OBIR: Occasional Biased and Ignorant Reviews reflecting this reader’s opinion.
Zebra Meridian and Other Stories – by Geoffrey W. Cole
Publisher: Stelliform Press, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, 2024.
Cover art: by Rachel Middleton
Note: All stories by Geoffrey W. Cole
Billy Ray’s Small Appliance Rehabilitation
Premise:
Two things can complicate a business partnership. 1) the other guy is your lover, and 2) he’s a mutant.
Review:
The world, ecologically speaking, began to clean up its act in the 1950s, but what if it didn’t? What if it became a toxic nightmare beyond our worst contemporary fears? No wonder then, that the prosperity of the early ‘50s would spawn a nostalgic religion decrying the great betrayal which led to the collapse at the end of the decade. Add the equivalent of a thalidomide “wonder drug” purporting to produce beautiful, intelligent babies who unfortunately cannot stop mutating, and the sense of betrayal grows exponentially stronger. No wonder purification and revenge become popular themes. Even a humble appliance repair business is in for a world of hurt.
A complex story which nevertheless focuses on frustrated compassion, forbidden love, and revengeful regret. Yes, it’s an alternative world of oppressive technology as threatening and hurtful as our own, but seen through the eyes of those determined to survive no matter what the cost. Curiously optimistic that.
A story so complex it bears many layers of meaning that mirror many of the essential conundrums facing the modern world today. A masterful story, more than the sum of its parts. Perfect for classroom debates, I should think. It forces the reader to ponder the implications. I’m impressed.
Three Herons: Black-Crested Night
Premise:
We’re so used to admiring herons when we watch them stalking fish, but what do they think of us?
Review:
Selected by editor Rhea E. Rose for issue #5 of Polar Starlight Magazine (of which I am the publisher) in March of 2022. No wonder, it’s quite striking.
The Five Rules of Supernova Surfing, or, A For Real Solution to the Fermi Paradox, Bro
Premise:
Not only is time relative, it is inadequate.
Review:
Surfing supernovae is a form of immortality… almost. Reef and KA-10-8 are gnarly dudes dedicated to catching the first wave whenever a supernova blows, but lately there seem to be fewer and fewer of them. Or stars. Or galaxies. Where’s an energetic black hole when you need one?
Sad to think the fate of the universe may depend on two individuals straight out of a casting call for “Beach Blanket Bingo,” but there you go. Given an absurd level of technology, it all seems so plausible. Could it be that the ultimate urge motivating our species is not “to go where no man has gone before” but rather, “Dudes just want to have fun?” In this manner we corrupt all the alien races we meet, converting them into human simulacrums devoted to our cause?
A whimsical tale. Amusing, and somehow frighteningly convincing. Perhaps the last words humanity will ever hear are “Surf’s up!”
Song of Mary
Premise:
What happens when a generation ship can no longer provide?
Review:
The reader knows a Starship is barely functioning when hunter gatherers within live in tents made from the hides of their own parents. This story is full of subtle yet telling details that accent the bare subsistence level of life for the would-be colonists now doomed to go extinct unless drastic measures are taken. Highly advanced technology still exists but in the form of magic barely adequate to the needs it seeks to fulfill. Yet there are a few convinced a solution can be found if only everyone would unite behind a common plan produced by consensus. Does this mean we will always be naïve even in extremis?
A highly intelligent and carefully thought-out extrapolation of what might go wrong on a generation ship. Not when the main difficulty first arises, but centuries later when the consequences suddenly worsen. Of course, our Earth is a closed generation ship, so the story can be interpreted as a metaphor revealing what’s to come. Hopefully, merely one of many possibilities and not necessarily our inevitable fate.
Two from the Field, Two from the Mill
Premise:
When dogs start to float into the sky you know something is wrong.
Review:
Well, of course, if dogs experience the rapture and humans are left behind, there are bound to be peculiar and varied reactions from just about everybody. This is not a problem that can be easily rationalized away. A severe test of faith for some. A great sense of loss for others, compounded loss in that it is shared by a large number of other perplexed, sorrowful folk. Those who come up with explanations are angered by those whose answers are different. The dog rapture (if that’s what it is) doesn’t bring humanity together, it tears us apart. Still, if you are willing to suspend disbelief, there are ways to cope,
A sad yet amusing tale with a high degree of playful originality. I like it.
Captured Carbon
Premise:
A sentient coral reef is a big responsibility.
Review:
For one thing, it fears for its children because of an approaching oil spill. Fortunately, science has leapt to the rescue with a biological entity which gobbles up oil. Unfortunately, that’s not all it does.
AI is the big bogeyman of the moment. I know it will be good and useful for some things in the short term, but I am dead certain the advent of genuine AI will mean the extinction of humanity. But I’m lucky, I’ll be dead of old age by then and never live to see it. Consequently, for the remainder of my life, AI or the fear of such is mere fodder for certain SF fiction I might care to write.
But the human race plots to destroy itself (inadvertently, mind you) in myriad ways. For now, DNA sequencing manipulation and the prospect of new life forms inimical to our survival, no matter how well intentioned their human creators, doesn’t get much press. But, as we well know from the periodic sudden appearance of nasty disease organisms, biology has a way of turning on us.
This story postulates a new human/bacteriological hybrid of startling originality and grave potential danger. It may not wipe out the human race but it sure as hell could cause our civilization to collapse. Terrifying.
I guess the moral of the story is that governments and universities handing out grants to fund research should be a tad more careful when looking at applications. No, wait a minute, this particular beastie was developed secretly in company labs at the expense of the company. The outside world knew nothing about it till it was released with much hoopla to market. Hmm, perhaps this is the true nature of our Achilles heel. In which case, civilization is doomed.
The Way of the Shrike
Premise:
Who knew that being impaled was steady work?
Review:
Marjormam’s parents are quite excited. Their little girl’s birthday marks childhood’s end. Now she’s old enough to work a daily shift on the 13-foot stake waiting for her at the edge of the city. She’s joining the ranks of the impaled!
But Marjormam doesn’t want to live a boring life like everyone else. She wants to run out of town with her girlfriend Pranny and make a living putting on puppet shows. Pranny is older, and an impalement regular. She’s beginning to have second thoughts about their plan to strike out on their own. Can these young lovers handle their first crisis?
Household demons, indeed the presence of demons everywhere, would indicate this is a vision of Hell, but what a curious vision it is. Torment is regulated, subject to rules and work codes. Off shift, life has its little rewards. I can’t help but wonder if this is not a vision of hell, but rather a commentary on the hell to be found in our daily lives. If so, it’s a remarkably original take on the subject, and certainly an unusual setting for a troubled love affair. Could the implication be that even the tortures of Hell are nothing compared to the painfully convoluted angst of teenage love gone awry? I know it seems that way to many a teenager, but still…
I’m amazed at this story. It’s a wonderful feat of imagination going way beyond all the cliches associated with Hell. Or to put it another way, it’s a hell of a good story.
Three Herons: Great Blue
Premise:
Human cacophony disrupts the silent hunt of the Heron.
Review:
Vivid contrast between nature and anti-nature, with mankind coming off as the lesser creation, the spiteful spoiler. Still, nature can be patient.
This, too, first appeared in issue #5 of Polar Starlight.
CONCLUSION:
Apologies to Geoffrey Cole
I’m only about halfway through but I’m still exhausted from the “When Words Collide Writers Festival” I attended a week ago and all the subsequent frantic catchup of a number of projects I’ve fallen behind. I turned 73 in July and oddly enough this hasn’t improved my stamina or energy levels.
That said, the first half of this book exhibits a spirit of sparkling originality that is really quite refreshing. It breathes new life into the genre. I’m betting the second half is equal to the first. To sum up, a collection which enlivens and excites. Highly recommended.
Find it at: < Zebra Meridian > (Will be released Sept 5, 2024)
