Keyan Bowes

Let me clarify. As a reader, I don't care for post-apocalyptic fiction. (Disclaimer: This doesn't mean I'll never write any.) I've trying to figure out why not.

Firstly, of course, it tends to be depressing. It gets old reading about the world going to hell (or gone to hell) in the latest fashionable way. It used to be nuclear warfare; then world-gobbling plagues, natural or iatrogenic or of the nature of biological warfare; and of course the ecological disaster, including climate change impacts on the North Atlantic Current and knock-on effects from that.

Second, and this is often related to the genesis of the particular dystopia, many of them are strong on Message. They comment on matters of current relevance in ways that might be done better - and more carefully - in an essay or an article.

Third, they feel rather elitist. The underlying trope for the post-apocalytic world is usually how the western world has ceased to function and how dangerous/ scary/ deprived life has become. But this is real life for people in many parts of the world. Their apocalypse is now. Of course, they also are unlikely to read apocalypse fiction, which is addressed to people who are very comfortable and describes for their entertainment how it could be very uncomfortable.

So there it is. I've read some stories in this genre that I enjoyed. (Edited: An awesome one just showed up in Strange Horizons. It's by my Clarion classmate Ramsey Shehadeh: Jimmy's Roadside Cafe.)

But in the main, I'd rather read the non-fiction versions.

Once in a while, I encounter a spec-fic story I absolutely love. This evening, browsing through my downloaded issue of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #34, I found one such. It's called the Flying Woman, by RJ Astruc: A rather ordinary title for a cool story.

The protag is a djinn called Zeem, who lives in a London tenement. and works as a clerk at a grocery chain store. In this story, Zeem is haunted by a terrible, intolerable screaming that just goes on and on, and only Zeem and his friend Johnny want to do anything about it.

It's the second I've read set in that world: Strange Horizons had one last year, called the Perfume Eater.

What's wonderful about these stories is that they're funny, clever, and humane.  Johnny Flannery, a petty criminal (who "considers himself more of a freelance locksmith") is Zeem's only real friend, "If being a real friend means that you're obligated to cough up bail money every other month and lie to their parole officer." So Zeem says, but it's not true; his affection for the entire differently-functional crowd is palpable, as is theirs for him. It reminded me of Steinbeck's Monterey books.

As a character older than the entire human race, probably, Zeem has an interesting perspective on humanity, science, and religion. He's detached intellectually and involved emotionally, a combination with lots of potential. I hope there are going to be more Zeem stories, and eventually a Zeem anthology.

I wish I could link to this story, but ASIM is a paid magazine. I'm paying for those downloads (and they're worth it!)