Sci-Fi Shorts and Ray Bradbury

The first short story I read this week for the science fiction genre was the one about the giant: JG Ballard’s The Drowned Giant. It was quite descriptive for a short story but it didn’t move anywhere fast for me. In fact it was a little difficult to discern the point of it all. It was sad how the washed up giant was treated but the anticipation for something more made the read somewhat of a disappointment. In reflecting upon it though I can see its purpose was to make the reader think about all that could be out there and all that is. It’s also unfortunate to consider how we react to surprises like the giant without much empathy.

The other short story I read was Come to Venus Melancholy by Thomas Disch. The beginning was confusing, but as the talking building, who is our narrator, began to reveal more and more about who she is and how she came to be the story became really intriguing and the unexplained gaps turned wondrous. I think the experimental narration works because it involves the reader in the story. It’s been a long time since I’ve read a work of fiction that talked to me. Probably not since Dr. Seuss. But I liked seeing it here and wouldn’t mind seeing it more in adult fiction. Although it might get annoying if the scenario is always kept as mysterious as it is kept in Come to Venus Melancholy. It’s fun because it’s experimental and you don’t know what the narrator is going to explain to you next, either about herself and her own history, or about who you are and how you got here, locked inside of a talking cyborg/building. By the time it concluded not everything was answered, which kept me living inside of the world Disch had created for a while after having read it, still trying to make up answers for myself.

The personality Disch created for the talking building seemed very realistic and convincingly average, and perhaps for that reason also rather annoying. She had a gift of gab and if it weren’t for her being a human turned into a sentient room capable of locking its own doors I don’t know that she would have been interesting enough a narrator to listen to. I’d imagine it’s hard as an author to get away with literally telling your reader every so often “wait, don’t leave!”

It’s tough to compare either of these sci-fi stories to the Ray Bradbury movie. Bradbury creates a dystopian world where books are outlawed and explains to you how the society functions, so it isn’t experimental in that sense but I can see how Bradbury was using the genre to explore big ideas. Bradbury’s idea od a dystopia being a world without books may come across as a bit corny at first but for some reason the idea of “becoming” a book, like the Book People, would truly give me a greater sense of purpose in their situation. It’s a fascinating way of reminding us how much a well-written story can mean to us, and how, as a form of communication, it’s a way of connecting with people.