Vera Nazarian’s first science fiction collection ‘After The
Sundial’ brings together ten stories and poems from the past decade, two of
them original to this anthology. Although the tales deal with SF tropes,
they’re written in a lyrical style, with fantasy overtones. Sometimes they
appear to be a fantasy story until the sfnal elements are revealed, as in
‘Mount Dragon’ where a priest mutters incantations around a huge dragon-shaped
mountain in order to bring it to life.
One of the most engaging stories is ‘A Time To Crawl’, a
satire on a society that has turned its back on the elderly and left them to
fend for themselves. Nelson is one of the Crawlers, unable to walk any more and
refused help by state or an apathetic public, he is forced to crawl along the
kerb, along with crowds of other unfortunates. His short journey to work
becomes an epic tale, with the knowledge that without earning his own money he
will be left to starve to death. It’s a great extrapolation of a simple
concept.
‘Port Custodial Blues’ is by far my favourite of the
collection – and the most unashamedly SF story, which is probably why. Teal
works on a space-station, cleaning the bizarre and varied toilet facilities of
numerous alien species, and becomes involved in the hunt for a missing data
chip in the worst locations. It’s full of amusing detail and invention and was
great fun to read.
‘The Clock King And The Queen Of The Hourglass’ was
originally published as a novella by the well-regarded PS Publishing, so I had
high hopes for it, especially as it takes up around half of the volume. Set in
the far future of a dying Earth, it’s more science fantasy than anything else.
There are some interesting concepts developed as we follow the restrictive life
of Liaei, a girl created from ancient DNA in an attempt to reinvigorate the
species. As long as you aren’t expecting any of the science mentioned to be
particularly plausible, you can enjoy this often poignant coming-af-age tale.
There are several other quirky ideas developed, such as
‘The Ballad Of Universal Jack’ in which speech and time are mixed up in a
complex mish-mash of quantum physics and philosophy. Hard-SF elements are
softened by this approach, leading to an uncertainty in some cases over what
the intention of the story is. In other cases the narrator’s voice is a little
overdone, becoming an omniscient viewpoint that tells of grand events,
divorcing us from experiencing the events through a relatable character. There’s
also an annoying habit of changing tense between sections, paragraphs or
sometimes in the middle of a sentence. The whole effect could either be
described as poetic or sloppy. Maybe my life-long SF habit has made me too
critical. Those looking for more fantastical works may well find them more
entertaining. I can certainly recommend the two stories mentioned above though.
End.
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