Stable Strategies and Others [Paperback]

Eileen Gunn (Author), William Gibson (Introduction), Howard Waldrop (Afterword)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2004

This collection of tightly crafted, highly imaginative short stories employs surrealist, satirical, and fantastical devices to explore politics, class, and gender. From a hilarious tale about bioengineering and the stresses of climbing the corporate ladder to an evocative story of a woman who loses a sock at the the laundromat and finds she's missing a bit of her soul, these science fiction stories showcase an award-winning writer's compelling vision of the universe. Computer pioneers, cross-country skiers, and aliens figure into these literary stories that challenge the boundaries of imagination with quirky, anti-establishment characters and visionary technological extrapolation.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Beginning with "Stable Strategies for Middle Management," which addresses the matter of extreme modification of self for advancement in the corporate world, and concluding with the collaborative effort "Green Fire," which details the alternative careers of Robert Heinlein and Isaac Asimov, the stories in Gunn's first collection bespeak a first-rate writer with a knack for a certain timelessness. "Stable Strategies," first published in 1989, still sounds disturbingly likely. Equally perdurable seem such divergent and bizarre gems as "Ideologically Labile Fruit Crisp," a truly inclusive recipe from the Tiptree Bakesale Book; "The Sock Story," which considers the deeper implications of losing socks; and "Coming to Terms," an examination of the scraps and marginalia of a dead man's life. Besides Gunn's work, there are William Gibson's introduction to it, Michael Swanwick poetically cheering for it, and Howard Waldrop's closing words on Gunn's motley career and glacial writing pace. Regina Schroeder
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Reading this book is like getting to wear the eyeballs of a madwoman in your own sockets for a day." -- Warren Ellis, author of the graphic novels Transmetropolitan and Orbiter

". . .perfectly realized horror. . ." -- Stephen King, about “Spring Conditions”

"Corporate satire and Kafkaesque metamorphoses gleefully collide..." -- The Seattle Times

"Eileen Gunn has a barbed-wire-sharp mind. . .unsettling insight into the way the world works. . .a wicked sense of humor." -- Connie Willis, author of To Say Nothing of the Dog

"Gunn’s stories are in another league entirely. . ." -- Cory Doctorow, author of Eastern Standard Tribe and Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom

"Hugo-nominee Eileen Gunn's collection...showcases tales with fresh, unusual perspectives on ordinary life..." -- Publishers Weekly

"Very few writers have the range or impact of Eileen Gunn." -- Karen Joy Fowler, author of The Jane Austen Book Club

"When you read Gunn, you remember that short fiction can be spare, beautiful, and deadly." -- Kelly Link, co-editor of The Year’s Best Fantasy and Horror and author of Stranger Things Happen

"…deceptively compact, explosive stories." -- SciFi.com

"…the stories in Gunn’s first collection bespeak a first-rate writer with a knack for a certain timelessness." -- Booklist

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Tachyon Publications (September 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 189239118X
• ISBN-13: 978-1892391186
• Product Dimensions: 0.6 x 4.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,745,153 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Eileen Gunn is the author of the story collection Stable Strategies and Others and the co-editor of The WisCon Chronicles Two. Her fiction has received the Nebula Award in the US the and Sense of Gender Award in Japan, and been nominated for the Hugo, Philip K. Dick, and World Fantasy awards and short-listed for the James Tiptree, Jr. award. She is the editor/publisher of the late Infinite Matrix webzine and served for twenty-two years on the board of directors of the Clarion West Writers Workshop.

Recent Gunn stories available free online include 'Zeppelin City' (with Michael Swanwick), 'The Steampunk Quartet', and 'The Trains that Climb the Winter Tree,' (also written with Michael Swanwick) on Tor.com. Other stories are available on her website at www.EileenGunn.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A first-rate collection December 27, 2010

By TChris TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I found Stable Strategies and Others after reading the story "Contact" in the anthology Proteus: Voices for the 80's. The story was so superior to the others in the collection that I decided to look for other works by Eileen Gunn. Stable Strategies and Others is what I found, and all that I found in book form. She does have some other stories, available to read at no charge, on her website (her name followed by dot com).

Stable Strategies and Others collects Gunn's stories through the date of the book's publication in 2004. It also includes a short introduction by Gunn's friend and fellow sf writer William Gibson; a short poetic ode to Gunn by Michael Swanwick; and an afterward by Howard Waldrop. Gunn follows each story with a brief description of its origin.

Gunn shows her amazing range in these stories. Some are wildly funny. The Hugo-nominated "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" is reminiscent of Kafka's "The Metamorphosis" with a comic twist: the narrator wakes up with certain attributes of an insect courtesy of a bioengineering experiment designed to make employees into "a more useful corporate organism." In the alternate history described in "Fellow Americans," Richard Nixon is a game show host, Geraldo is "a respected PBS commentator," and former President Goldwater ... well, you can guess how that turned out. Gunn's uncanny ability to write in Nixon's voice is spooky. To find humor in a bleak future where children grow up to have very close relationships with computer networks or don't grow up at all, Gunn wrote the Hugo-nominated "Computer Friendly" from the perspective of a precocious child. In Gunn's first commercially published story, "What Are Friends For?...," alien invaders investigate porn.

Two stories are deeply moving. "Coming to Terms" examines death through the post-it notes the deceased left behind. "Contact" is a beautiful story about first contact with a bird-like alien who is preparing to die.

Two stories are co-authored. "Nirvana High," written with Leslie What, is a funny yet poignant look at the paranormal students attending the Kurt Cobain Magnet School. Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and computer whiz Grace Hopper all star (L. Sprague de Camp appears in a cameo role) in "Green Fire," written with Andy Duncan, Pat Murphy, and Michael Swanwick. The story begins as an alternate history taking place aboard a naval vessel during World War II before morphing into a tale of time/space/dimensional travel that brings the crew face to face with Quetzalcoatl. That story alone is worth the price of the book.

Gunn's other stories are harder to categorize. "The Sock Story" is "the story of a woman who lost her sock at the laundromat and discovered it contained part of her soul." A girl named Lichen learns how to change a world that has been altered by carp-eyed creatures in "Lichen and Rock." The least successful story, "Spring Conditions," is a horror story that might make you think twice about cross-country skiing. Gunn also included a deconstructed, politically correct recipe for fruit crisp; it's not sf and not a story so I'm not sure what to make of it, but it's amusing.

This is a first-rate collection by one of sf's masters of the short story. I recommend it not only to sf fans, but to fans of quality writing. Read more ›

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars One of SF's least-prolific good writers.... December 15, 2004

By Peter D. Tillman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

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Eileen Gunn is surely one of SF's least-prolific good writers, having published all of eleven stories since her debut in 1978. Fortunately, they're all worthwhile, and some are brilliant -- such as the title story, "Stable Strategies for Middle Management" (1988, Hugo nominee), a novel view of the role of bioengineering in future corporate life, guaranteed to bring a smile. Then there's "Green Fire", cowritten with Michael Swanwick, Andy Duncan, and Pat Murphy, which is just terrific: a WW2 pulp burlesque, starring Isaac Asimov and Bob Heinlein, and featuring Tesla superscience, topless pirates, giant plesiosaurs, a kraken -- and a special guest appearance by Lord Quetzalcoatl! Great stuff. SF's best-ever 4-author story!

Her third "A" story, "Nirvana High" (with Leslie What), makes its first appearance here. The special-ed students at Cobain High have, well, *special* talents, and Gunn's sfnal look at high-school life ranks right up there with Suzy McKee Charnas' "B00BS" and Sharon Farber's "The Nostalginauts" . Top-notch story.

"Computer Friendly", a 1990 Hugo nominee, features 9-yr old Elizabeth "Lizardbreath", and how she saved her friends online and learned to spit. Cool, nerdy stuff, if a bit dated now.

And her first sale, "What Are Friends For?" (1978) is still a crackerjack -- I'd never seen it, and I'll bet you'll like it, too. Gunn notes that her check for $51.63, from Ted White's AMAZING, "came in someone else's SASE, with their name crossed out and mine scrawled in... I had hit the big time."

And there's more! Bottom line: 11 stories, 5 "A"s, 6 "B"s -- plus an "ideologically labile" recipe, and cool little Gunnophile goodies from Gibson, Swanwick, and Waldrop.... "Open [the book] and be dazzled! -- JP Kelly's blurb, with a coverful of other nice blurbs, from Le Guin, Doctorow, Willis, and many more.

So, you owe it to yourself to check out Eileen Gunn's neat stories. As Michael Swanwick sings,

"Hooray for Eileen and her bully machine...
She's graced with a runcible style...
Lets all celebrate
Before it's too late...
Eileen! -- and her bully machine."

Happy reading--
Pete Tillman Read more ›

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Huzzah! November 1, 2004

By MemeBag

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Gunn read the story "Fellow Americans" at a science fiction convention. It was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. After that I made sure to attend all of her readings and seek out her work (which until now it has been shockingly hard to find.)

Impress your friends! Get in on the ground floor of Gunn-mania! Be one of the cool kids and read this as soon as possible!

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Gunn Canon At Last! August 30, 2004

By Rosa Lina

Format:Paperback

I've been an Eileen Gunn fan for a long time and it's a treat to see her perceptive, witty stories collected for the first time. William Gibson's introduction, Howard Waldrop's afterword, and Eileen's own notes about each story add to the feeling that this unique collection was well worth the wait.

8 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars At last!, at last! October 10, 2004

By P. Salus

Format:Paperback

Eileen Gunn is one of the finest writers in any genre. Her
stories are full of wit, pith, allusion, and a lapidary placement
of words.

Because of these virtues, she writes slowly. (Howard Waldrop
claims she is the only person who produces more slowly than he.)

These stories are brilliant. With luck, Eileen will produce more.

A warning: these are not glib; read with care; and enjoy!

5 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Worth owning if you read short fiction in the genre November 16, 2004

By Trent Walters

Format:Paperback

I was pleased to see this as Amazon.com's #4 editorial pick. Eileen Gunn took two decades or so composing these little gems, each taken seriously and not tossed in to fill up the pages.

That said, the stories have minor flaws that do not impede the reading or its enjoyment. For instance, as far as I can discern, "Fellow Americans" is not truly a story (the others are) but a work of carefully observed characters--politicians who might have been based on meticulous research.

A truly ambitious undertaking and successful despite flaws that would have sunk lesser writers.