The collection starts off with the title story and features a relationship as only the near future can hold. A science fiction writer talks with the AI memories of her dead astronaut boyfriend who died on a Mars mission. The story is entirely dialogue, and Kelly paints their relationship with a gray brush, making for rereadable content. The next story, “The Chimp of the Popes” is an homage to Robert Silverberg. Humans have transcended to the Cognisphere, leaving bots and uplifted chimps to rule Earth. A handful of humans remain in stasis, however, and at the beginning of the story one is unthawed who claims to be the pope. The chimps put him with the other unthawed popes. But this new pope has a little extra kick, eventually forcing the chimps to discover the reality of the cognisphere.
Chimps
just the beginning of the crazy, in “Crazy Me” a bipolar
ophthalmologist has an affair with his RN, and... raccoons invade.
Based on that short description it's likely difficult to believe the
subtle power of this story. Against the odds, it's there. JPK just
gets better and better, and “Crazy Me” is an example of a story
only possible from a writer still trying to hone their craft. “Don't
Stop” is a heartfelt ghost story taking readers on the daily jog of
Lisa Schoonover. Literally haunted by the demons of a traumatic
youth, she ponders her place in life—forties, no steady
relationship, no job—watching one foot land in front of the next as
ghosts trail her.
A retro JPK story with a
contemporary resolution, “Surprise Party” tells of a washed
up, aging Hollywood star who choreographs feelie films and sells
first-person airtime (real-time tiktok through her eyes) to earn
money. Her 51st birthday is approaching, and she gets a surprise on
a surprise. Remarkable how Kelly makes the reader feel something for
this woman. “Oneness: A Triptych” features a
couple
trying to get in the mood via reality simulators. Foreplay,
anticipation, turn ons, intercourse—the couple go to enticing,
alien lengths to achieve sensual oneness. In “Happy Ending 2.0”,
a husband and wife arrive at a New Hampshire cabin, the place they
fell in love, only to discover you can't cross the same river twice.
Weirdness ensues.
With shades of Bernard
Wolfe's Limbo, “Declaration”
features a handful of teens who live 90% of their lives in virtual
reality. They decide to rewrite the American constitution, and in
doing so hit some hard realities that have traumatic consequences. A
dark story, as perhaps it should be. From the realities of screen
time to taking the piss out of Marvel, “The Biggest” is super
hero fiction of the satirical variety. Frank van Loon, aka The
Stilt, shows NY governor Franklin Roosevelt his stretchy superpower
in 1930 NYC. King Kong and Bolt Boy make appearances, but this
remains a fun spanner in the juvenile fiction works they play
off.
“Miss
Nobody Never Was” is another ghost story. It tells of an aging
barkeep who sees the 20-something version of his ex-wife at his bar
one night. It leads him to seek out the real, older version, and to
come to terms with their divorce. It has a human heart, but doesn't
do much to overcome predictability. Bizarre is the one and only word
to describe the story “Someday”. A woman prepares an
insemination ritual for three village men. The love cake is made of
pig tumors... The ending is likewise odd, awkward—not body horror,
but sticks like body horror. While technically a Big
Dumb Object story, “One Sister, Two Sisters, Three” presents
itself as the
story of twins who sell cookies to off-world tourists visiting their
planet's local attractions. Numerology and consciousness transfer
combine (with an "acid" trip) to make an engaging story.
The final two stories in the collection are perhaps its best. “Soulcatcher” is a dark tense story about an exotic antiques dealer with a deadly illegal artifact and a plan to free her sister from a Gortipt diplomat. The creepiness escalates into an appropriately human conclusion despite the macabre mood. And lastly, “The Last Judgment”, which is set in a world where no men are born. Maud, an elderly woman old enough to have had a daughter the natural way, is missing a valuable painting. Thing is, she knows who stole it. She gives private eye Andy Hardaway the contact details and tasks her with finding the granddaughter, Ann, and discreetly bringing the painting back. Tracking Ann proves quite a search for Andy, and the mystery only deepens when Ann’s friends threaten to put an end to Hardaway’s domestic life.
It's a common adage, but with JPK it rings true: he is aging like wine. This collection displays a writer able to cut out the unnecessary, give the unspoken voice, and let character (rather than device or gimmick) express story. My favorites are “Crazy Me”, Don't Stop”, “Soulcatcher” and “The Last Judgement”, but given the variety, it's likely you will think otherwise. If you haven't read James Patrick Kelly's work before, this is as good a place as any to jump in, and if you're already a fan, this is more good stuff.
The following are the sixteen stories collected in The Promise of Space and Other Stories:
The Promise of Space
The Chimp of the Popes
Crazy Me
Yukui!
Don't Stop
Surprise Party
Oneness: A Triptych
Happy Ending 2.0
Declaration
The Biggest
Miss Nobody Never Was
Someday
The Rose Witch
One Sister, Two Sisters, Three
Soulcatcher
The Last Judgment
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