Featured Post - Ninja Writer's Story Club - Week 7

Who's Afraid of Wolf 359 by Ken Macleod

Featured Post - This will stay on top of the page for a week - scroll down for newer content.

Okay, this is a much shorter story than the last couple.  Not only is it shorter, but the file is pdf, it's complete, and it's readable and printable. This is a fast paced story and the premise is interested.  But rather than spoil it, here's the opening:

When you’re as old as I am, you’ll find your memory’s not what it was. It’s not that you lose memories. That hasn’t happened to me or anyone else since the Paleocosmic Era, the Old Space Age, when people lived in caves on the Moon. My trouble is that I’ve gained memories, and I don’t know which of them are real. I was very casual about memory storage back then, I seem to recall. This could happen to you too, if you’re not careful. So be warned. Do as I say, not as I did.
      
Some of the tales about me contradict each other, or couldn’t possibly have happened, because that’s how I told them in the first place. Others I blame on the writers and tellers. They make things up. I’ve never done that. If I’ve told stories that couldn’t be true, it’s because that’s how I remember them.

read the rest . . .

CAUTION - as usual with the Story Club, the comments are going to contain spoilers.

Featured Post - This will stay on top of the page for a week - scroll down for newer content.

Okay, this is a much shorter story than the last couple.  Not only is it shorter, but the file is pdf, it's complete, and it's readable and printable. This is a fast paced story and the premise is interested.  But rather than spoil it, here's the opening:

When you’re as old as I am, you’ll find your memory’s not what it was. It’s not that you lose memories. That hasn’t happened to me or anyone else since the Paleocosmic Era, the Old Space Age, when people lived in caves on the Moon. My trouble is that I’ve gained memories, and I don’t know which of them are real. I was very casual about memory storage back then, I seem to recall. This could happen to you too, if you’re not careful. So be warned. Do as I say, not as I did.
      
Some of the tales about me contradict each other, or couldn’t possibly have happened, because that’s how I told them in the first place. Others I blame on the writers and tellers. They make things up. I’ve never done that. If I’ve told stories that couldn’t be true, it’s because that’s how I remember them.

read the rest . . .

CAUTION - as usual with the Story Club, the comments are going to contain spoilers.

Comments

[Seraph]

Pretty interesting story, in all honestly, i think it hits too fast to be a good read, but all in all, it was great to pass 10 minutes with. I'll troll this post until someone else leaves a comment.

Oh and nice blog BTW

[jane]

I am printing this now and will read it in the next day or so. Based on the title and cover, I don't expect to like it!

[Anna]

I listened to this story at EscapePOD (http://escapepod.org/2008/05/15/ep158-whos-afraid-of-wolf-359/) - great sci-fi podcast if you've never heard of them. They've been featuring Hugo nominees for the last couple of weeks.

It was interesting, but not more than that. I was expecting something more. It started off all warning-ish ("don't do what I did") and never seemed to go anywhere with that. And at one point the narrator seemed horrified by what the natives have done, but then goes on to help them with their objective? Or subvert it to his own cause?

Kind of confusing, but like Seraph said, a good way to pass some minutes.

[jane]

I totally agree with Anna's comments. Good read, oddly warn-ish with nothing all horrible to back it up.