Author: Nina Allan
Title: The Art of Space Travel and Other Stories
Format: E-book
Pages: 224
Series: –
Other: Short story collection
I am partial to collections of short stories. I very much like the format, which for me works as a beginning of a conversation between the writer and the reader. A story comes into being as an idea: it may be not fully thought through, unpolished and raw, but it’s scintillating enough that cannot be left alone; it needs to be shown to the world and elicit a reaction. I read short stories to be intellectually challenged, however minutely or extensively. There are always some good or even great stories in collections and anthologies, but sadly, the opposite is also true: rarely a collection of disparate stories can hold up an exceptionally high quality level throughout. That said, it’s the gems I hunt for among the sand, and I’m always happy to find new favorites.
I confess I requested Nina Allan’s collection on a whim; I have never read anything by her and decided short stories are a good place to start. And indeed, The Art of Space Travel and Other Stories is as varied a collection as one could wish for. The stories, arranged chronologically, span about two decades and showcase both the continuity and evolution of thought, as well as a development of skill.
As usual, I’ll present a short review and rating for each of the stories, and give an overall summary at the end.
Amethyst 2/10
It shows moments of uneasy brilliance in creating an uncanny, uncomfortable mood in the most mundane of situations. But as a whole it just doesn’t work; it loses both the momentum and the emotional weight somewhere along the way and dies a quiet, undignified death before its end.
Heroes 4/10
Another story about a mystery that turns out to be thoroughly mundane and uninteresting; the past or present of the characters failed to kindle my curiosity. In the end, the only engaging thing is the pigeons. Utterly forgettable, unfortunately. More of a beginning of a novel or a novella than a complete short story.
A Thread of Truth 9/10
A delightful gothic tale involving spiders, arachnophobia, Kafka, and body horror, all in a quaint old English town. One of the best stories in the collection, and one of very few that actually has a well executed ending.
Flying in the Face of God 3/10
The title is the best element of this story. Another take on Kafkian transformation, and despite the creative form mixing pseudo documentary with the narrative the content – focusing on the very physical aspects of sacrifice of astronauts who decide to travel among the stars – is derivative and dull.
Microcosmos 6/10
A dystopian short story depicting the results of climate change, centered around the minuscule elements of one’s life viewed through the lens of a child’s perspective. Atmospheric, dealing in innuendos, but somehow leaving a taste of something unfinished.
Fairy Skulls 6/10
A fun little story about ‘alternate histories’ and what to do when fairies turn out to be something more akin to nasty pests than the flowery butterfly creatures pop culture led us to believe in. Meant to be ironic, ultimately misses the mark; the motivation of the protagonist is ultimately too weak to justify her actions, and leaves the reader (at least this reader) somewhat disgruntled with the greedy colonial attitude on display.
The Science of Chance 9/10
The second best story of the collection, a journey down the rabbit hole of conspiracy theories and “wanting to believe.” Details pointing to an alternative history are peppered here and there, but ultimately play second fiddle to the mystery of a lonely child.
Marielena 8/10
A really good story which starts out as one thing and turns into something else. A meditation on the fate of a refugee waiting in the state of unbearable suspension for the decision from the dehumanizing institutions. A chance encounter with a homeless person leads not only to reassessment of the protagonist’s situation but also involves certain time travel tropes, promising a larger, untold tale.
The Art of Space Travel 6/10
The titular story would’ve been better if not for another shot ending. Tender, compassionate, and once again focused on human relationships, would have been so much more without the last few paragraphs.
Neptune’s Trident 5/10
Initially quite interesting, with body horror elements and alien invasion. But quickly it reveals itself to be another one of the stories that seem like the beginning of something larger: it’s meandering, slow-paced, and without any leading thought, but worse than that – it has no solid ending. It’s like Allan just can’t help themself and ruin whatever she’d built with a few additional paragraphs that rob the story of meaning.
Four Abstracts 3/10
I was happy with A Thread of Truth; this story, returning to the characters and chronicling their lives in a somewhat obsessive-compulsive way, actually feels like diminishing A Thread of Truth’s impact. The narrator is incredibly bitchy, and the concept of believing/disbelieving something unbelievable had been tackled much better in The Science of Chance. Once again, it seems that Allan just can’t leave a good story alone.
The Common Tongue, The Present Tense, The Known 6/10
Another continuation, this time of Microcosmos. Despite some scientific flaws (sharks are coming nearer shores because their usual hunting grounds are emptying) it’s an engaging story about the dissolution of the world as we know it due to climate change. Kind of preachy and uneven, but interesting overall.
The Gift of Angels 7.5/10
A bit corny, and overflowing with words (I know, weird, that’s what stories are built with, so how can there be excess, but believe me, that’s what it is) but a really good little story of lifelong bereavement, curiosity, and being marked by loss. It’s another continuation – not so much of a story as of certain threads from The Art of Space Travel – it’s in effect a diary of the man whose mother left him to go to Mars. I really like Allan’s style here, subdued and self-aware, and still quite poetic.
A Princess of Mars 8.5/10
A very good story about a non-existent movie, Russian cinema, and the complexity of creating and receiving art. It reads less like a story and more like an essay, or interview, an expression on opinion, and it’s wonderfully open-ended, which is for me a proof of Allan’s growing skill.
All in all, I quite enjoyed this collection. It started out unpromising, but improved – and watching the process of the author’s growth was a pleasure in itself. It ends on a good note, too, leaving a better aftertaste ;). There’s something unusual about Allan’s style, her prose can be luminous and evocative, and meditative. There’s also a lot of repetition of themes and topics, and this collection offers an insight into her obsessions: bodily transformation, the workings of memory, the impact of loss.
Score: 6.5/10
I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. My thanks.
Would you consider reading one of her novels based on this? I remember some of them making waves in the community.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Can one extrapolate from short story quality to novels or the other way round?
LikeLiked by 3 people
As I wrote to Bart, I feel like you can get away with more in a novel than in a short story 😉
That said, we deal with probabilities here, not certainties; for example, I liked Clark’s short stories set in Cairo but felt his first novel was bad, in the sense of being in essence a short story lengthened to a novel – at least for me it had a plot enough for a short story but not enough for a novel. On the other hand, statistically speaking, if you’re good with short stories you should at least have enough skill and control to write a novel 😉
Not sure if this answers your question, but I tried 😉
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes agreed here, if you can do one of the crafts, you have a better chance of being a better writer overal than a regular person. But indeed, some a brilliant on one front, and suck at the other.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I would definitely consider this more readily after having read the stories. I like her style, and I feel that she’s been actually struggling with short form – many of the stories felt to me as if they were escaping from the author. Writing short stories might be more difficult than writing novels, IMO – you have to know exactly of what you want to say, and you need to be able to say it succinctly. So yeah, I actually might give her novel a chance (though not debut, the early stories are rather dreadful ;))!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was one weird picture you included.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Jogorumo, the spider woman of Japanese mythology 😉 She can shapeshift into a beautiful woman, but is a man-eater at heart 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person
Bodily transformations, spiders, callbacks to Kafka… I’m not sure I would enter in this author’s mind-realm without some qualms! 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
I actually thought of you, Maddalena, when I read that spider story! 😁 In a way, I think some of them are more approachable than others – in some the body horror is only suggested and you can’t be sure if it’s in one’s mind or real. Other are a bit more ham-handed. If you happen to find A Thread of Truth somewhere on web (most of these were published before in various magazines) I would be happy if you gave it a chance 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Then I will certainly try to find it! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Welp, I just check and A Thread of Truth is sadly not available in any of the online magazines… But, on the bright side, Marielena was published in Interzone 254, The Art of Space Travel at tor.com, and The Gift of Angels in Clarkesworld 146 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome! ☺️
LikeLiked by 1 person
Short story collections are always a mixed bag. Sometimes they shine a spotlight on a writer’s glaring flaws. I remember a collection by Mieville where half of the stories had no endings. And a Ken Liu collection where Liu was clearly using the same structure again and again for every one of his stories.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Yes, you’re absolutely right. Mieville for me is generally one of those who write good novels but bad short forms 😉 It’s like he can’t decide what to put in them.
I only read Paper Menagerie by Liu and really liked it. The stories were varied in style and all interesting. Do you mean the second one then?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha no I mean The Paper Menagerie! I discovered that he used some trick in how he structured his stories to produce an emotional effect, and then I saw it in half of his stories. That broke the magic for me.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Ah! I read the collection and while I agree there were a few weak stories there were also a few that were superb. Some of them were indeed similar to each other, but the best ones were unique. Here’s my review if you’re interested – I wonder which ones were your favorites and which ones you thought meh: https://reenchantmentoftheworld.blog/2020/08/26/ken-liu-the-paper-menagerie-and-other-stories-2016/ 🙂
LikeLike
I’m not familiar with this author, but I agree that short stories and anthologies can sometimes be a good introduction to an author. I don’t read them nearly as often as I once did when I had an active subscription to the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. But I still have many anthologies stacked on my shelves I want to read, both best of year collections and some from individual authors. Like you said, finding those real gems makes it all worthwhile.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Short stories are also nice for when you don’t have time/mind space for reading a novel. There is something of a treasure hunt feel about them, and you never know what world you’re going to be invited into.
A short story a day keeps the reading slump away! 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
A true mixed bag right there. Glad to see that you still found some goodies within it, and those you loved sound really good too. Not to mention that your picture made that first good story sound even better! 😀 Will you ever try a full novel by this author now? 😀
LikeLiked by 2 people
I am certainly more inclined to do so now, after reading the stories 😉 She has a way with words, no doubt about it. I’m only a bit concerned about the limited range of themes presented in these stories – but maybe it’s just a quirk of this anthology 😉
LikeLike
I didn’t always appreciate the short form, but have developed a taste for it over the years. Now I try to read a couple of collections every month, taking my time with the stories. But rarely delve into speculative fiction in the short form, even though that’s how I was introduced to genre fiction.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Short stories can be very much hit and miss – but when it’s a hit, it’s so memorable! And when it’s a miss, well, at least you didn’t invest too much in it – a win-win situation! 😉
LikeLike