Date: Sun,  7 Nov 2004 01:42:20 -0500
Subject: Poco sci-fi anthology


A guy named Matthew Chaney (aka Mumpsimus) has a review of an anthology of
"Postcolonial Science Fiction and Fantasy" short stories. The review is here:

http://www.sfsite.com/11a/so187.htm

It is a critical review, but some poco-list readers might find this book (and
the review of it) interesting nonetheless. A few paragraphs from the review are
excerpted below.

--Amardeep

* * * *
Matthew Chaney:
"The best stories in the anthology do, indeed, put some flesh on the bones of
this academic jargon monster, but even some of the best stories tend to read as
if they were written to be used as exemplars in an undergraduate course on
postcolonial theory. The premise of the anthology too often provides cover for
authors to indulge in pamphleteering and to let their characters pontificate for
pages and pages.

"The two best stories in the collection, Vandana Singh's "Delhi" and Greg van
Eekhout's "Native Aliens," are also the only stories that don't read like they
were originally intended to be taught to students. They are stories that allow
complexity of interpretation and that allow readers to construct their own
meanings from the narrative.

"Delhi" is a particularly good example of this, telling the tale of a man who
can see into possible pasts and futures and who is charged with finding someone
whose fate is a mystery to him. It is a truly postcolonial story according to
all of the criteria laid out by Mehan and Hopkinson, but also a subtle tale of
possession, humanity, and history that is compelling to read and written with a
great sensitivity to language and detail. Singh combines a few different SF
concepts in a rich and vital story, one that succeeds at provoking thought by
creating multifaceted characters and situations."

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