Strange Horizons Discussion Forum: Engines of Survival, by Larissa Kelly

Goodness gracious! What an engaging, intriguing, vividly well-written science fiction short story by Ms. Kelly. I kept thinking, "Would I want to be this Narrator/Traveller?"

Given who the author is, I initially read this piece on 25 March 2009--yes, after Ms. Kelly mentioned having written an SF story on TV's "Jeopardy!"--with both high expectations and a skeptical awareness (as a longtime freelance science journalist and now a journalism history doctoral student) that even plenty of supersmart people possess startlingly abysmal writing abilities. To check my initial positive reaction, I set the piece aside and re-read it again about one fortnight later, to avoid hasty praise. But I am now pleased to note that my high expectations were met and indeed topped, and Ms. Kelly IS one supersmart person who DOES know how to write extremely well. Also, it seems 20/20 clear in hindsight, but the piece delivered a eureka insight for me, which I plan to allude to in my doctoral dissertation defense a few months hence--those of us (like the author and her husband Mr. Hoppes, and myself also) training to be historians are, in a symbolic yet real sense, time travellers.

The low-key opening scene is a true gem: the mysterious Narrator/Traveller comes across as an intelligent, observant, well-educated, sensitive, curious individual for whom we want to root. The nicely chosen and aptly conveyed details of that brief scene "hook" readers into wanting to know what (and when) is going on there.

A few thoughts: As a metric fan since childhood, I liked the use of SI units--but yikes, just 50 KG in a pack! (The author made one slip in mentioning a walk of miles.) Even for a non-sports-person like me (at about, oh, say, the "Who is Babe Ruth?" semi-wild-guess level), the unmentioned white elephant in the living room in that list of ordinary mementos/curiosities was baseball cards--the extant ones made so valuable by all those generations of mothers tossing out their grown sons' collections, and so light in mass and small in volume, too. A knowing nod to the readers who are probably thinking that very point would be worth inserting, I should think. I am guessing the Crow's War reference may be a subtle homage to the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock-directed suspense film classic, "The Birds" (some of whom were crows, and the film was set in and near San Francisco). The prospect of yet more warfare ahead in humanity's future certainly depresses one, though if enough of us write about and work against that prospect, maybe it can be avoided. And that O. Henry/Ambrose G. Bierce-esque twist ending--the time portal works only going forward!--wow, that took me totally by surprise. (In contrast to the time portal in "Star Trek"'s famous April 1967 episode "City on the Edge of Forever," for instance.)

Like the best SF, this piece encourages one to imagine the future, examine what one's own choices might be--both now and then, and ponder if creating this advanced time-portal technology would be for the better (I vote yes) or not. I think that the late Rod Serling would have liked to adapt it as a "Twilight Zone" television episode. It definitely has dramatic potential. And I surely look forward to reading more from this talented new author.

As a former (is that ever possible?) space magazine managing editor, I do have a few helpful suggestions vis-a-vis clarity (e.g., especially of the timeline) and such. I will pass them along to the author soon.