Thursday 24 May 2007

Preachers -- Tim Lees (Interzone 210)

The plot
A boy watches his father cling to science in a post-holocaust world where faith in a vengeful god is a better survival tactic.

What I liked
It reminded me immediately of Steinbeck's novella Of Mice and Men because of the migrant labourer setting and two male characters who take care of each other.

The irony of a science fiction story in which science does not appear to be the answer to society's ills. Or at least, not in the protagonist's mind.

This story says so much in few words (I reckon 4,500).

What I learnt

The holocaust is unexplained, so there was no need for a tiresome info dump. It's hard to present pre-story history in a first person viewpoint -- particularly if the viewpoint character has no reason to believe he is being read by a c.21 sci-fi lover. The whys of the holocaust are not needed. All we need to know is that things are bad and getting worse.

Two characters desperate for each other's approval makes for top notch conflict.

You can write from a child's point of view as a child; or you can write from a child's point of view as an adult. These are two different things.

Interzone

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