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Monday, October 30, 2006

Twenty Epics

Posted by John Holbo on 10/30/06 at 09:22 AM

Dave Moles kindly sent me a copy of Twenty Epics - his new anthology, edited with Susan Groppi. I just finished it, cover to cover. Entertaining! Later I’ll try to write a full review, because the conceit - epic in 10,000 words or less - is amusing. A few contributors cheated by writing buffo short stories. Or just plain short stories. But be that as it may, some of this stuff is really funny. "Epic, The", by Scott William Carter, is very Steve Martin, Cruel Shoes. "Scott William Carter, who has been working on a yet-to-be-published epic of staggering scope and depth, makes his home in Oregon. He has two cats. More about his work can be found by doing a Web search under his name. His website currently has a Google ranking of 3." And we all talk about writing a plan-your-own-adventure novel. But Marcus Ewert actually wrote - well, a short one. I died. First in a sodium rat attack, but happily. Then from drinking a tea elemental. I’ll just type out bit from Benjamin Rosenbaum’s "A Siege of Cranes", which I especially enjoyed:

The djinn was silent.

"I need to kill the White Witch," Marish said, eating an olive. The voice of doubt asked him why he was telling the truth, if this city might also serve her; but he told it to hush up. "Have you aught to help me?"

the djinn still said nothing, but he cocked an eyebrow.

"I’ve got a horse, a real fighting horse," Marish said, around a piece of cheese.

"What is its name?" said the djinn. "You cannot sell anythng to a djinn unless you know its name."

Marish wanted to lie about the name, but he found he could not. He swallowed. "I don’t know its name," he admitted.

"Well then," said the djinn.

"I killed the fellow what was on it," Marish said, by way of explanation.

"Who," said the djinn.

"Who what?" said Marish.

"Who was on it," said the djinn.

"I don’t know his name either," said Marish, picking up a yam.

"No, I am not asking that," said the djinn crossly, "I am telling you to say, ‘I killed the fellow who was on it.’"

Marish set the yam back on the table.

"Now that’s enough," Marish said. "I thank you for the fine food and thank you for the three free things, but I do not thank you for telling me how to talk. How I talk is how we talk in Ilmak Hale, or how we did talk when there was an Ilmak Dale, and just because the White Witch blasted Ilmak Dale to splinters don’t mean I am going to talk like folk do in some magic city."

"I will buy that from you," said the djinn.

"What?" said Marish, and wondered so much at this that he forgot to pick up another thing to eat.

"The way you talked in Ilmak Dale," the djinn said.

"All right," Marish said, "and for it, I crave to know the thing what will help me mostways, for killing the White Witch."

"I have a carpet that flies faster than the wind," said the djinn. "I think it is the only way you can catch the Witch, and unless you catch her you cannot kill her."

"Wonderful," Marish cried with glee. "And you’ll trade me that carpet for how we talk in Ilmak Dale?"

"No," said the djinn. "I told you which thinkg would help you most, and in return for that, I took the way you talked in Ilmak Dale and put it in the Great Library."

Marish frowned. "All right, what do you want for the carpet?"

Later he has to sell his doubts to a pissed-off hedgehog. And the White Witch is genuinely very creepy. Happy Halloween, everyone!

Comments

Ewert brings to mind Xyzzy

By nnyhav on 10/30/06 at 02:43 PM | Permanent link to this comment

Sorry, already brought to nevermind.

By nnyhav on 10/30/06 at 04:58 PM | Permanent link to this comment

Somewhat illogical, you know?!?
but it’s good, just make another ‘better’ one.

By Maebelene Melo on 07/25/07 at 09:15 AM | Permanent link to this comment

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Monday, October 30, 2006

Twenty Epics

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