"Jay Lake - American Sorrows" - читать интересную книгу автора (Lake Jay)

American Sorrows
by Jay Lake



Fictionwise - Science Fiction, Fantasy

Copyright (C)2004 by Jay Lake

There are more people to thank in this year of my life than I could ever put names to on this page, so this
one's for Bronwyn. The rest of you know I love you, too.
Introduction
James W. Van Pelt

Aficionados of fantasy genre literature have been discussing lately what the trends are. Have we entered
the world of the “new weird?” Has “slipstream” replaced the older traditions? Has the word itself,
“genre,” lost its meaning?

Whatever the case is, you can be sure that when a writer sits down with pen and paper (or word
processor), that literary discussions of today's movements drop away. They become moot. What matters
most after a few minutes in that special reverie which is the writer's own, is the story. And among
storytellers, there's a select group who not only have a story to tell, but also have a compelling voice to
grab you by the ears and make you pay attention. “Something vital is going on here,” it will say.
“Something that will move you and entertain you and leave you thinking."

That's a Jay Lake kind of storyteller.

In this collection you will find four assuredly told stories by Jay Lake, who both has the confidence in his
own tales to plunge in without hesitation, and faith in the readers to follow him. These stories take us
immediately into real worlds not quite like our own, but so unerringly told that you'll be asking yourself if
maybe, just maybe, they aren't fantastic at all.

In “Our Lady of American Sorrows,” a parallel history to ours plunges us deep into political intrigue, high
adventure and Mayan mysticism. While I was reading, though, I found myself wondering if the events of
that world weren't real. Did I miss a day in my history class? Did the Pope really have access to nuclear
weaponry? What were the effects of the second great war on South American politics? I don't know,
and in that area of ignorance, Jay has woven his story.

The setting of “The River Knows Its Own” is a Portland I recognize, complete with achingly funny
caricatures of grunge environmentalists and the fringe folks who practice environmentalism like it's a black
magic, except in Jay's world, the magic works. The story never ceases to be a dead-on portrait of one
segment of our society, and all the while it isn't about our world at all, at least not the part of it you will be
familiar with.

Clearly the Texas of “Into the Gardens of Sweet Night” isn't ours, but everything within it is, warped and
twisted and familiar, even the talking pug and the very purposeful wolves. In this, my favorite story in the
collection, Jay takes us on a ride that is reminiscent of pulp fiction at its best. A rollicking adventure filled
with surprises. Readers had best hold onto their wits while reading this one.

“Daddy's Caliban” is the only piece here that doesn't seem firmly grounded in a place you'll recognize, at