REVIEW: “Land Locked” by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, “Land Locked”, in Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020): 95-98 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

What a contrast this story was to the previous one! A fraction of its length, and entirely different. It bothered me, though, that in a story centered on two characters, one man, one woman, the man was named, and the woman was not.

(Originally published in Seen From Here, 2020).

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Running Down” by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, “Running Down”, in Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020): 55-93 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the Review of the anthology.

One thing I have really enjoyed about Harrison’s stories is the way that he highlights experiences that seem at once very specific and yet at the same time also familiar. In “Running Down”, this manifests in the opening of the story when the narrator, Egerton, explains his relationship with Lyall, his erstwhile university roommate. The details of their story seem utterly unique to them; and yet, the experience of mutually dislike between close friends is one that has happened more than once in my own life (it makes me wonder, now, whatever happened to my childhood bestfriend whom I moved away from age 10. She and I loathed each other more often than not). The deft way that Harrison does this is what makes his stories feel so real, even when — once you get more than a few pages in — you cannot escape the utter unreality of the story being told (especially when an unexpected personage turns up!).

(Originally published in New Worlds Quarterly 8).

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “I Did It Too” by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, “I Did It Too”, in Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020): 49-54 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the Review of the anthology.

I never would have thought I’d read a story about football and enjoy it! This one had me laughing all the way through; Harrison has a very clever way of juxtaposing something utterly realistic with something utterly fantastical, and the result is perfection.

(Originally published in A Book of Two Halves, 1996).

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “The Gift” by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, “The Gift”, in Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020): 27-48 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the Review of the anthology.

I found this story strange: When I first read it, I was deeply entranced by the alternating pictures of the lives of Sophia and Peter, their separate threads and their interwining events. And yet, within a week or so of reading it, I found I could remember almost nothing of it. Ephemeral, not substantial; beautiful while it lasted, but then gone.

(First published in Other Edens, 1988.)

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Settling the World” by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, “Settling the World”, in Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020): 1-26 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the Review of the anthology.

This was a great piece to open the anthology with: Reading it you cannot escape the clear and certain knowledge that this is a piece by a master craftsman. Every single part about this story was perfectly developed and perfectly placed, and left me hungering for more. After reading this story, I knew I was going to love the rest of what was to come.

(First published in The New Improved Sun, 1975).

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020 by M. John Harrison

Review of M. John Harrison, Settling the World: Selected Stories 1970-2020, with a foreword by Jennifer Hodgson (Comma Press, 2020) — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I’ll admit: Prior to receiving a request from the press to review this collection, I had not heard of M. John Harrison. My personal route through SFF has been rather idiosyncratic, and has missed out pretty much all of the “classic” SF authors. This made the opportunity to read a retrospective collection of Harrison’s stories — spanning 50 years — rather more desirable, not less, because it gave me an opportunity to fill a gap in my education. For that, I must comment on how useful I found Jennifer Hodgson’s interesting foreword to the collection; it says almost nothing of Harrison’s biography or history, but focuses more on the experience of reading his stories, and the way in which they reflect the world we inhabit and our experiences within it. Coming ignorant to Harrison and his work, Hodgson’s foreword piqued my interest and whetted my appetite, and set the stage for reading this excellent collection.

In these stories we find many repeated themes, as Hodgson highlights: The theme of dissatisfaction with how things have turned out; the theme of never knowing enough; the theme of always being just outside of things. Some of the stories focus on questioning reality; in others, the reality is so different from our own and yet it is taken for granted. Most of the stories contain at least one of these aspects; many of them contain more. This makes them exceptionally accessible: Even the weirdest of weird science fiction in them is not enough to make the stories themselves unfamiliar or strange, while sometimes the most mundane and ordinary of settings turn out to be home to the strangest and weirdest of stories.

Reading the collection was edifying, and I don’t mean this to be pejorative. I learned a lot about ways people look at the world; but I also learned a lot about the craft of writing stories, because even though I liked some stories better than others (usually the older ones I found more effective than the newer ones), there is no doubt that Harrison is a master of his craft, and one cannot help but marvel at what he has produced.

As is usual, the stories will be reviewed individually, and we will link the reviews back here when the are posted.

Sara L. Uckelman18 Comments

REVIEW: “A Curse, A Kindness” by Corinne Duyvis

Review of Corinne Duyvis, “A Curse, A Kindness”, in Marieke Nijkamp, ed., Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018): 276-304 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology).

This was the other stand-out story of the volume, sitting alongside of Fox Benwell’s story a cut above the rest. It was so unexpected and charming and an unabashed, straight-up fairy tale, complete with a curse, a wholly unexpected genie, three wishes, and a happy ending. A great story, and a great way to end the anthology. Any misgivings I had reading the first story of the anthology were wholly banished by ending it on this note.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Mother Nature’s Youngest Daughter” by Keah Brown

Review of Keah Brown, “Mother Nature’s Youngest Daughter”, in Marieke Nijkamp, ed., Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018): 260-275 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology).

Mother Nature’s youngest daughter came into her powers early, earlier than any of her siblings. Being able to control snowstorms doesn’t make it any easier for Millie to control her teenage emotions and reactions, especially not when she is being bullied and no one — not the teachers, not the other kids, not even her siblings — will say a word to stop it. If no one else will help her, then Millie has got to help herself — maybe, being the daughter of Mother Nature isn’t the worst thing in the world.

This was an engaging story, but I felt it was a little flat compared to some of the others in the collection, perhaps unfairly because some of the others really sparkled. This one was still a good story, just not one I’m likely to remember strongly.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Ballad of Weary Daughters” by Kristine Wyllys

Review of Kristine Wyllys, “Ballad of Weary Daughters”, in Marieke Nijkamp, ed., Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018): 240-259 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology).

This is a story for anyone whose favorite part of Anne of Green Gables was the idea of kindred spirits — friends whose bond is forged early and will remain forever unbroken, no matter how many stumbling blocks life throws at them. Whether it is River’s father walking out on her family, or the way the doctors have to keep tweaking her bipolar meds, or whether it is Lucy’s younger brother coming home with a bad report card or her older brother disappearing, all of these seems nothing more than window-dressing for the real story, and that is their friendship.

As a teenager, I couldn’t even begin to imagine having a friend like that. Maybe if I had had more stories about teenaged girls being friends, I would have learned better how to do it. More stories like this one, please.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “A Play in Many Parts” by Fox Benwell

Review of Fox Benwell, “A Play in Many Parts”, in Marieke Nijkamp, ed., Unbroken: 13 Stories Starring Disabled Teens (Farrar Straus Giroux, 2018): 205-239 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology).

Take a bunch of misfit teenagers, combine them into a theatre company, and give them Marlowe’s Faustus, and the result is this absolutely smashing story — the best in the volume. Five stars, two thumbs up, would pay to see this story-cum-play turned into an actual stage-production.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment