Customer Reviews

Of George Washington

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"In `The Zoo' and `Picked Clean' Michael Vance creates worlds that have a deep history to them, a mythology that resonates intensely. In the latter the imagery of the water demon eating parts of her husband somehow remind me of the Black Widow spider eating her mate, and also of the mythology one would encounter in a Wagnerian opera. Then of course, the Native American stories figure strongly in this tale.

`The Zoo' essentially we are presented with a glimpse of a future world of bio-engineered people and animals. There are little touches throughout that add to the eerie atmosphere of this story such as the repeated reference of Rod, the sex surrogate running his hand through his black hair "not touching the fleshy anomaly." Debra of the elongated six fingers - a secretary by profession - is a strange character as well. And the name Doolittle of course is a reference to the man who could talk to the animals. The appearance of the Harpie might be considered a mythological reference, but I see in the context of this story a science experiment such as one would find in H.G. Wells' Island of Doctor Moreau. When I read that particular book about a dozen years ago there were reports on the news of pig heart valves being inserted into people- a cross-species transplant. It has not been unusual since then to read of scientists creating "chimeras" - cross breeding between species, perhaps a goat with an antelope. So, in "The Zoo" we have a future world that is not too far removed from the present. This genetic zoo is a good indication of what one might find some day. In both these stories I feel that I was looking in on a world that came complete with a complex history and the characters brought with them complex relationships in the past that resonated in their current experiences."