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October 31, 2006
'It was right then when it hit me ...'
It was right then when it hit me, and I still dont really know why. It was as though Id turned a page in an until then incomprehensible story and suddenly found myself looking at the key to the whole thing, the piece of the puzzle around which everything else fitted ... All of them slipping smoothly into place and making beautiful sense, without a seam showing anywhere.p. 217
What if you had the power to change history? What if you had the power to do it and promote a bit of cultural justice - to take the unjustly obscure and nudge their opportunities one way or another or catch them right at the moment where they were going to take the glum fork in the road?
This story has somewhat the feel of "All You Zombies" or The Left Hand of Darkness, the same sense of the power of change and the same doubts about whether one person (no superhuman) can bring it about. (Like "All You Zombies" it is about time travel, like Left Hand of Darkness it is about how out-of-place advanced technology does (and doesnt) make a difference.)
The fact is we all have that power (and those doubts): over the present, over ourselves, and over all we come into contact with. This is a story for anyone who has ever loved something from the past: a book, a movie, a piece of music, a live recording, a work of art. This is a beautifully written story infused by that love, and with the cluelessness and foreknowledge that winds through LeGuins and Heinleins two works. I recommend it highly.
"Willies Blues" was published in the May 1972 issue of The Magazine of SF&F. It is mentioned in Time Machines: Time Travel in Physics, Metaphysics, and Science Fiction by Paul Nahin. Its author, Robert J. Tilley, is a musician, artist, and author. He has published one novel, The Big Losers (now out of print) and many mystery and SF short stories. There has never been an anthology of Tilleys work, although he has published since 1957 (scroll down): http://www.magicdragon.com/UltimateSF/authorsT.html
Yours,
LV
Next time: a short story by Vernor Vinge.
Posted by lisav at October 31, 2006 10:55 PM