Michael
Chabon’s name is well known as a novelist. Summerland,
The Yiddish Policemen’s Union,
and The Amazing Adventures of
Kavalier & Clay have all
been universally recognized by pundits and readers alike. But
editor? Taking the love for the pulps expressed in his novel
Gentlemen of the Road
and converting into commissions for short stories, McSweeney’s
Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales
(2002) features a swathe of stories showcasing what can still be done
in the 21st century with plot at the forefront.
A type of
story that one encounters rarely these days, the anthology kicks off
with “Tedford and the Megalodon” by Jim Shepard. Precisely why it
is exceptional needs to be discovered by the reader, but this story
of an Australian biologist working off the southern coast of Tasmania
trying to discover a supposed great white shark is everything that
short adventure fiction should be, and at the same time rarely is. A
story based on a real life occurrence, “The Tears of Squonk, and
What Happened Thereafter” by Glen David Gold tells of a late 18th
century traveling circus proprietor and bizarre (read: murderous)
circumstances surrounding a clown, an elephant, and revenge. A human
portrait of a man trying to atone for years of drinking and leaving
his family, “The Bees” by Dan Chaon describes precisely what
happened when all those good intentions catch up.
Flashing
and darting wonderfully, like a school of minnows, never giving a
hint of where it will go next, “Catskin” by Kelly Link tells of a
witch, her three children, and what happens when a rival kills her.
One foot in fairy tale land and in the real, edgy world, the back and
forth play (like a cat batting a ball, har har) makes for a highly
engaging read that unravels itself delightfully. Feeling western
through and through, “How Carlos Webster Changed His Name to Carl
and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman” by Elmore Leonard is about an
outlaw bank robber getting his just desserts, but in a fashion so
rooted in character and idiosyncrasy the reader entirely forgets the
stereotypes at play. Playing off heroism and the image of heroism in
early 20th century press, the story somehow even feels a bit Quentin
Tarantino-esque in its characters.
‘Sparkle’
is the word I most associate with Neil Gaiman—his dynamic sense of
storytelling, vigor, and diction leading me to think of that. But
with “Closing Time” I’m missing sparkle. A brief story that is
framed for some reason, it tells of a group of boys and a ‘haunting
encounter’ they have one day while playing. A story carried by its
superb authorial voice, “Otherwise Pandemonium” by Nick Hornby
tells of the supernatural circumstances which pave the way for a
highschooler in Berkely in the 90s to lose his virginity. Wanting to
tape basketball games, he buys a used VCR from a junk shop for fifty
bucks. Testing it once he gets home, everything seems to work fine.
Watching the basketball game later, however, takes a turn for the
weird. Not a cheap sci-fi idea exploited for a story idea, Hornby
keeps teenage interests front and center.
One of the
longer pieces in the anthology, “Up the Mountain Coming Down
Slowly” by Dave Eggers tells of a young woman and a trek she and a
group of tourists take up Kilimanjaro. A story whose tension only
subtly builds, the altitude begins to take indirect effect on the
people and their group of porters and guides the closer they get to
the snowy summit. I sometimes get the feeling reading Michael
Moorcock that he is just spinning something off for a commission, and
with “The Case of the Nazi Canary” my instincts are twitching.
Informed by James Bond, time travel, and playing with Hitler and WWII
like a toy, the story navigates several solid set pieces,
stereotypes, and jumps in space/time to solve a murder mystery in
what is ultimately a forgettable story.
It’s not
often that I read an actively bad story, but I have to say “Chuck's
Bucket” by Chris Offutt qualifies. Meta-fiction in the most
pretentious, insecure way possible, this story of a writer trying to
come up with story ideas via a time travel device that sees him
interacting with real world writers falls on its face—for me, at
least. Somewhere, there is someone who will like it. Not actively
bad, but certainly a story making the reader wonder what the
substance is, is Aimee Bender’s “The Case of the Salt and Pepper
Shakers by Aimee Bender”. (One of the opening lines tips the
reader off problems lay ahead: “He
lay on the floor sprawled in the fetal position.”)
Thankfully a brief affair, the “story” tells of a detective at
the scene of a dual, husband-wife murder. The dead couple formerly
avid collectors of salt and pepper shakers, Bender attempts to make a
metaphor of the deaths to limited effect.
In another
lackluster entry, “Ghost Dance” by Sherman Alexie plays with the
ghosts of Little Bighorn in white-man’s-guilt fashion. Ignoring
the fact that the Lakota wiped out several native tribes, not to
mention white men in America will someday see their own doom (nothing
is forever), this bit of sympathy play lacks consistency from a
technical perspective, and a broad overview from a thematic. I have
not read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, which may be the reason
why “The Tale of Gray Dick” bumbled and mumbled its way to a
lackluster halt. About the gunslinger and a stop he makes on the
trail, he becomes involved with a family, the matron of which wields
a metal plate sharpened to a razor’s edge. Wild west mediocrity
ensues.
As classic
as Harlan Ellison can be, “Goodbye to All That” tells of a
traveler in Tibet on a quest up a mountain to find the most zen of
holies, and receive from it the wisdom that will unlock the secrets
of life. What he actually finds is (cynical) Ellison in a nutshell.
“Private Grave 9” by Karen Joy Fowler sees a man exploring a
recently discovered Egyptian tomb. A novelist also onsite collecting
information for an upcoming book, together they see first-hand the
grave of Princess Tu Api. The pieces not strongly congealing and
fraying near the ending, it’s a story without plot at the helm.
The longest piece in the anthology, “The Albertine Notes” by Rick
Moody tells of a journalist tracking a supposedly deceased drug
dealer named Cortez through post-nuclear New York. Trick is, the
post-apocalyptic world is inundated with a drug called Albertine
which, when ingested, allows the user to relive a random memory from
their past. A dark, murky story, it is also perhaps a bit too
twitchy, but does deliver a subtle-enough mystery.
Closing
the collection, “The Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance” by
Michael Chabon is a piece of alternate history wherein the American
Revolutionary War never happened, and is instead pushed back to the
middle of the 19th century, round about the time the American Civil
War took place. The story of two boys separated from their family,
it is a superbly written story that never goes where the reader
thinks it might, poignancy pulling the reader along whether they want
to read or not—or martians, or not.
In the
end, McSweeney’s Mammoth
Treasury of Thrilling Tales is a
mixed bag. A handful of pretty good stories with nothing truly
stand-out, there are, however, a handful that leave no mark, and one
or two to avoid. The yarns varied in backdrop, from western to
horror, fantasy to pirates, adventure to detective, and everything
between, it’s at least a good beach read that largely accomplishes
its goal of offering the reader plot-centric stories, even if a few
are less than inspired.
The
following are the twenty-one stories selected for McSweeney’s
Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales:
Tedford
and the Megalodon by Jim Shepard
The Tears
of Squonk, and What Happened Thereafter by Glen David Gold
The Bees
by Dan Chaon
Catskin by
Kelly Link
How Carlos
Webster Changed His Name to Carl and Became a Famous Oklahoma Lawman
by Elmore Leonard
The
General by Carol Emshwiller
Closing
Time by Neil Gaiman
Otherwise
Pandemonium by Nick Hornby
The Tale
of Gray Dick by Stephen King
Blood
Doesn't Come Out by Michael Crichton
Weaving
the Dark by Laurie King
Chuck's
Bucket by Chris Offutt
Up the
Mountain Coming Down Slowly by Dave Eggers
The Case
of the Nazi Canary by Michael Moorcock
The Case
of the Salt and Pepper Shakers by Aimee Bender
Ghost
Dance by Sherman Alexie
Goodbye to
All That by Harlan Ellison
Private
Grave 9 by Karen Joy Fowler
The
Albertine Notes by Rick Moody
The
Martian Agent, A Planetary Romance by Michael Chabon
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