THE SOUND OF BLUE

Duda (Deny the Father, 2016) presents four SF short stories featuring androids and a shoeshine boy, among other characters.

In the eponymous tale, an android named Markey VI orbits Earth in a space station, along with a powerful artificial intelligence called David, who appears to be tasked with restoring life to a homeworld that human beings destroyed. It turns out that the friendly but naïve and ultralogical, Markey IV is crucial to David’s decision about whether to proceed with the mission. In “Last of Lasts,” a trio of hard-luck human subjects are being used in experiments involving untapped mental powers. The callous scientist in charge of the project presses them to complete an experiment (known as “Threading,” one of many weaving references), despite the potential danger—especially to a woman named Jan, who seems to be a catalyst for a blossoming of psychic energy. By acting in concert, however, the three subjects turn the tables. “Waking from an Eternal Sleep” takes readers into a primitive alien culture. It’s also being exploited by science—in this case, by human interplanetary invaders, who’ve provided these people with a false religion and rituals in order to divide and conquer them. But the dwellers of the “village of Dinnish Pa’kor” prove to be no fools, and they see through the ruse. “Jump Trains and Simultaneity” takes a retro-futurist tone; its hero, Bobby, is a humble, 13-year-old shoeshine boy eking out a living alone with his dog in a deep-space transportation hub called “Chicago VI.” Apparently, even space travelers need shoeshines, but Bobby draws the interest of Theodore Rattletrap, a “Xenoarchaeologist,” who offers him a way out of his hardscrabble, dead-end life. The final story is the only one told from a first-person perspective, and it’s perhaps the most fully realized one here, in terms of setting and characterization. Duda is a dab hand at Damon Runyon-isms (“You must know I bought a ticket to Scram City, population you”), which effectively create a future-1930s ambiance; indeed, one could easily imagine “Jump Trains and Simultaneity” being the first chapter of a novel. As it is, though, it feels unfinished. The other tales, however, are rather more self-contained, and somewhat reminiscent of the more fablelike writings of Ursula K. Le Guin and other SF grandmasters. However, Duda often tries to get away with saying more by revealing less, and readers may find themselves aching for just a few more details. The title story, in particular, could have fruitfully added a few more hints of backstory to its post-apocalyptic “Project Eden,” overseen by a godlike but conflicted computer and its guileless droid (who could be seen as Christlike). In an afterword, the author describes the genesis of the collection at a Las Vegas writing workshop, which may be a point of interest, as single-author SF anthologies, which were once a mainstay of the genre, seem to have become as rare as UFO sightings.

A fair set of SF tales that seems like an appetizer to a future full-course meal.