Wednesday, April 08, 2009
26 monkeys, short story
Wow, this short story, 26 Monkeys, Also, the Abyss, which you can read in its entirety online, is a good one. Found it on the Asimov's web site. It got nominated for a Nebula award, and you can see why. It has: magic; and monkeys; and mystery.
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Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of a Gene Wolfe or Michael Swanwick story, in the sense that it has some very evocative images, I don't understand it, and it got nominated for an award.
Further evidence that if I ever manage to get anything published, awards will not be forthcoming.
Ha! There are plenty of stories I read where I get to the end and say, in a soft, sad voice, "I don't get it." But I liked this one. I mean, it's sweet.
ReplyDelete***SPOILER***
By the end, the monkeys and the odd misfit people who adopt them are all connected, socialized, enwebbed. The people who come in fascinated with the monkey trick go out with their lives enriched. There are a lot of stories about this kind of weirdness, but few of them end as nicely as this one. At least there's no Monkey's Paw (monkey's fist?) ending.
True, the positive twist to the ending was a pleasant surprise.
ReplyDeleteI'd show it to Lisa, but there's an animal death in it and that always makes her sad. Today she was rescuing worms and slugs from our driveway before I was allowed to back the car out and take the kids to school.
Fortunately she's too much of a gourmet to go vegetarian, or our relationship would suffer some serious strain.
Hey, my captcha was a real word! is that supposed to happen?