Customer Reviews

Impossible Things

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

A collection of stories by Connie Willis, one of the modern masters of the science fiction short.

"The Last of the Winnebagos" -- I remember reading this story years ago and not caring for it that much. Rereadiug it ten years later, I find it much more appealing. In one sense it is a mystery story; in another it is a cautionary tale. The way that Willis weaves together the two-- the tale of the dead dog and the new, authoritarian society--is fresh and clever. Sentimental? Yes. But in the best way.

"Even the Queen" -- One of my favorite stories, not just because it flirts with taboo, but because it is written with such an easy and joyous manner. Willis' comic stories are like those by Wodehouse--she is never content with a single gag, but can mix in wordplay, pop references, slapstick, and play off the old cliches in new and unpredictable ways.

"Schwarzchild Radius" -- Just so as you don't get the impression that I worship the paper that Willis types upon, I will gladly admit that I don't care for this particular story. I believe that this was one of the first stories in which she portrays a physics concept in characters and setting. Later on, in "Blued Moon" and "At the Rialto," the same method, when used with comedy, works to much better effect.

"Ado" -- One of the comedies that has not aged well, due partly to the backlash against "Political Correctness" of which this story was only a small part. There are parts that are still funny, like the running battle between the teacher and the sun worshipping student fought with Bible versus, but the end less litany of offended organizations goes stale about halfway through.

"Spice Pogrom" -- This is the kind of comedy that will never die; well, at least I hope it won't, because, like Willis, I am enamoured of the screwball as nothing else. Yes, it may seem as formulaic as any pulp adventure, but it has at its core some thing that no mere adventure story has, and that is a true sense of romance. We may want to be the Lone Ranger, but we know in our hearts that we can not ride Silver. On the other hand, with a little wit and luck, we are able to be romantic and silly--it is closer to us.

"Winter's Tale" -- One of the reasons Will is appeals to me so is that I share so many of her interests--screwballs, Wodehouse, and Shakespeare. Here the scholar in Willis truly shows, similar to her wonderful novel Doomsday Book. A great story and a history lesson--what more can you ask for?

"Chance" -- This is as close to a mainstream tale as you will ever see in a genre publication (it first appeared in Asimov's) but it is the kind of story that is popping up with more regularity in small-press literary and mainstream magazines.

"In the Late Cretacious" -- This is another one that did not age too well. Basically, it tries to put a comparison between academic competition and the evolution of dinosaurs, along with a running joke on parking. Bits are funny, but the whole is tired.

"Time Out" -- Another one in a similar vein, although in the end it feels more like "Space Pogrom" then "Ado." The comedy is present, but more organic--not relying so much on repetition, as it does character. And, while it is a story about time travel, it is also, and more importantly, a story about time.

"Jack" -- Another war story, but one that I was able to relate to. Loosely related to Dracula, this has some interesting points about war and its effect on people. Much more subtle than normal Willis fare.

"At the Rialto" -- I like this story. Of course I do--I'm a sucker for quantum physics--but even I have problems following the pattern and ideas here. In this case, Willis worked hard on her research. At least you can read it without understanding everything.

A very good collection on the whole, and definitely worth your time.

God, "The last of the Winnebagos" has to be the saddest story ever written. I hardly ever cry when I read books; during this one, I *wept*. I had to go shut myself in another room because it was embarassing in front of my family. If you undertake to read this, make sure you have ample privacy, a box of Kleenex, and your dog right beside you.

As to the other stories--Even the Queen is hilarious, and Ado is frighteningly possible. There's plenty here. I'm not going to discuss the rest of it 'cause I'm off to buy Connie Willis' other books!

This will always be one of my favorite books, if only because of the presence of the wonderful "Last of the Winnebagoes." I remember I put off reading that story for a long time, assuming from the title it was an exploration of the decline of native Americans, and would not be light reading. Then I read it, and cried, and read it again, and cried. And quickly decided that it was one of my favorite stories of all time, regardless of genre. And it is a story about the decline of native Americans, but not the sort that are defined by ethnicity. And most of all, it is the most beautiful dog story I have ever read.

But the book has other gems. Even as a guy, I still found "Even the Queen" a brilliant little story (and I couldn't have been the only guy who thought so, since it won a Hugo award), despite being a story about three generations of women discussing ... Well, read the story. Like most of her stories, it seems lighthearted at first, then POW!

Spice Pogram is a pure madcap romp, full of puns, and misunderstandings, and coincidences, and missed meetings, and precocious children, and enigmatic (but charming) aliens. This will make you laugh out loud. (And if you really like it, you need to read "Blued Moon" in her first collection Fire Watch.)

Each of these stories alone would be reason to buy this book, but together, it's a must for any SF reader's bookshelf. And the other stories are excellent as well, especially "Jack" and "At the Rialto."

Too many science fiction authors focus on novels. Admittedly they have to make a living. However, the length is artificial, and far too many authors become bogged down in the middle of a writing that is beyond its natural length. Connie Willis' short stories are as long as the story needs to be. So you don't feel she is writing to maintain an artificial length and thus damaging the story. I have yet to read any of her novels, but hope she found topics that would naturally carry that length. Connie is able to carry a dozen threads of possible stories through a single short story. Often you don't know where the real story lies until close to the end. Her writing is unpredictible. Whereas many science fiction writers wind up with long boring sections of "must be book length" stories, Connie does not. I would describe her writing as off the wall, but you never know where the wall is in her stories. The word "wonderful" comes to mind. Dave Clary

In the introduction to her Hugo-award winning story "Even the Queen," Connie Willis condemns "literary demagoguery," arguing "[Shakespeare] wrote about Human Issues--fear and ambition and guilt and regret and love--the issues that trouble and delight all of us, women included. And the only ones I want to write about." In this second collection of her short fiction, she succeeds admirably in her objective.

Willis is gifted with one of the most original voices in science fiction, one that captures the elusive rhythms of screwball comedy (as in "Even the Queen" and "Spice Pogrom"), then just as deftly evokes melancholy or tragedy ("A Winter's Tale," "Chance"). And who but Willis would even attempt to write a story dealing simultaneously with evolution, academia, and parking tickets ("In the Late Cretaceous")? My favorite story in this compilation might be "Time Out," in which a down-to-earth housewife finds herself unexpectedly snared in a secret time-travel experiment, with hilarious results. Willis's light touch is one of her best assets in a genre that can often be overwhelmingly bleak and nihilistic. The humor can sometimes be a little too glib (as in "Ado," which deals with political correctness run amok in a high school English class), but, on the whole, the tone of *Impossible Things* is well-balanced between the comic and the tragic. Best of all, Willis has remembered one of the most important lessons in science fiction--that the distance between "possible" and "impossible" can be measured by a single phrase: What If?

There are times and places when I prefer short stories to novels---in airports, on trains, at the beach---and this collection by one of my favorite SF novelists is perfect, a wide range of topics, well-written, each a small gem. Take it on vacation with you this year, and be prepared to talk about the stories with all the people who'll no doubt ask you "What's so fascinating about that book?"...

Willis delivers again with this stellar collection. While as a whole it isn't quite as good as Fire Watch, there are stories that match the title story of that collection. Last of the Winnebagos, like all of Willis's work, uses the SF framework to tell a story that resonates far beyond science fiction. I find it hard to believe that anyone could find Willis's work "mundane."

I got hooked on Connie Willis after reading `To Say Nothing Of The Dog.' I'm sure those of you who've read that wonderful book can see why. Mrs. Willis has a witticism with characters and events that is thoroughly enjoyable. She also loves to play around with current scientific theory and bounce between characters and...oh, let's say chaos theory.

In `Impossible Things' - a short story collection by Connie Willis - we get to see a lot of both. The first story, The Last Of The Winnebagos, is the typical story that we expect from this author (throw in a reference to an ancient society or tribe but put it in a ridiculous context - here referring to the behemoth RV, not the Native American tribe by the same name). Mrs. Willis throws us into the driver's seat of the future and shows us the Nazism possibilities of a society who's gotten a bit carried away with themselves (here being the SPCA!).

The next story, Even The Queen, centers around "women's issues." Mainly their menstrual cycles and how they might be seen by future generations (can we really change that much? Mrs. Willis doesn't think so either).

`Schwarzchild Radius' is an interesting look at the development of that theory by the title author. Schwarzchild is a radioman in WW II and has a theory about Black Holes and Event Horizons that intrigues the master of mathematics himself, Albert Einstein (mentioned only as a correspondence here). Is Schwarzchild himself at the event horizon with the other men at the front? Or does it just seem that way? They certainly can't get any information to those who desperately need it. Frustration reigns.

`Ado' is a comedic look at censorship in the extreme. What makes it so entertaining is Mrs. Willis' interpretation of where our school system is headed with books being banned, censored or generally denied admittance into the hands of readers.

`Spice Pogrom' is probably one of the more entertaining reads in this collection. Mainly because it focuses on an alien culture visiting Earth and our misunderstandings of them, or us, or whatever. Language, culture and futuristic high comedy all figure heavily into the theme of this story as you visit Sony, an orbiting mass in space that is pushed to the limit for living space and those with attention deficit disorders!

`Winter's Tale' is the story of `what-if.' What if Shakespeare hadn't really died as we think he did? What if Marlowe had written more? What if our understanding of where the major players in English Literature are based on false pretenses? Then you'll want to read this serious Shakespearean tale that is sure to leave you scratching your head.

`Chance' is Mrs. Willis' attempt at the `chick novella.' Chance meetings, unfortunate marriages, and (again) chaos theory, all figure in here.

`In The Late Cretaceous' is a similar tale to `Ado' but this time the author looks at our school system from the point of losing classes/curriculums and how teachers would feel (in varying degrees) about this. Why do we need to know about the Dinosaurs? What difference could it make if I know that a T-Rex's Jaw was five feet long with seven inch teeth? The difference is comedic and serious all at the same time.

`Time Out' is a fun look at temporal mechanics and how one man's test on a small town school goes awry after wives start leaving husbands and a case of Chicken Pox runs ramped through the children and staff and parents. Funny stuff.

`Jack' is an interesting look at how Vampires might have taken advantage of the `nearly dead' during WW II in London (during the German bombing raids). Or is it that the man who sees this `Jack' is simply exhausted and can't think straight. I leave it to you to decide, and so does Mrs. Willis.

`At The Rialto' is "The gem at the end," as I like to call it. Probably the funniest of the reads in the book, this story focuses on Dr. Ruth Barringer, a quantum physicist, who is trying to find out where the lectures on the `Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle' are being held. And if you don't know what that is, don't worry; you will by the end of this entertaining short story.

Enjoy them all, that would be my advice. I loved the beginning and the end of the book, but the stories in the middle dragged at times. But well worth my reading time, I'd warrant.

This book contains eleven stories, which is the beginning of its downfall. It should have more like fifteen stories. However, the eleven contained herein are more than excellent, they are mindblowing.

My favorite would have to be Spice Pogrom, one of the funniest and most absurd stories I've ever read. Connie's homage to the screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's is brilliant enough to make anyone want to rent one. Another brilliant, if confusing story is the conclusion to this book: At the Rialto. Dumb blondes of all shapes and sizes populate Connie's Hollywood, and their interaction with quantum physicists is laugh-out-loud funny. In The Late Cretaceous, although short, is a gem of a comedy story, with two subplots interwoven through it. Time Out is also hilarious and multi-plotted, although all the subplots resolve into one another in the end.

However, this book is not all light fare. Several stories, such as Chance and The Last of the Winnebagos, are extremely sobering and thought-provoking. Although I enjoyed Chance, I doubt I will ever read it again; it was too sad. A simple story of a housewife's dissatisfaction with her life is, to quote, profoundly tragic as she reminisces about what might have been. The Last of the Winnebagos, although not terribly sad, is enough of an ominous portent to make anyone think twice.

The only truly forgettable story here is Winter's Tale, Connie's contribution to the was-Shakespeare-Shakespeare debate. Although her Old Englsih skills are impressive, they are the only reason to read this poor story. All in all, however, this was a brilliant book I will reread for a long time.

There are so many good short stories in this book, I hardly know where to begin. "Even the Queen" is the most hilarious answer to `The Feminist Question' ever. I don't think anyone could ever top it. "In the Late Cretacious" is the funniest and most accurate portrayal of university politics I have ever read. "Ado" is a funny look at political correctness taken to its most extreme absurd conclusion. I can't recommend this book enough.