October 11- Nov. 1, 2010
“Last of the Monsters” by Emily C. Skaftun (Oct. 11, 2010)
“Styx Water and a Sippy Cup” by Hal Duncan (Oct. 18, 2010)
“What We Left Behind in Jacksonville” by Colleen Mondor (Oct. 25, 2010)
“Hokkaido Green” by Aidan Doyle (Nov. 1, 2010)
Reviewed by Dawn McKibbin
Strange Horizons lives up to its name, offering up one unique vision every week. These last four weeks serve up two portions of myth reinterpreted, a haunted family for Halloween, and a tasty story set in modern Japan.
“Last of the Monsters” by Emily C. Skaftun will be the first to disappear in the weekly format. It is told from the perspective of the final Gorgon monster left alive from Greek myth after a Texas rancher finds Athena’s tomb out in his pastures. The last monster is Medusa’s sister, whose head embellishes Athena’s shield.
The Gorgon’s point of view twined with the novel setting make this story interesting and entertaining. While you don’t have to know much classical mythology to figure out how this is going to end, the Gorgon’s final thoughts provide insight into the much maligned sisters.
Hal Duncan’s “Styx Water and a Sippy Cup” from the week of October 18th is a tale about what happens after death, especially to those who were never really born. The story manages to be both profane and profound at the same time. It’s odd grammar and frequent profanity distract from the tale, though not enough to make it unreadable or unenjoyable.
“What We Left Behind in Jacksonville” by Colleen Mondor is a Halloween tale of a different sort. She uses a trip to a community group’s haunted house as a lens to focus on the story of the real haunted house she lived in as a child. This story juxtaposes real and fake horror nicely as we learn what the true trauma of the haunted house in Jacksonville was. It’s not what the family or the reader expects.
“Hokkaido Green” by Aidan Doyle is the Japanese entree on Strange Horizons’ menu – literally. Hitoshi Watanabe is a “cubical samurai” who works for a camera company. He is the son of a ramen restaurant owner whose family has passed on. His brother has gone to an early grave from overwork, and Watanabe is left wondering about the meaning of his life.
Instead of being the good company man he was, Hitoshi quits his job to make a pilgrimage to a blue-green hot spring where he meets a mystical advisor who promises him his family’s ramen recipe on one condition, he never take or possess any more photos. Giving up those photos and getting the recipe is the spirit bear’s way of showing Hitoshi that the money and fake memories of the photos aren’t everything, but a really good cup of soup and enjoying a day where the sky is a right shade of blue are.