The collection kicks off with one its lone ideologically motivated story, however. “The Way of Cross and Dragon” tells of an inquisitor sent to reprimand a heretic. Set in a vastly populated galaxy, the story offers a thinly veiled piss-take on Catholicism. There is extremely little plot meat on the bones, and lacks beautiful skin to make up for it. Moreover, the story's end point, despite its logic, could have been more artfully presented. I know other people like this story, but for me there are more sophisticated take downs of religion out there. “Bitterblooms” is about a woman who runs an ice wagon on a snowy planet overrun by vampires. Martin does his best to humanize the woman, but the pulp mode and the pulp-ish denouement leave the story without the sparkle it could have had if Martin had decided to go deeper into her character.
Feeling extremely like a Conan story though not a Conan story, “In the House of the Worm” is a novella telling of the adventures one young man has exploring the dungeons beneath his exotic city. His travels deep under a timeless, mythical temple where a white worm lives, there to confront his mortality. Martin's technique is a degree better than Howard's (but only a degree), and for that is just barely able to drag the reader along this tale of machismo. Aside from roguish adventure, substance is meager pickings. “Fast Friend” is space fantasy with no limits. It tells of the crew of a small ship who encounter the bizarre and fanstastical in the black unknown, and not everyone lives to tell about it. There are some stories which feel better for not being reined in somehow—they defy the edict where everything is possible nothing is interesting. This is not one of them. It needed a coral—a place to play, but with limits. The reader has nothing to anchor themselves to save a bland main character.
“The Stone City” is a dark story about a man named Holt stranded on a hostile alien planet. Surrounded by callous alien races, he and the last surviving member of his crew look for berths to get off world. After continual denial by the locals, Holt eventually brokers a deal, one that sends him to a place where his fate will be decided once and for all. Characters here needed a little more substance, but the arc Martin takes them through is delicious.
In Mos Eisley cantina style, “Starlady” tells of the dregs of a space city where pimps, thugs, and thieves live and work. A pimp named Hairy Hal witnesses a homeless girl and her brother get raped one night, and gives the girl a choice: go back to being homeless or work for him—become a starlady. She makes a choice, one that Hairy Hal eventually wishes he hadn't given her. Moral gray on top of deeper gray, this story possesses excellent style but is extremely light in substance—a mini-graphic novel that makes sleaze, cool.
Closing the collection is one of Martin's most famous short stories, “Sandkings”. A nice spot of Twilight Zone fun with a darker shadow than most, the novella tells of a malign man who buys a few aliens creatures for his home terrarium, intending they will provide entertainment in bouts for survival. I will not say more as Martin does a good job escalating, twisting, and turning this premise. It ends where readers think it will, but getting there is fun. Purely an escapist story, but a uniquely enjoyable one to close things.
In the end, Sandkings is a decent collection of genre stories. It offers a nice sampling of Martin's early short fiction. For people looking for the inspirations of A Song of Ice and Fire it's here, but only indirectly; nary a tale of knights and dragons exists—not a bad thing, just a note for people interested. For people looking for sf&f to escape into, this is it.
The following are the seven stories collected in Sandkings:
The Way of Cross and Dragon
Bitterblooms
In the House of the Worm
Fast-Friend
The Stone City
Starlady
Sandkings
No comments:
Post a Comment