Edited by Steven B. Ramey
(Parsec Ink, July 2012)
Reviewed by Chuck Rothman
Triangulations is an annual anthology published by Parsec in conjunction with their Confluence convention. I enjoyed last year’s version quite a bit and was curious to see what this year had to offer. While the issue is a slight drop-off from the previous version, it’s still an excellent anthology of short fiction.
The anthology starts out with “How the Caterpillar Cheated Death” by H.M. McInnes, which is an odd story about Pasca, whose people are in the middle of a war. Taking the idea from the legend that gives the story its title, Pasca and Emir decide to create a cocoon to sleep in at night. I found the story a bit hard going, and am not sure of whether the point is whether hope is a good thing or just foolishness. Well written, but I just couldn’t get into it.
“The Blue of Distance” starts with the tried and true “astronaut stranded with little oxygen” trope and runs with it. Vadim’s ship is wrecked and he has to make his way to Lev’s own vehicle, which is just at the limits of his air supply. Erich William Bergmeier‘s story is an attempt at tragedy, but is less tragic than it is futile, where Vadim suffers simply because of the mistaken belief that it’s always dramatic when characters die. I have often mentioned that dying does not equal tragedy, nor is feeling sorry for the protagonist. It’s ultimately a downer of a story that wallows in its own sad situation.
The Zombie Apocalypse is the setting of “Scar Tissue Wings” by Aaron Polson. Melvin Haake is undead, but not a zombie in a Kansas City where the zombies have taken over. The problem is that Melvin wants to die, but keeps coming back, tortured by the death of his daughter. It’s a different take on the stereotype and ultimately gets its strength from the fact that the classic zombies are only peripheral to the main story.
“After the Pipers” is a story about what happens after an alien invasion. All the adults are gone, and this bit of flash fiction (in more ways than one) is from the point of view of one of the kids, a boy who’s young, feral, and irresponsible. Camille Alexa‘s story does an excellent job of filling in the situation through indirection and implication.
Henry Tjrnlund goes for high fantasy in “Nocte Finem,” set in a world where a spell has made it eternally dark. Johnathan is part of a group who are setting out to destroy the wizard who caused the problem. It’s a fairly straightforward adventure tale that works well, and I liked the revelation about the nature of the spell.
Toowa is an adolescent in a world with magical winds that are controlled by music in “A Late Wind” by Tami Harris. It’s an interesting society and Toowa’s dilemma — the loss of a comb belonging to his mother — makes this into a decent coming of age story.
The title of “The Zombie Reader” refers to Jersey Summers, who has read 149 zombie novels and thus knows what to do when the zombie apocalypse comes. When he sees it happening he takes action, despite the protests of his wife Raylene. Bruce Memblatt‘s story is fun to read, but ultimately when you get to the ending, my reaction was, “well, what did he expect?” The story could have used more of a twist; as it is, the final scene fell flat.
“After-spin” has a narrator with the ability to “spin” and change reality when things go bad for him. And the effort makes him sick. It’s tied in with the song “The Old Lady that Swallowed a Fly.” Kylie Bullivant has an appealing protagonist with a surprising power and manages to pull it off.
Gordon A. Graves contributes “The Slap of the Plow,” about a series of mysterious disappearances over time. One of the snowplow trucks in a northern town is discovered at the spot where the men disappeared, and it may have something to do with a Native American curse. The story is evocative in its setting, though I find its lesson a little too obvious and trite.
“While She Sleeps, Mountains Tremble” is a bit of flash fiction about Dahlia, the last human child in a world of splicers (I assume this means genetic tampering, but it’s not clear), who have sent something — a trollgre (evidently a portmanteau of “troll” and “ogre”) — to kill her. Though Dahlia is only a child, her handlers think she can survive and be their only hope. Lyra, who has been her primary trainer, fears for the child. Milo James Fowler‘s story suffers from a murky background and the assumption that we can pick up the world from vague hints. While that can be a great way of writing, it doesn’t really gel here.
Kalisa Lessnau‘s “Orbium” also starts in a mysterious background, where Kirst awakes to find that something is wrong: her master is not there. Kirst is a creature created by a wizard, who had been defeated by Dane, an arch enemy. Dane asks Kirst to guide him to find out the master’s secrets. The mystery is slowly revealed and Kirst is a strong character who makes the story successful.
“Colliding” by Alex Gorman is an odd little short where Alice finds a strange fat man who only she can see. The fat man is something more, though. I suspect the story was more effective if it wasn’t for a recent event in all the news, but it’s a clever use of particle physics and romance.
In “The Beast,” Saliman Diarkos, one of the world’s richest men, is also a collector of strange and dangerous animals. When a new creature is discovered, he sends his assistant Frank Almendez to bring it back, but the final leg of the journey is to carry it in a tanker truck with his assistant Caro Bergonzi. But things start going wrong, and the monster inside is beginning to affect them in frightening ways. It’s nice to see horror from outside the US and Jacques Barbéri‘s story (translated from the French by Michael Shreve) is full of frightening incidents as the trip becomes a descent into madness. This is effective horror.
Things are lighter with “That Goldurned Hole” by Gary Cuba. Jimmy Sledge is a country farmer who becomes peeved when a hole opens in the middle of a field, spewing out squidlike creatures. Despite his efforts, they continue to emerge, and Jimmy has to deal with them, unfazed and treating them like just another annoying garden pest. The story is delightful throughout; I do like stories where the characters’ reactions are offbeat yet perfectly logical.
Susan Urbanek Linville sets “Nyabinghi’s Sacred Drum” in Africa, where it tells the tale of Muhumusa, a queen who searches for a way to help her people resist the Europeans overrunning their land. This is a different setting than most fantasy and Linville portrays Muhumusa as a smart and determined woman wanting to save her people. It’s a very strong story overall.
Tommy is a young boy who finds a kitten nearly dead on a cold night and takes him into their household in “Protection from the Darkness.” It’s not a happy house. Their mother is in deep depression over the death of her husband, and the kitten becomes important when she uses magic to help end her grief. Jamie Lackey has written a strongly emotional story about mourning and moving on.
“The House, the Garden, and Occupants” by Amanda C. Davis is about a haunted house. Anne is the ghost and Jacob Winterbeam has bought the house, not knowing about Anne. I found it difficult to get into the characters; Jacob doesn’t really stand out as a character, and I found the whole thing tough sledding.
They say you should never write stories about Adam and Eve, but Madhvi Ramani gives it a go with “Lilith.” Lilith, of course, was the first wife of Adam and we see her watching things unfold from her point of view. This is a very clever retelling of the story, with a twist that is completely fresh — not a small feat in an ancient story like this.
From the bible story, we move to a hard SF tale, Kenneth B. Chiacchia‘s “Course Correction.” Tanya has broken up with Amit, so he takes a ship and goes to crash it into an inhabited space colony, former home of an extinct alien race called “The Gotcha,” named for their penchant for booby traps to catch unwary visitors. Tanya is the only one who can reach Amit, and tries to rescue the colony, overcoming his current anger at her. It’s a nice combination that leads to some great drama and with a difficult situation continually made more difficult, ramping up the tension in the story.
“The Passing-Bell” takes place in an abbey, where Thana, a warrior and assassin, comes to move on to a different life. But another one of the women there, Marien, sees her differently. Marien grew up in the abbey and longs for a different life, one that has the adventures that Thana is so tired of. Lydia S. Gray portrays a woman who feels tired and in need of making peace with herself, and the interaction between Thana and Marien rings very true.
We travel to ancient Babylon for “What Now, Callisthenes,” the story of Thessalonike, the sister of Alexander the Great. Alexander is dying and Thessalonike seeks the immortal water of the River Styx to save his life, accompanied by the ghost-like Callisthenes. The story starts out as a quest, but Christine Lucas adds an extra level of drama where the discovery of the water is only the beginning. An excellent story and one of the best in the book.
“The Blue Testament” by Marshall Payne is a very different look at Jesus and his apostles, set in a modern day world where they are a pack of showmen. Jesus has died in a car crash, and the others wonder if he’ll manage to make it back again this time. It’s flash fiction, carried off with a lot of brio and fun, and the concept is an amusing one.
I really loved “All Unlooked For,” the story of Tricia, who wakes up with a hangover after a barely remembered night of drunken sex. With a squirrel. The one-night stand turns into a relationship as Tricia and Rell have to deal with the issues of a decidedly mixed relationship. Despite the silliness of the entire concept, Nathaniel Lee has come up with a story that’s far beyond jokes and looks into the things that make any relationship so fraught, with the usual and unusual problems that tear people apart.
“The Third Portal” by DeAnna Knippling is about a father whose daughter has been sent through a portal (probably to an alternate world). Her body returns with an alien intelligence and the narrator — a man defined solely by his anger — attempts to cope with the change and the loss. It has him trying to connect with the alien, even though he resents its presence. The idea is interesting, but I was never really engaged by it.
The quality of the anthology is clearly above average, and the top-notch stories more than make up for the duds. It’s a bit more hit-or-miss than last year, but it’s still a worthy anthology.