I had rather a shock when I finished William Shunn’s An Alternate History of the 21st Century. Most of the comments and analyses I’d come up with while reading these stories were echoed in the author’s “Afterword.” I’m not quite sure what that means. Did I cannily divine what the author was getting at before he elucidated it, or have I stupidly seen only what he wanted his readers to see? Since I don’t dare analyze now for fear of plagiarism or worse, you’ll have to settle for straight description.
“From Our Point of View We Had Moved to the Left” is a cautionary tale of American politics. It was first published in 1993, so fortunately some of its predictions have not come true, but there are others that a non-American (or probably some Americans) may perhaps be forgiven for suspecting have come to pass but not yet been admitted to. It ends badly for all concerned. “Kevin17” is a fable on genetics. I think the narrator thinks it has a happy ending, but I’m not too sure that it does. “Observations from the City of Angels” has one of those coy endings you often get in SF. “Strong Medicine” shows how what is tragedy for some can bring redemption to others. “Objective Impermeability in a Closed System” isn’t quite the old “man goes back in time to be his own grandfather” shtick, but rather the related “man goes back in time to father his daughter” — or does he? “Not of This Fold” is the one story in the collection that could not have been written by anyone else except William Shunn. You see, William Shunn is a former Mormon missionary who is no longer associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and that’s all I can tell you about the story without giving it away.
William Shunn’s Web presence is here.
Flytrap: a little zine with teeth is from Heather Shaw and Tim (aka T.A.) Pratt and their Tropism Press. There are two issues a year. This latest one has a lovely variety: a fable by Haddayr Copley-Woods, a riff on Norse mythology from Greg van Eekhout, a hilarious revisionist fairy tale by Stephanie Burgis, a baseball tragedy from Jan Wildt, a very much odder fable by Jon Hansen and a sketch from Sonya Taafe. There’s also an excerpt from Alan DeNiro’s poem “The Stations.” I must admit I couldn’t finish it. It’s the sort of poetry that makes my head ache, but you will probably love it. There’s also an interview with Paul Tremblay and an excellent essay on voice in fiction.
(Spilt Milk Press, 2007)
(Tropism Press, 2007)
[Update: Neither Spilt Milk Press nor Electric Velocipede, both products of editor John Klima, is still extant. Nor are Flytrap or Tropism Press.]
