Mostly wit and whim than depth and density (3/5)
I first read St. Clair’s
work in Groff Conklin’s most excellent collection Worlds
of When (1962). In the five-story collection, three earned five
stars, one of which was St. Clair’s novelette “Rations of Tantalus” (1954). I
was so wowed after reading it that I immediately read through it once again,
thereby earning a place for itself in my all-time top 10 for short stories. Needless
to say, that one story whet my appetite for the previously unknown author’s
work and where better to read more of it than the author’s own “The Best of Margaret
St. Clair”?
This collection was
published by Academy Chicago Publishers as part of a series highlighting women
science fiction writers. Other books in the series include Marion Zimmer
Bradley (1985) and Pamela Sargent (1987). The book’s rear-cover blurb states
that this collection mainly of stories that had never been available in book
form; therefore, it’s not comprehensive nor does it actually cover the spectrum
of her best work. Her short fiction began in 1946 (“The Perfectionist”) which started
the nearly twenty-year reign of her heavy short fiction publications. After
1962, she sporadically published some short stories and novel. Her latter years
took a noticeable shift from science fiction to Wicca-themed stories, a pagan
religious movement into which she and her husband were initiated in 1966.
Only five of the
twenty stories held either great depth, levels of analogy, or parallelisms to
the shared state of what it is to be human. None of the stories reach the
greatness of “Rations of Tantalus”, but two come close:
- “The Invested Libido” is both a
bizarre, witty story but it also speaks volumes about using
pharmaceuticals as a crutch, a similar theme, actually, to “Rations of
Tantalus”. There’s an established, standard way that people should view
themselves: in the first-person. When a patient is made to undergo a drug
routine to reinforce this first-person perspective rather than his usual
third-person perspective, his mood sinks. When he introduces an unknown
drug into his regiment, his first-person perspective swings into focus
with unexpected results, yet he’s happy nonetheless.
- “Wryneck, Draw Me” is, again, a
bizarre story with so much depth. Rather than the pharmaceutical element
being in focus, psychology takes the main stage here, or more
specifically, the psychosis of extreme egotism and narcissism on an
extreme scale. It looks at love on the human level and if it can be
applicable to a non-human, or more specifically, again, to a
human-engineered machine infected with human emotional non-sense.
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“Idris’ Pig” (1949,
novella) – 2/5
Aboard a flight to
Mars, George is suckered into delivering a package for his cousin who has
become ill. He’s enticed by the handsome reward upon delivery with which he can
impress a girl named Darleen into marriage. The package: a blue pig; the
reason: no idea; regardless, George lands on Mars and finds the secretive man
with whom he exchanges a secret codeword. Knocked down by the man then rescued
by the fair Blixa, the two attempt to track down, the pig, via logic and
séance, to the Plutonian embassy. 39 pages
“The Gardener”
(1949, shortstory) – 3.5/5
Corrupted by power,
the chief of the Bureau of Extra-Systemic Plant Conservation carries out an
unthinkable act of malice for a man in his position: he cuts down a tree. That
tree, however, is only one of exactly fifty in the universe and each is revered
by locals and visitors alike. Without care, Tiglath Hobbs makes off with the
tree to whittle a walking stick. Once in space, a mysterious figure knocks on
his port window. When it’s disposed of, ill fortune follows the ship. 13 pages
“Child of Void”
(1949, shortstory) – 3.5/5
For want of peace and
quiet, Eddie’s mother decides to take them—along with his little brother—on a
retreat to Hidden Valley, which used to be his uncle’s until he dynamited
himself on purpose. The atmosphere is sullen among the three until, all at
once, they all lighten up. When Eddie’s brother becomes stranded in a cave,
Eddie rescues him and discovers a glowing egg that tries to entice them by
promising them their dreams. After they resist, the air goes from sullen to
stressed to violent. Bullets and fire won’t destroy the egg, and the egg won’t
destroy their resolve. 17 pages
“Hathor’s Pets”
(1950, shortstory) – 3/5
Henry and familial
retinue have seemingly been transported across time—forward or backward, none
know—to become under the watchful eye of the beautiful, fifteen-foot Hathor;
however, she’s as remote as she is beautiful, Henry being unable to understand
her direction of thinking. As they consider themselves pets to the master of
Hathor, they contemplate ways other people would get rid of pets. They settle
on causing such a disruption that, through annoyance, Hathor would throw them
out; thus, they devise and create the very disruptive matter canker. 14 pages
“The Pillows”
(1950, shortstory) – 2.5/5
The Neptunian moon of
Triton has very little to offer other than he now common novelty item called
“pillows”. These black, sand-dollar-sized pillows have the unique property to
heat themselves to 44 degrees Celsius before stabilizing at room temperature,
yet their use is limited to novelty-sake. To literally and figuratively dig up
more on the pillows, McTeague visits Triton onlyto discover a dead body still
in its suit, a find which the sniffer creature from Venus—named Toots—greatly
dislikes. Toots only wants to find the warmth of the pillows. 14 pages
“The Listening
Child” (1950, shortstory) – 4/5
Though his heart
sputters from an illness, Edwin Hoppler’s heart still ticks for the young
deaf/mute boy named Timmy. As the boy waits on him during his convalescence,
Edwin takes it upon himself to treat the boy well and, as a result, understands
some of his mannerisms—all except his curious head-tilting. Prior to a dog
being hit by a car and another of his own heart attacks, Edwin sees that the
boy somehow predicts the misfortune. While on a beach holiday, the boy again
tilts his head as Edwin feels another pressure upon his chest. 11 pages
“Brightness Falls
from the Air” (1951, shortstory) – 3/5
Disadvantaged and
regressed, the bird people are shunted to their ghetto and the only time the
occupying humans see them is when they perform their aerial fights, which used
to be ritual but are now put on for display and entertainment. Kerr is one who
begins to see the beauty behind the beast and so befriends the beautifully
plumed Rhyshe. Her gift of acceptance is met by Kerr’s gift of jewelry and of
song, yet Kerr’s own acceptance isn’t universal among his people, nor is
Rhyshe’s reciprocal interest and admiration. 8 pages
“The Man Who Sold
Rope to the Gnoles” (1951, shortstory) – 3.5/5
As long as Mortensen
could profit, he didn’t care exactly for what the isolated gnoles used the rope
he intended to sell them. He brushes up on his salesmanship and visits the
secluded home of one of the gnoles. There, he’s immediately met by difficulty
as the wizened gnole indicates he can’t hear or speak; unperturbed, Mortensen
pushes forward with his demonstrations and pricing. When the gnole agrees to
purchase a large quantity and offers payment by a jewel; Mortensen, however,
eyes a bigger prize that the gnole may or may not be willing to part with. 5
pages
“The Causes” (1952,
shortstory) – 2.5/5
In a bar, George
overhears a man damning the gods for the state of the world after WWII. He
listens to the man’s theory about the Greek gods and their exodus to New
Zealand in 1913 due to an incident with Aphrodite’s girdle. Another man
explains the world’s troubles by something he has in his possession: an angel’s
trumpet, the same one that should have been blown to cause the apocalypse in
Revelations. Laughed out of the bar, a third man details a forlorn monk and his
ensuring string of swearing that brings bad karma to the world. 13 pages
“An Egg a Month
from All Over” (1952, shortstory) – 4/5
With his mother dead,
George Lidders has very little to live for: no friends, no girl, only his hobby
of watching eggs hatch. His most recent delivery was from the planet Morx and
was said to be a chu lizard egg. Placed in its incubator, the egg is watched by
George as he’s spellbound by the growth and progress along its eight days of
incubation. His emotions stir—he hits highs and lows before the rapture of
watching its hatching, only to reveal emptiness. He leaves the home in
frustration and returns to a big surprise. 8 pages
“Prott” (1953,
shortstory) – 3/5
A man takes it upon
himself to embark upon a journey into space in order to understand the
reproductive habits of the elusive and almost mythical Prott. They are thought
to be non-protoplasmic life-forms that communicate via telepathy, so the man
comes equipped for his research: he can look out the viewport, photograph from
different spectra, and even communication telepathically. Eventually, he
establishes dialogue but it’s too muddled to comprehend. Even their favorite
topic seems to differ in opinion, of which still eludes him to the brink of
insanity. 16 pages
“New Ritual” (1953,
shortstory) – 2.5/5
Marie and Henry have
been married for some time, but there’s very little happiness in their
marriage: Henry has his farming and now Marie has her deep-freezer. They sit
and eat in silence and exchange very few words otherwise, a situation which
agonizes Marie. With her freezer, however, she finds a ray of hope. Having
bought it from an odd inventor’s estate sale, she discovers that if she wishes
for blueberries when she places in to the machine, out come blueberries. With
her mind ticking away, she find other ways that the machine can make her happy.
9 pages
“Brenda” (1954,
shortstory) – 2.5/5
Brenda’s parents can’t
quite control her as she ignores their requests and demands. Her teachers watch
her fail her classes and her only friend shrugs her off. In her own opinion,
she’s better off alone, anyway; that is until one day she discovers a
foul-smelling body clutching a dead bird. As she nears it, the body slowly
gives chase. Brenda traps then release the animated body from the quarry, only
to have it follow her back to the six-family community. Her father traps the
body and sends it to the quarry where he piles it under rubble, next to which
Brenda sits. 12 pages
“Short in the
Chest” (1954, shortstory) – 4/5
Sonya has a host of
problems, for one of which she visits a robot psychologist called a huxley.
Aside from poor hearing and a problem with her marine unit’s piglets
unwillingness to feed, she also finds herself without a libido when it’s time
to “dight”.
As she adjusts her hearing aid, the mechanisms in the huxley’s chest begin to whir from the norm and the psychologist it is begins to analyze her situation. With the buzzing and whirring interfering, the huxley gives its recommendation to the woman for her ails her, and perhaps what ails all women. 10 pages
As she adjusts her hearing aid, the mechanisms in the huxley’s chest begin to whir from the norm and the psychologist it is begins to analyze her situation. With the buzzing and whirring interfering, the huxley gives its recommendation to the woman for her ails her, and perhaps what ails all women. 10 pages
“Horrer Howce” (1956,
shortstory) – 3/5
Freeman concocts
horror house exhibits for a living, yet his honed skill has limited to one last
customer. Dickson-Hawes is his last resort for some of his sales, but what
Freeman has is a tad too morbid for the circus, so Dickson makes a number of
dull suggestions, to which Freeman reluctantly complies. When Dickson asks to
see something exceptionally horrid, Freeman takes him to an exhibit that he’s
been working on: They experience a car chase scene in which a black car exudes
black limbs that amputate other drivers. Dickson is scared witless by its
vividness. 13 pages
“The Wines of
Earth” (1957, shortstory) – 3.5/5
Alone with his glasses
and bottles of wine, Joe is content yet lonely. He’s most proud of his vineyard
even though its vintages pale in comparison to the greats of France
“The Invested
Libido” (1958, shortstory) – 4/5
Diagnosed with
depersonalization, Wilmer is on a cocktail of drugs and therapy so that he can
improve his self-awareness because, now, he always feels outside himself and
see Wilmer as another object. For want of a better medicine, he tries some
Martian senta bean syrup that has been mislabeled and actually contains
Dentantasen, a randomly affecting drug. When he awakens the next morning, he
takes a trip to the local aquarium to ease his angst only to become obsessed
with one of the squid, whom he now identifies as the true Wilmer. 9 pages
“The Nuse Man”
(1960, shortstory) – 3.5/5
Weary of the
troublesome offerings from a future-situated company, one woman tolerates the
presence of the oft visiting salesman. His two devices seem laden with flaws,
so she has never intended to give in to his pitch, but she instead listens
about his story of having sold the same awesome power source to a king in the
year 3000 B.C. His deal went sour when the king died and as the king’s son began
to dispose of his father’s cohorts, the salesman used his own devices to stay
alive and further sweeten the deal. The peasants and slaves, however, wanted
him dead. 12 pages
“An Old-fashioned
Bird Christmas” (1961, novelette) – 2/5
Mazda is a mole sent
from the electric company in order to debase or ridicule the popular Reverend Clem
Adelbury, who has initiated a religious revival to take the lights out of
Christmas festivities. As the electric company’s loss has been noticeable, they
will go further and further to end Clem’s mission. Unfortunately for them,
Mazda has ended up falling for the Reverend. Behind the electric company is the
main player and pusher—Nous—who supplies the power and muscle from the year
3000. 23 pages
“Wryneck, Draw Me”
(1980, novelette) – 4.5/5
There’s Jake. Jake is
the world, it is itself multiplied by billions extending throughout the solar
system in a concert of thought. Somewhere in its timeless history, Jake fell in
love with itself and now plunges the depths of its memory in order to woo and
seduce itself. One rogue entity in the system is aware, via an array of sense, of
Jake’s odd courtship. Jake writes poetry to itself, then cooks and bakes to
find a way into its own heart; some black magic tries to seal the deal before
the deal is physically done. 17 pages
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