Fractal Paisleys | |||||
Paul Di Filippo | |||||
Four Walls Eight Windows, 289 pages | |||||
A review by Greg L. Johnson
Di Filippo is a good example of a rural humorist, a kind of writer
fairly common in American literature but rare in science fiction. It's not
surprising that a genre dedicated to space travel has produced few
"regional" writers, authors whose work is identifiable with a certain
locale. Clifford D. Simak is one example, but his stories, many set in the
rural Midwest, are not meant primarily as humor. R.A. Lafferty is a better
comparison, as his stories often invoke the Southwest, and are full of the
tall tales that characterize much American humor.
The term "trailer park sf" has been coined to describe the style
and setting that characterizes Di Filippo's stories, and it's an apt
phrase. Anyone who has lived in a small town with a large automobile
graveyard on its outskirts will recognize the people and places that appear
in these stories. The best example of this is the title story, where a
bartender and her no-account boyfriend hook up with the tools of a time
traveller they accidentally run over on the highway. They have a good time
playing with seemingly unlimited power in the form of a TV remote control
that comes, the time traveller tells them, from only fifty years in the
future, "but they're going to be wild ones." In "The Double Felix",
half-witted Rowdy Staggers and Perfidia, his scheming girlfriend, pursue a
naïve mad-scientist who hasn't a clue that his new invention could destroy
the world. "Earth Shoes" fills us in on exactly who's responsible for
what's happened in the last twenty years.
The other thread that runs through these stories is an unabashed
love of rock 'n' roll. Titles like "Mama Told Me Not to Come" and "Lennon
Spex" speak for themselves. "Flying The Flannel" takes us to an
intergalactic battle of the bands, and features references to the
Replacements and They Might Be Giants, among others. "Do You Believe in
Magic?" chronicles the quest of Beaner Wilkins, legendary rock critic, to
replace a broken copy of his treasured Lovin' Spoonful album. The problem
is, Beaner hasn't been out of his apartment since 1981, and things have
changed a bit.
Like most short-story collections, not everything here is
first-rate. While "Master Blaster and Whammer Jammer Meet the Groove Thang"
starts things off on a high note, it does display a trait that keeps "Queen
of the Pixies, King of the Imps" from being a good story, namely a lapse
into cuteness. There are times when you wish that some of these stories had
a little harder edge to them. That, however, would play against the
author's obvious affection for the kinds of people he writes about. They
may be often shallow and fairly ignorant, but they are full of life, and
they know how to have a good time. Characters such as Beaner Wilkins and Junius
Weatherall, the suicidal teenager of "The Cobain Sweater", who all seem to have
withdrawn from life, are rejuvenated by the events of their respective
stories.
And there is a main theme to these stories. Small-town characters
are confronted with science fiction weirdness, and instead of running away
and hiding, they grab it and go. Whether that means rescuing lost alien
pets or replacing your boss's face with a moose head, the results are always
entertaining and often hilarious. Paul Di Filippo is one of the funniest
writers working in SF today. Pick up a copy of Fractal Paisleys and join in
the laughter.
Greg L. Johnson thinks Fractal Paisleys provided welcome relief from the overwhelming burdens inherent in reviewing science fiction. His reviews also appear in the New York Review of Science Fiction. |
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