CV Rick's Reviews

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate

Ted Chiang has done it again.  His novelette, The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate is another spark of brilliance from a writer whose name is becoming synonymous with "year's best."

This story is time travel meets Arabian Nights.  It's a story with a moral imperative about changing the past or affecting the future.  The narrator, Fuwaad ibn Abbas, tells the Caliph of Baghdad the story of his own involvement with the Alchemist's Gate by telling him the stories of other people who have gone through that same gate.  Each story contributes to the overall narrative, each adds to the beautiful Arabian scenery, from Baghdad to Cairo, and each reveals more capabilities of the gate itself. 

In my experience with Chiang's writing, he explores the idea of fatalism from two perspectives: Can one change his fate? and Can one accept his fate?  Some of the nested story's protaganists can accept, some cannot, yet the narrator realizes the most important thing about time travel is knowledge not deed.  It is that essential truth that is the theme of the story. 

I can't recommend it enough. 

- CV Rick, April 2008

Repent, Harlequin said the Ticktockman

In a world where time is the most essential resource and tardiness is penalized by law.  More, it's penalized by shortening one's life by the amount of time "wasted" according to the ruling authority, the Ticktockman.  In this dystopia no dissent is tolerated.  Then there's the Harlequin, a man who dresses up like the fabled trickster and taunts the authorities, encouraging people to take their time, smell the flowers and whatnot.  Harlequin knows that mass revolt is the only way to enact a change against a totalitarian regime.  But is Harlequin the man to trigger a revolt?

Harlan Ellison has written so many great stories, but this one in particular resonates with me and with our time obsessed society.  It's the small voice of defiance that I wish more people had.  This edition of the storyu is good, if a little overpriced.  The artwork is good, but I think the story is better suited as a short, not an illustrated graphic.  As a short in the 60's, this story won the Hugo and the Nebula.

In whatever form or edition, I think this is a great story for people to read.  It's a wonderful introduction to the imaginative world of Harlan Ellison.

- CV Rick, March 2008

Refund - by - Karen E. Bender

A 9-11 story to remember.  A woman and her husband are desperately trying to live the good life in Manhatten, but aren’t making enough money to stay ahead.  In order to give themselves a boost on mounting debt, they sublease their apartment for a month: September, 2001.  The woman who rented it now wants a refund and is insistent.

Beautifully told, with a powerful ending.

♦♦♦♦

about Karen E. Bender and a link to the story, here.

Mother - by - Quang Bao

When the end of an era arrives, the wealthy start to fear the underclass.  This is a story about finding a maid and changing lives and evacuation.  Short and powerful.

♦♦♦♦

about Quang Bao and a link to the story, here.

Run Run Run Run Run Run Run Away by Melissa Bank

Her brother has a new lover and Sophie doesn’t have a good feeling about it.  Jack’s never been too stable and when he starts dating a therapist, particularly a therapist specializing in assisting survivors of torture he gets more closed, more secretive and more isolated from his family.  As things digress, Sophie is torn between intervening or just waiting around to pick up the pieces.

The story was good, but frustrating because of the passive inaction. 

♦♦♦

about: Melissa Bank