Fantasy Magazine, August 2008

Fantasy Magazine opens its August issue with “Penguin and Wren” by Christie Skipper Ritchotte. As a boy, Dale shares his interest in magic tricks with his disabled sister, who becomes skilled at performing them herself. With adolescence comes change, however, and Dale finds himself drawn toward pursuits other than assisting Sonia with her magic shows. But Sonia has a trick of her own design that will show her brother what real magic is like.

This poignant tale is told with empathy and understanding. It invites the reader into the lives of interesting, well-rounded characters, especially the strong, independent Sonia. Some Fantasy Magazine readers have expressed concern at the surprising ending and what it might suggest about the lives of people with disabilities. But I see it as an expression of strong will and creativity in the character, and of fearlessness in the author. Read “Penguin and Wren” and decide for yourself.

In “Gods of the Spiderhole,” J.M. McDermott takes us into the secret world of illegal immigrants literally carving out a community for themselves in the hills of San Diego. An anthropologist interviews a skeptical longtime resident of the camp in the camouflaged trench where the man lives, and where insects skitter across the walls creating an ever-changing mosaic from bits of trash and paper that illustrates the man’s life story.

With deft turns of phrase and a Kafkaesque sensibility, McDermott drags the reader down into this gritty parallel world. The story shows the underside of American prosperity, managing to make its point while avoiding both preachiness and sentimentality.

Ursula Pflug’s “The Things In the Box” is another surreal tale, in which the unnamed narrator’s boyfriend, Fred, takes things from the Salvation Army drop box and sells them to a friend, who owns a secondhand store. One of these objects—a watch—touches off strange and recurring episodes for the narrator. She begins to slip in and out of ordinary reality, into something that might be real and might not.

This is an intriguing story, but difficult to apprehend. The dreamy distance of the narrator renders her somewhat inaccessible, while Fred remains enigmatic throughout the piece. Perhaps if I were familiar with “The Big Mirror” by Mohammad Mrabat, cited more than once in the story, I would be better equipped to appreciate “The Things in the Box.”

In Peter Higgins’s “Gravity,” a World War II British airman is shot down over Dorset and miraculously survives a parachute-less fall from the sky. Found by a widow whose husband died in Spain and whose only son is now in the Navy, Richard Carter decides not to return to service and stays on, working peacefully in the widow’s garden. But his good fortune has upset the balance of life and death. He has broken the rules, and there are consequences.

“Gravity” is filled with startling yet apt metaphors and strange but beautiful imagery. Its unusual premise draws the reader in, and an undercurrent of impending danger keeps her engaged as the reverberations of Richard’s arrival spread through the valley. Initially, I found the shifts in point of view and tense disorienting. But soon I discovered that these shifts only add to the disconcerting tone of the piece. A subtle trick, nicely done.