IN THE FIELD OF FIRE

by Jeanne Van Buren & Jack Dann--Eds. Dann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 17, 1986

Well-done volume of short stories in which 21 leading sf and fantasy writers are asked to write about Vietnam. PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) figures heavily in these stories, being the doorway to fantasy, and a spellbinding subject in itself. Five classic works, i.e., published earlier, are also included, by Kate Wilhelm, Dennis Etchison, Gardner Dozois, and Lewis Shiner, which are standouts; and a grossly overwritten piece by Harlan Ellison, ""Basilisk,"" which writhes on the page in terminal elephantiasis. Among the others, Brian Aldiss contributes a fairly amazing invention, ""My Country 'Tis Not Only of Thee,"" in which England has turned into a Vietnam replay in a civil war begun in the 1990's and going on for 15 years, with the Northerns (IRA, etc.) against the Southerns and with the US troops holding all of the South and having R&R at Sugar City, a Saigonesque whores' paradise featuring child prostitutes. Top story is ""The Memorial,"" by Kim Robinson, an ode to the black-marble wings of the Vietnam Memorial: ""Remember the small-town World War I memorials, the score of forgotten names on a plaque? These huge black plates will be filled with names that no one will know, names that might as well be computer-generated for all that they will mean to those who will look at them. What will it say then? What can it say?"" Other fine pieces include Lucius Shepard's ""Delta Sly Honey"" and Joe Haldeman's long poem ""DX"" (which means destroy). A collection likely to be noticed, perhaps remembered.

Pub Date: Feb. 17, 1986

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Tor--dist. by St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986

Categories: FICTION