Category: ScienceFiction

i’m #1 – my signed copy of scalzi’s miniatures arrives

whbeebe

I ordered my copy of John Scalzi’s Miniatures: The Very Short Fiction of John Scalzi when he wrote about it on 31 December. And then I immediately got sick (although I don’t think ordering the book had a hand in that). And then I forgot about it until today when it showed up in the post with all the usual junk mail and a few bills.

I opened up the big brown envelope from Subterranean Press with just Miniatures stamped across the front, and then beheld, in all its glory, Natalie Metzger‘s beautiful cover. Then I opened up the book and beheld The Scalzi’s signature writ large across the signing page. And that’s when I noticed that my copy is apparently “1” out of the 1,500. Unless, of course, all 1,500 were numbered “1”. Somehow I don’t think it is. In the meantime, until someone comes along and savagely pops this particular bubble, I’ll bask in the glow of having the first of something, anything, in my life. It adds just a bit to the reading.

The book is full of what appear to be a nice collection of short stories, the kind I’ve always enjoyed reading, but that appear far to infrequently in print by any author, not just John Scalzi. I have read the first two so far, slowly, individually, savoring each one, like individually wrapped Belgium chocolates. When I’m done I’ll write a “proper” review.

metal locusts and memories of past science fiction

whbeebe

This was taken at the Tama Zoological Park, just outside the main building of the Insectarium. I thought these two were interesting the moment I saw them. But they also triggered the memory of a short science fiction story I’d read decades ago, about a lone man, a lone woman, and their lives together in the aftermath of a nuclear war in New York City. The story started about the man finding the woman, and progressed about the two of them slowly growing closer. As their story was being told, there was the back story of odd happenings in the city. The story ends when one day, after hearing strange noises coming from Central Park, the two find that the Alice in Wonderland statues have been re-carved into insect forms. It’s at this point the two realize their end may be a lot closer than they realize.

I don’t remember the story’s name nor the author, only that I read it sometime back in the 1970s. It had come as part of an anthology from the Science Fiction Bookclub. Or at least I think it did. I may be mis-remembering all of this.