Shadow of the Mothaship Corey Doctrow Quirky Sci-Fi
I just read Shadow of the Mothaship, which is part of the quirky ‘A Place So Foreign and Eight More’ collection of short stories. I didn't read the paper version, but instead downloaded the epub file version from the Gutenberg website. One of the big advantages of getting eBooks from Gutenburg is of course that they are free. But one of the disadvantages is that it tends to be full of dusty ancient, out-of-copyright stuff like, The Last Chronicle of Barset by Anthony Trollope, for example, which I have only heard of conservative ministers having ever read.
These sci-fi stories, and a bunch of others, by Doctorow on the other hand are the exact opposite. They are ultra-modern takes on the sci-fi genre by an author who seems to be striving to stay at the cutting edge of popular culture. The way he spells ‘mother’ in Mothaship for example is a tip off to anyone who has watched a Blaxploitation movie that this is not the usual long-dead or golden-age type of sci-fi you find on the Gutenberg sci-fi bookshelf. Instead it's a story with some attitude, even if it might be what would be called a bad attitude in the USA.
It's a story about an obnoxious and rebellious teen who's cult-leader father turns out to be right about the existence of aliens. He doesn't react in any profound way, or discover any deep meaning behind the meaning of existence. He just sets fire to some stuff, and does some other stuff just because it's kind of cool, ...and that makes the story all the more believable. Nothing is signposted, nothing is explained and there is a lot of unseen depth to the story, and the stories of the supporting characters to be guessed at. It's like Corey is guiding our imagination with hints and innuendo.
It's a very arty piece of SF.
These sci-fi stories, and a bunch of others, by Doctorow on the other hand are the exact opposite. They are ultra-modern takes on the sci-fi genre by an author who seems to be striving to stay at the cutting edge of popular culture. The way he spells ‘mother’ in Mothaship for example is a tip off to anyone who has watched a Blaxploitation movie that this is not the usual long-dead or golden-age type of sci-fi you find on the Gutenberg sci-fi bookshelf. Instead it's a story with some attitude, even if it might be what would be called a bad attitude in the USA.
It's a story about an obnoxious and rebellious teen who's cult-leader father turns out to be right about the existence of aliens. He doesn't react in any profound way, or discover any deep meaning behind the meaning of existence. He just sets fire to some stuff, and does some other stuff just because it's kind of cool, ...and that makes the story all the more believable. Nothing is signposted, nothing is explained and there is a lot of unseen depth to the story, and the stories of the supporting characters to be guessed at. It's like Corey is guiding our imagination with hints and innuendo.
It's a very arty piece of SF.
Comments
Post a Comment