Short SF Marathon Day 9: Kathleen Ann Goonan, Theodora Goss, Nicola Griffith

Kathleen Ann Goonan, “A Short History of the Twentieth Century, or, When You Wish Upon A Star.” Tor.com, July 20, 2014.

To be clear about it and as the introduction points out, this isn’t a science fiction story. But it is commentary on science fiction. It completely skewers the attitudes in socalled Golden Age science fiction that saw man conquer space and woman left to keep house on Mars. So on the one hand you have the timeline with milestones in space development, on the other you have the biography of Carol,coming of age during the space race. Goonan practically rubs your nose in the everyday sexism Carol has to deal with, which all seems so quaint, old fashioned and dumb now, but I can’t help remember that for all its progressiveness and forward looking, science fiction was never all that good at treating women like actual human beings until long after the second wave of feminism hit, and then only reluctantly.

It’s brilliantly done, biting without being axe grindy and it may well end up on my Hugos shortlist.

Theodora Goss, “Cimmeria: From the Journal of Imaginary Anthropology.” Lightspeed, July 2014.

This is an interesting idea which didn’t quite work out for me. What if you could imagine a country and make it real, Borges style? What if you then went on a field trip to your imagined country? And married the daughter of the khan, who has a twin sister, but you made it so the Cimmerians don’t believe in twins?

The problem with the setting is that the imagined country isn’t imaginative enough, too much like a hodgepodge of Central Asian and Balkan cliches. Also, of course, Cimmeria actually existed, or at least there was a people we call that trundling around the Near East during the Bronze Age.

But the story itself is interesting enough to overcome this handicap; I need to find more of Theodora Goss’ writing.

Nicola Griffith, “Cold Wind.” Tor.com, April 16, 2014.

A woman tracks a legend to a lesbian bar, but is not quite what she seems to be either. A brilliant, economically told story. Not surprising coming from Nicola Griffith, who has a knack for the perfect small, telling detail.