The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 2008

The May 2008 issue of the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction kicks off with a hint of horror provided by Albert E. Cowdrey’s “Thrilling Wonder Stories.” Knowledgeable science fiction readers might recognise the title as a reference to a real (and recently relaunched) pulp magazine, and the story is set in the era of American history these magazines have come to symbolise. Farley is a young man growing up in small-town America. These being simpler times, he finds entertainment in reading Thrilling Wonder Stories magazine and exploring the countryside with his friend, Tommy. But all is not well in Farley’s home, or in Farley’s mind. As the relationship between Farley’s parents crumbles, he encounters a strange, crocodile-like creature that he believes has come from outer space. Under the creatures influence and increasingly traumatised by his home life, Farley discovers the violent aspect of his psyche, to deadly effects. Cowdrey builds the necessary tension for a tale of this kind very well and delivers on the story’s early dark promise to great effect. The dark underbelly of the American dream is not uncharted territory for science fiction, with writers from Ray Bradbury to Stephen King staking their claim over the years, but Cowdrey succeeds in stamping his own brand of psychological horror over “Thrilling Wonder Stories.”

“Rebecca’s Locket” by S. L. Gilbow continues this issue’s horrific flavour but with a more fantastical and at times humorous twist. Jerry Morgan lives a quiet life with his wife, Rebecca, and his pet dog, Jacks—that is, until he dies. But death is only the beginning of Jerry Morgan’s story. Incredible new technologies are commonplace in this near future world, even if they take a little while to filter out to the sleepy little town of Cotton Springs. After death, Jerry finds his consciousness preserved and stored in a locket worn around his wife’s neck from where he is able to observe the consequences of his own death, including attending his own funeral. This is an odd but affecting story, and I’m not entirely sure what meaning I took from it, other than an affirmation that a dog really is a man’s best friend. The theme of power in relationships runs throughout, but Gilbow’s real interest seems to be in exploring the repressed passions tied up in small towns and small lives. Both Jerry and his wife find themselves trapped in different ways, and both find different forms of release at the conclusion. The subtlety of Gilbow’s writing, balanced with the light touch of his humour, make this one of the stronger stories in this issue.

Alex Jeffers takes us to the exotic locale of Persia and the world of Arabian Nights in “Firooz and His Brother.” Firooz is a merchant descended from a long line of merchants before him. His life is spent accompanying caravans on their journeys to and from Baghdad. On one such journey, Firooz encounters and is forced to kill a black hound, only to discover the dog had been protecting an abandoned baby. Firooz adopts the baby and names him Haider, and in the years that follow, the two form an intimate bond that becomes even more so when Haider is revealed as a shapeshifter, able to transform his body and his gender at will. Jeffers captures a particular weird, sexually charged energy in this story of love and transformation. The relationship between Firooz and Haider is never at all clear. Are they brothers, father and son, or lovers? The lack of resolution to these questions will leave some readers a bit frustrated, but if you’re willing to get aboard the magic carpet, “Firooz and His Brother” is an oddly compelling ride.

“Immortal Snake” by Rachel Pollack is the most ambitious and exotic story in this issue.

“Long ago, in a time beyond memory, Great Powers owned the land, the water, and even the air. Of all these empires, the strongest was a land called Written in the Sky”

From these opening lines, a story of epic proportions unfolds, with dozens of characters and many converging narratives, all squeezed into the length of a novellete. As a consequence, Pollack tells the story rather than shows it, with very few scenes to speak of and very little dialogue, instead relying on a single narrative voice to convey the events. The story itself is derived from mythic sources and is rich in metaphor and symbolism, but if, as a reader, you do not chime with the symbolism employed, then most if not all of the story’s meaning will pass you by. The combination of a very distanced narrative with dense symbolic meaning make “Immortal Snake” a tough but potentially rewarding read. On a personal level, I wasn’t convinced by the relation of the story to contemporary events in war torn Darfur, which seem more rooted in base human nature than mythic history. Perhaps I missed something.

“Reunion” is another high concept science fiction story from Robert Reed. Twelve students from one high school class all grow up to become exceptional. Almost all are millionaires, at least, and almost all are famous—some are champion sportsmen, others leading intellectuals or politicians. What happened to this one class to produce such prolific success? The story unfolds around a rare reunion of the Golden Twelve held in the modest home of one of the Little Ten, the less gifted students from the same class who did not find fame or fortune. Outside, the world’s media are frenziedly trying to gain access to this exclusive reunion, fueled by an obsession with the Golden Twelve. Inside, a young woman is determined to discover the secret of the Twelve.

As we have come to expect from Reed’s stories, this is a slick narrative that shows excellent command of plotting and characterisation. Reed pursues his concept towards its natural conclusion and knows his readership well enough to second-guess their assumptions along the way and throw them off course a few times. This is a polished, gripping story designed to keep you immersed until the end. But I came to that end wishing it had contained a bit more emotional depth. Reed builds a web of human relationships around the central concept to try to give it some warmth, but the characters never really came to life for me and seemed more like narrative props than real people. That said, “Reunion” scores highly in every other area and will more than please Reed’s many fans.

Uncertainty seems to be one of the few constants linking the very different stories of M. Rickert together. As comfortable with horror and fantasy as with the more science fictional tropes employed in “Traitor,” all of M. Rickert’s stories (at least that I’ve read) deliberately leave the facts up for debate. “Traitor” is built around the relationship between a mother and her daughter, Alika. The two appear at first to live a normal, if relatively poor, life, including walks to the local ice cream stand in the evenings. But through Rickert’s clever writing, a much more menacing picture of their relationship slowly emerges. Alika’s mother has experienced great loss in her life and has become embroiled with terrorism in an attempt to take revenge, even if that revenge is at the expense of everything she loves. What makes “Traitor” more interesting than most of the swathe of recent stories reflecting upon terrorism are its many ambiguities. It is never clear whether the story is a forward projection of our own political reality or an entirely different, secondary world. The details of the political schism around which the conflict revolves are kept hazy at best, allowing Rickert to steer well clear of the repetitive political debates that make most stories of this type so difficult, regardless of their political perspective. Instead, Rickert focuses on the real human relationships that politics grow out of. Combined with Rickert’s exceptional strengths as a stylist, this makes “Traitor” a truly exceptional story.

But by far, my favourite story in this issue is “Circle” by George Tucker. It’s surprisingly rare to find characters in short fiction that leap off the page like fully formed people, but with Billy Black—dropout, urban shaman, and reluctant hero—Tucker has managed just that. Billy is on a mission to preserve a small patch of his ancestral lands from becoming a tower block, but his distaste for most aspects of the American dream make it difficult for him to hold down any job more demanding that casual labourer. Billy drifts into construction and ends up working on the new Vanguard building being constructed by the filthy rich Mr. Adler. But when a series of accidents start affecting the site, Billy is drafted in to take care of the ancient spirits that the new building has made unhappy. Urban shamans seem to be all the rage at the moment, cropping up in numerous novels and short stories in recent years, but this was the first time I have seen the idea so well delivered. Billy Black’s brand of shamanism involves getting tanked up on beer and smoking cigarettes until the spirits show themselves, one of many details that make this story at once a much grittier and much more humorous take on urban mysticism. I will certainly take the time to seek other George Tucker stories.