While
his writing technique moved within a limited range, Lucius Shepard
remains one of the most versatile writers ever to put words on the
page in terms of substance. From science fiction to magic realism,
fantasy to realism, horror to satire, literary to genre, Shepard’s
oeuvre covers a wide range of subjects, modes, and material. It’s
thus a shame that Shepard’s popularity spiked in the 80s and 90s
given that some of his most mature and relevant work was published in
the 21st century. Looking at a post-9-11 world, African despots, war
in the Middle East, the American justice system, and other subjects,
Eternity and Other Stories
(2005) collects seven novelettes and novellas proving just how
diverse Shepard’s portfolio truly is.
In the
80s, Shepard wrote several stories chastising American involvement in
Central America from the soldiers’ points of view. From drugs to
propaganda, the jungles of “Salvador”,
“R&R”,
and other stories complement their haunted worlds. In Eternity,
Shepard updates the setting for the 21st century equivalent of
Central America: our post 9-11 world. The drugs and propaganda
remain. In “Only Partly There”, a manual laborer part of the
crews removing the rubble of the World Trade Center spends time with
his crewmates at a local bar after work. Drowning the sorrows of
finding body parts, people’s personal effects, and working in a
morass of endless debris, it’s a depressing escape, that is, until
the young man reaches out to a corporate woman who frequents the bar.
While at heart a standard tale, Shepard nevertheless deftly plays
with imagination, metaphor, and reality in a fashion relevant to the
sorrows and concerns of the city and nation.
Set on
the resulting post-9-11 Middle Eastern battlefield, “A Walk in the
Garden” tells of an American soldier encountering the most bizarre
thing after a bomber destroys the side of an Arabian mountain: a cave
filled with bright yellow flowers (love the daisy cutter reference).
Soldiers on Shepard’s battlefield able to inject themselves with
self-prescribed doses of drugs—narcotics, amphetamines, etc.—to
see themselves through the action they encounter, entering the cave
proves to be a powerful experience the drugs only make more surreal.
Reminiscent of “Salvador” in the most positive way, this story
was the highlight of the collection for me.
Not a
sly take on an Elvis song, “Crocodile Rock” tells of a black
American herpetologist’s pursuit of career dreams in the Congo. He
gets a nightmare, instead—literally and figuratively. Looking for
a rare albino python in the jungle, a colleague turns him on to an
odd man who may or may not be able to help him find the fabled
serpent. One of the most recognized stories in the collection, and
accordingly one of its most mainstream, Shepard brings his trademark
horror vibes to bear on reptiles and a dead African despot’s
legacy.
One of
those stories that begins in a unique, intriguing place and only
moves places more unpredictable, “Hands Up! Who Wants to Die?” is
technically an alien encounter story but never feels that way given
the manner in which one social malcontent’s existence snowballs
from the street to highway with a small gang of beachcombing thieves.
Shepard milking Florida’s redneck roots, it’s a wild ride with
visceral verbiage. Creating a fictional Central American country,
“The Drive-In Puerto Rico” tells the story of a former war hero
now living on his laurels. Giving interviews and speeches to support
himself, he patronizes the titular café on one of his stops and
there meets the next would-be hero of the country. Only, he
discovers the man’s intentions may be entirely different.
The most
magic-realist story of the collection, “Jailwise” tells of a
social deviant who gets a second chance in a special prison. Akin to
Robert Silverberg’s “Hawksbill Station” in premise, the special
prison is an isolated location where the prisoners are given relative
freedom to explore their intellectual and artistic potential. The
story weaving in and out of perceived realities, it’s an entirely
direction which Shepard takes his story than Silverberg, however.
And last (and longest) in the collection is “Eternity and
Afterward”. About an assassin working for the Russian mafia,
Viktor Chemayev goes to a mafia club one evening with the intention
of buying the freedom of a prostitute he has fallen in love with, and
leaving his life of violence behind with her. The club not your
standard neon violet, velvet, and vodka establishment, Chemayev’s
plans require adaptation as not all of his encounters and
negotiations turn out as planned. Likely its most personal story,
it’s a high note on which to close the collection.
It’s
no surprise to me that Eternity
contains several politically on-point stories for the early 21st
century yet garnered little extended recognition upon release.
“Crocodile Rock” likely the most known story in the collection,
it’s no surprise the novella is the most accessible, commercial
story of the seven here. “A Walk in the Garden” could
wonderfully be read as a metaphor for the 21st century soldier’s
perspective on war in Afghanistan—the competing exoticism and
desires and obligations. While a standard tale in form and
structure, “Only Partly There” nevertheless captures a lot of the
residual emotion of 9-11. “Eternity and Afterward”, for all its
twists and turns, paints the portrait of a man living in strong
uncertainty brought about by both his society and choice of
profession. And while “Hands Up! Who Wants to Die?” may take the
reader on a wild ride that seems inconsequential, the lifestyles
described hit the nail on the head in terms of middle America and its
residing issues. The Jaguar
Hunter will likely always be
Shepard’s most well-known collection, but Eternity
proves he wrote a lot of good and very different stories, later.
The
following are the seven stories, predominantly novellas, collected in
Eternity and Other Stories:
Only
Partly Here
A Walk
in the Garden
Crocodile
Rock
Hands
Up! Who Wants to Die?
The
Drive-In Puerto Rico
Jailwise
Eternity
and Afterward
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