(July 2013)
The numbers marched higher. When they broke
ten million, she plunged out of the command spindle and into the room she had
claimed for her own. She pounded the wall until her fists bled. Triumph tasted
like salt and venom. It wasn’t supposed to be so easy. In the worst dreams, a wolf roved the tapestries, eating shadows –
eating souls. And the void with its tinsel of worlds was nothing but one vast
shadow.
Yoon Ha Lee is a Korean-American writer.
These short stories span the SFF spectrum but are all infused with a distinctly
East Asian flavour. Folded paper and origami charms are a recurring theme, and
the longest story in the collection, Iseul’s
Lexicon, is loosely based on a Japanese invasion of Korea. One or all of
them, take your pick.
There’s variation in quality and appeal, of
course. All the stories hold their own, but while those towards the fantastical
end of the spectrum are best described as ‘interesting’ or ‘diverting’, some of
the SF is truly stunning. Which is why I’m not convinced that Ghostweight, the opening story and
source of the above quote, should have been first up. It’s astounding: poignant,
chilling, brittle, and shatteringly brilliant.
It would, honestly, be asking for the
impossible to maintain that level across an entire collection, and I can
understand why you’d want to open with a bang, but it’s hard not to feel
slightly disappointed when the rest of the stories are merely very good
because, well, you end up using phrases like ‘merely very good’.
Lord, I can be an unpleasantly picky
bastard sometimes, can’t I? Ghostweight
is still available to read online, and I highly, highly recommend it. A lot of
the other stories are also still floating around the internet and they too are
well worth a bit of effort in tracking down and enjoying. There are a couple of
stories that share the same world, and in the author notes she explains that
these were aborted stubs for a projected novel. Here’s hoping that we get something
on that score in the near future.
Well off topic:
ReplyDeleteIt's an over long article, but you go quoted in the middle of it. A lot of bad company, but Cucek is good.
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/07/15/issues/trolls-or-media-watchdogs-japans-foreign-born-defenders/#at_pco=cfd-1.0
Kamo: Tempted to read Ghostweight after my specter-filled motorcycle trip is finished.
DeleteAnt: Uh...after reading the article and then starting to read the comments, I feel a little ill. Time for coffee.
No. No. Not the comments. For the love of god man, have you learned nothing?
Delete