In "The Void," the first story in the collection, one family experiences five minute periods where people outside fall down dead. Those inside are untouched. And animals, except for insects and birds, go too. Of course, what makes Atkinson shine in a story like this one is how beautiful the writing is and how her two characters come to life so fully--even as they go to their death. I guess all of the stories in this collection will share elements like these. She never feels any need to explain it and I didn't need to know. Goody. What a talent for so many years now.
14 comments:
I have read a story, perhaps two, but don't remember which ones, over the last decade or three. Clearly, I need to look into more. The collection title is almost a manifesto of surfiction, the portmanteau of surreal fiction...when other sorts of fantastic fiction (maybe not so much magical realism) will tend to seek to explain or at least make clear how this Is Odd, as opposed to simply happens.
Atkinson as notated in the SF ENCYCLOPEDIA:
https://sf-encyclopedia.com/entry/atkinson_kate
and ISFDB:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?140756
Better no explanation than a poor one ala LOST.
I liked a few of her novels. I started her earlier collection, but it didn't appeal to me as much as the novels.
Terence Faherty's main series character is Owen Keane, generally called a "failed seminarian turned metaphysical sleuth" - he quit after one year - who has become a sort of unofficial investigator, who is good at solving crimes. I've never read his novels - there are 8 Keane novels, I belive, as well as a very different series about Scott Elliott, a PI of sorts in post-WWII Hollywood. Faherty has written a number of short stories about Keane, collected in two books, THE CONFESSIONS OF OWEN KEANE (2005) and THE CHRONICLES OF OWEN KEANE (2023), available for $4.99 on Kindle. Most range from ten to thirty minute reading time (their estimate), but the long novella "The First Proof" is estimated to be 90 minutes to read. I pretty much read it straight through a couple of days ago. A former flame of Keane's asks him to accompany her as she takes her late husband's body back to Maine for burial, after he drowned himself.
I am also still reading the Philip K. Dick collection.
She does have so much talent. And I like the way she develops her characters, too.
Oh, I wasn't asking that surfictioneers supply explanations. Just noting the variety of approaches in fantastica.
I think "poor" is Very Kind when it comes to LOST, but the series was somewhat idiotic from jump. I "enjoyed" a Twit "conversation" with a LOST cultist whose repeated insistence was that the LOST island wasn't Purgatory (which it clearly was from the pilot onward), but an Island. As if Purgatory couldn't be an island. "No, it's not bread. It's a bagel."
Another new to me writer, Jeff.
I love Atkinson's novels too. Especially Jackson Brody (ie?) And LIFE AFTER LIFE is a masterpiece.
Diane's Book Club has read a fair amount of Kate Atkinson.
Yes, LIFE AFTER LIFE, definitely. I love those kinds of books.
Just wanted to say how much I value this feature each week. I do. Just did not have it in me to run another repeat today so that I could be included.
Kevin-I do it all the time. I always want to include you. You have written so many reviews-they deserve repeating-as do those of us who have gone.
I don't know if I would like this particular story, but I would like to try her short fiction. I will look for a copy of this book.
I see that she has another Jackson Brodie book coming out later in the year, I guess I should read BIG SKY sometime soon.
Have never read BIG SKY either.
I'll put Atkinson on my list. I looked at the books listed on her website and recognized none. All the cover designs are marvelous.
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