Posted by
Icarus on Friday, August 01, 2008 11:58:47 AM
There was a time when one could pick up an innocuous work of fantasy fiction and be swept away to other worlds where amazing adventures waited. When a writer created an allegory to the mundane, everyday world of current events and politics, he or she were skilled enough to bury the "message" in a well-crafted tail. Today, getting published, it seems requires injecting serious amounts of Bush Derangement Syndrome into your fantasy and making it blatantly obvious.
Case in point: The story "King Pelles the Sure" in Peter S. Beagle's latest collection from Tachyon Press,
We Never Talk About My Brother. The pubisher's website describes this story is about "... the shortsighted ruler of a gentle realm, [who] betrays himself in dreaming of a "manageable war" " Prepare yourself:
The Grand Vizier coughed, as delicately as he could manage it, given
the panicky constriction of his throat. He said, "Your Highness,
meaning absolutely no disrespect, you have never seen war —"
"Exactly, exactly!" King Pelles broke in. "How can one know the
true meaning of peace, who has no experience of its undoubtedly horrid
counterpart? Can you answer me that, Vizier?"
"Majesty, I have known that experience," the Grand Vizier replied
quietly. "It was far from here, in a land I traveled to as a boy. I
shared it with many brave and dear and young friends, who are all dead
now — as I should have been, but for the courtesy of the gods, and the
enemy's poor aim. You have missed nothing, my lord."
He seemed to have grown older as he spoke, and the king — who may have
been foolish, but who was not a fool — saw, and answered him equally
gently. "I understand what you are telling me, good Vizier. But this
would be only a little war, truly — no more enduring or consuming than
one of our delightful carpet clashes. A manageable war — a
demonstration, one might say, just to let our rivals see that our
people are not to be trifled with. In case they were thinking about
trifling. Do you see the difference, Vizier? Between this war and
yours?"
Commence heavy sighs and eye rolls.