The Moment of Eclipse | ||||||||
Brian Aldiss | ||||||||
House of Stratus, 210 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Gabriel Chouinard
It was in an issue of New Worlds that I dug from a pile of my Dad's old hippy magazines (and
let me tell you, it seems oddly poetic to think of New Worlds crammed in with old copies of
Organic Gardening and The Mother Earth News and those huge
old Whole Earth Catalogs...). I don't recall now what the story was, though I'm relatively
sure it was an Acid-Head War tale. Those would have disturbed me more than a Cornelius tale... and this
first Aldiss story DID disturb me. I know, because I began seeking out others...
Brian Aldiss is one of the authors I think of as my Shapers. Like Moorcock, Phil Dick, Lieber, M. John Harrison;
these were the authors that shaped my tastes in fiction and writing. So when I learned that
House of Stratus was reissuing many of Aldiss' works, I was thrilled. My
own copies of most of his books and stories are so tattered they're nearly unreadable. So I promptly spent a
lot of money. Hothouse, Barefoot in the Head, Dracula Unbound, Frankenstein Unbound,
Moreau's Other Island. And, as promised, many many more, coming soon!
The Moment of Eclipse came last, overlooked in my own haste, supplied to me by SF Site for review.
Thank God. If I had forgotten this collection of stories, my life would have been incomplete.
The Moment of Eclipse presents fourteen of Aldiss' stories. Like all the House of Stratus editions,
this is a simple, attractive digest-sized paperback edition, cleanly designed and barren of frills, so the
format doesn't detract from the content. Admirable. Even the blurb on the front
cover ("Short stories including Super-Toys Last All Summer Long -- a new Steven Spielberg
production -- A.I.") is unobtrusive along the edge of the spine.
Sadly, "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" is one of the weakest of the tales included here, especially
without the propping of its two sequels. The story of the artificial boy David who doesn't know that he isn't
real, and his relationship with un-loving "mummy" Monica Swinton, is actually quite simplistic and disappointingly
clichéd with it's tear-jerker material and the easily-spotted ending. I would have preferred to replace
this story, especially with the collection of the three Super-Toys stories that was recently released. It
doesn't quite fit with the tone of the other stories here.
On the other hand, there is "The Day We Embarked For Cythera..." which showcases Aldiss at his evocative best:
This was long before internal parasites had labyrinthed their way
into the mechanisms of eternity."
Not all is horror and despair in The Moment of Eclipse. In particular, the tale "Swastika!" is at once a
melding of political satire, absurd humour, and even a touching of sentimentality. Brian goes to visit Hitler
(who lives under the assumed name Geoffrey Bunglevester), to discuss a proposed musical of Hitler's life. Of
course Geoff agrees. For two percent of the profit.
Even at his worst, though, Brian Aldiss is always a "Grand Master of Science Fiction." And when he is at his
best, as in "Orgy of the Living and the Dying," or "The Circulation of the Blood" and "The Worm That Flies," all
included here, it is clear that Aldiss has taken the genre and melded it to his own whims and desires. Capable
of so-called "hard SF," Aldiss is still one of the genius humanists of the genre. He is much better when
examining the twisted psyches of his characters, who (like Philip K. Dick's characters) are so unremarkably
ordinary that they stand out as extraordinary. He writes about people more often than constructs, and for
that he has elevated himself far above the vast majority of crap that populates the shelves. He is a weaver
of intelligentsia and art, of culture and politics, a satirist and an examiner of human nature and the human
condition. His range is extraordinary. And at times, his concepts are so far out there, so wildly original,
that I find myself pausing in my reading to take deep breaths and wonder... how can he manage this? How can
such an imaginative writer function in society?
And in The Moment of Eclipse we receive samples of it all.
You owe it to yourself to buy this collection, and you owe it to yourself to buy all of Brian Aldiss'
works. Without them, your life will be poorer.
With them, you'll be able to populate your mind with infinite possibilities and dream imagery for years to come.
And if you find your psyche becomes warped in the process... well, that's what Brian Aldiss does best.
Gabe Chouinard is a reader, writer and editor who is very vocal in his support of cutting-edge speculative fiction. He detests skiffy, deplores Fat Fantasy... but is a good guy to have a drink with. Expecting his second child, Mr. Chouinard is now writing with much more frantic vigor, in the hopes of getting published before he has NO time... |
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