he 17 previously uncollected stories in Michael Bishop's seventh book of short fiction, in contrast to the usual focus of new single-author collections, cover the entirety of the author's career, from his very first publications in the early 1970s to his most recent work. They represent almost every aspect of the literature of the fantastic: science fiction, fantasy, horror and the wholly unclassifiable.
After "Thirteen Lies About Hummingbirds," a subtle and allusive story of a relationship whose disintegration is tracked by unsettling reworkings of classic poetry, comes "The Unexpected Visit of a Reanimated Englishwoman," an imaginary encounter between the author and the ghost of Frankenstein author Mary Shelley (originally published as the introduction to a collection of Shelley's short fiction). Scarcely pausing for breath, Bishop then visits "Chihuahua Flats" and another unsettling relationship, but this time one in which one of the parties receives unexpected supernatural solace after a tragic loss. "With a Little Help From Her Friends" moves into the near future as a famous survivor of political oppression and torture is the inspiration for an unexpected reunion of the most famous rock band ever. (As Bishop acknowledges in his story notes, the death of George Harrison in 2001 turns this story, first published in 1984, into a "parallel-timeline tribute and eulogy.") "'We're in This All Alone'," written with Paul Di Filippo, moves back to the realm of horror as a freelance writer's obsession with being published in a newspaper opinion column takes a deadly turn when the column begins to forecast a series of murders.
The variety continues as "Sequel on Skorpios," a short-short that offers an alternative take on the death and resurrection of Jesus, is followed by a straight science fiction novella, "Murder on Luponzy Station," written with Gerald W. Page; "A Tapestry of Little Murders," in which a murderer receives his due through a series of "natural" acts of violence; "O Happy Day," a vision of a world in which the roles of rats and humans are reversed; "Herding With the Hadrosaurs," where "geologic time-slips" leave two young brothers orphaned in the Late Cretaceous; "The Tigers of Hysteria Feed Only on Themselves," another quiet horror story in which the relationship between a Vietnam veteran and his adopted Asian yields unexpected and violent consequences, and "Tithes of Mint and Rue," in which an unhappy woman finds a new life with a traveling carnival.
Bishop pays tribute to his fellow SF writers in "Of Crystalline Labyrinths and the New Creation," an homage to the unique voice of R.A. Lafferty, and "Simply Indispensable," a fast-paced first contact story whose wry exploration of humanity's religious impulses concludes with an unexpected nod to Arthur C. Clarke. And our tour concludes with the previously unpublished "Last Night Out," a brief, chilling examination of the mentality of the terrorist; "The Procedure," in which the impulse to religious belief turns out to be something that can be literally removed from the human body, and "Help Me, Rondo," a story-cum-screenplay about the real-life horror actor Rondo Hatton.
Astonishing variety, brilliantly executed
As Lucius Shepard points out in his eloquent introduction to Brighten to Incandescence, Bishop's work has always been marked by "lucid narration ... spiritually complex characters and carefully employed moral sensibility," and all of those traits are prominently on display in these stories. But while most authors with such a strong and specific approach to the peculiar truths of literature wind up expressing a single, distinctive vision from work to work, Bishop offers many visions, all equally distinctive.
The earlier stories, such as "A Tapestry of Little Murders," "The Tigers of Hysteria ... ," and "With a Little Help From Her Friends," tend to be more straightforward in both concept and execution, while later stories, such as "Chihuahua Flats" and "Tithes of Mint and Rue," are more willing to explore the full possibilities of language while acknowledging that serious, even tragic situations are not without absurdity and humor. And with "Simply Indispensable," "The Procedure" and "Sequel on Skorpios," Bishop shows yet again that, with the lone exception of James Morrow, no other SF writer deals more profoundly or memorably with the inexhaustible topic of religion.
Finally, it is worth noting that the strongest of the strong in this collection—"Chihuahua Flats," "Tithes of Mint and Rue," "Simply Indispensable," "Sequel of Skorpios," the astonishing "Last Night Out" and the moving "Help Me, Rhondo"—are among the most recently published. After three decades of writing some of the most literate and accomplished work in the history of SF, Michael Bishop may just be hitting his stride. We have much to look forward to.
