mood, the
story is reminiscent of Valente’s earlier short “Fade to White,”
but lacks its relative complexity.
Publisher’s
Weekly states that The
Future is Blue
is “for
completists and devoted fans of Valente’s short works”,
but I would argue. Not only is it a window into the imagination
and wit of one of the 21st century’s best writers, it is a reminder
how fabulously frivolous and forthrightly fluid the English language
can be when frothing on the fount of fertile fancy (the alliteration
is for you, Ms. Valente). Confronted by the rank mediocrity of
writing-workshop prose appearing on the market these days, Valente’s
lush, vibrant visions are proof writing is an art. One of, if not
the best single-author collection of 2018, The
Future Is Blue
comes highly recommended. Tell your friends.
The
following are the fifteen stories brought together for The Future
Is Blue:
The
Future Is Blue
No
One Dies in Nowhere
Two
and Two Is Seven
Down
and Out in R'lyeh
The
Limitless Perspective of Master Peek, or, the Luminescence of
Debauchery
Snow
Day
Planet
Lion
Flame,
Pearl, Mother, Autumn, Virgin, Sword, Kiss, Blood, Heart, and Grave
Major
Tom
The
Lily and the Horn
The
Flame After the Candle
Badgirl,
the Deadman, and the Wheel of Fortune
A
Fall Counts Anywhere
The
Long Goodnight of Violet Wild
The
Beasts Who Fought for Fairyland Until the Very End and Further Still
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