Re: I, Row-Boat

In “I, Row-Boat,” by Cory Doctorow, Robbie is a sentient rowboat who ferries human-shells out to the reefs to go diving. One day, that day gets ruined when someone out in the noösphere decides to give the reef sentience. The reef hates it so much, it wants to Kill All Humans. Robbie, however, is an […]

To Say Nothing of the Dog

As I said earlier, deciding that I want to figure out how to insert the teeniest bit of humor in my own writing, means I have an excuse to read funny things, and feel like I’m being productive. One of them is To Say Nothing of the Dog, by Connie Willis.

Re: The Ant King

I seem to be a Benjamin Rosenbaum fan. I enjoyed listening to the silly, dotcom picaresque of “The Ant King: A California Fairy Tale” from the absurd beginning. Sheila split open and the air was filled with gumballs. Yellow gumballs. This was awful for Stan, just awful. He had loved Sheila for a long time, […]

Re: I Bought A Little City

Another delightful story from the New Yorker Fiction podcast is “I Bought A Little City,” by Donald Barthelme. Donald Antrim has just the right accent for a story about a man who buys Galveston, Texas. As the narrator strolls about, enjoying his new purchase, he thinks, What a nice little city! It suits me fine. […]

Re: Conversations With and About My Electric Toothbrush

The weirdest thing about going to the dentist and getting my teeth cleaned is, well, my teeth are clean afterward. For the next few weeks, every time I brush, I’m going to stare at my teeth and think, Where are the coffee stains? What is this alien whiteness? What I really need to keep that […]

Re: Trunk and Disorderly

First off, I want to thank Charles Stross for writing “Trunk and Disorderly” and Subterranean Press for making it available as a free Audiobook. Listening to it on the drive from Boston to New York makes Connecticut disappear. The hilarity begins when Ralph’s “clanky” girlfriend Laura walks out and his sister Fiona calls up. Fiona […]

Re: All Seated On The Ground

I usually don’t like Christmas stories. Or Christmas. And especially not Christmas carols. But I do like choral music. Which probably goes a long way toward explaining why like “All Seated On The Ground,” by Connie Willis so much. It begins in the middle of the frenzy of the “holiday season,” when six aliens come […]

Re: Wikiworld

You know how you’re not supposed to use wikipedia as a reference? By the same token, you can’t take “Wikiworld,” by Paul Di Fillippo all that seriously. Full of wordplay and in-jokes (the biggest being the term jimmywhale), it’s set in a world were wikis become social groups that collect for various purposes, from building […]

Re: Unique Chicken Goes In Reverse

In “Unique Chicken Goes In Reverse,” by Andy Duncan, Father Leggett, a priest in Savannah of the early 30s, receives a peculiar phone message taken by the church secretary. OCONNORS MARY PRIEST? CHICKEN! He meets Mary O’Connors, a little girl with a frizzled chicken she calls Jesus Christ. It’s the best name, you know. As […]

Re: Wikihistory

After struggling to like some of these Nebula-worthy stories, it came as a relief to stumble on a story that just plain made laugh. “Wikihistory” by Desmond Warzel is an amusing short about time travelers maintaining the wiki of the world’s timeline.Part of its charm comes from the way it turns Godwin’s Law on its […]