Spicy Slipstream Stories, edited by Nick Mamatas and Jay Lake

Spicy Slipstream Stories
Nick Mamatas and Jay Lake (editors)
Lethe Press: 2008

Okay, since I read the first story back in February and the last story in early July, I'm a little unsure as to what exactly to say about this anthology. It's been a while, ya know?

From the back cover:

Slipstream stories are that weird combination of eloquent fancy and conventional literary form. Intended to make the reader feel out of sorts within the confines of their imagination, such fiction became the darling of small press venues. And so, maybe, found its way into the hands of a few readers.

But add a dash of the risque and the result is Spicy Slipstream Stories. Here the adventure and bosoms of the old pulps are blended with the stylistic innovations and reader affect of that non-genre genre, slipstream. Embrace the way a sweat, the bruises, and upper thighs of these stories collected by editors Jay Lake and Nick Mamatas.

My first recommendation is to check out my individual story reviews (linked at the bottom). I wrote about the first half or so of the stories.

Lori Selke's "The Call Girl Detective", Lynne Jamneck's "Outside the Box", and Lisa Mantchev's "Sequined with a Vengeance"are three of the standout stories from the anthology.

Basically, I think Spicy Slipstream Stories is worth taking a look at. There are more stories here that are good than that disappoint. The stories here are (mostly) smartly written with heavy pulp elements. That's the point of the anthology, of course. It's good stuff.



Individual Story Reviews
"The Call Girl Detective", by Lori Selke
"Heroes Welcome", by John Bowker
"Sequined With a Vengeance", by Lisa Mantchev
"The Blue Shift", by Joe Murphy
"The Fantastical Acquisition of the Sword of General Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna", by Angeline Hawkes
"Outside the Box", by Lynne Jamneck
"Little Black Dress", by Carrie Vaughn
"Proof of Zero", by David Schwartz
"Revolt of the Ultraists!", by Richard Becker
"My Polymorphic Lover", by Mike Philbin
"Wild Tchoupitoulas", by Chris Nakashima-Brown
"Hydraulic", by Ekaterina Sedia
"Here I Come", A. H. Jennings

SSS: "Proof of Zero"

I'm not sure if "Proof of Zero" ended well or not. The story, written by David Schwartz, features a detective investigating a missing persons case. Increase Fermin, a playwright noted for her mathematical-inspired plays, has not called her roommate in two days and said roommate believes something is wrong. The police have not been helpful, but Detective Wotojowicz is there to do his thing. Ya know, investigate.

Numbers roll through the story, interrupting the narrative. "...274...", "...68...", and others alternate through "Proof of Zero". I've two thoughts on this. First, W- is somewhat compulsive about counting - so perhaps the numbers is an unexplained counting. Second, and more likely, they are somehow tied into Increase's disappearance. And yet - I'm not sure Schwartz ever gives a completely satisfactory answer to this. Or, he does and I simply did not understand it. This is just as likely.

"Proof of Zero" is a clever story, one which compels readers to try to figure out what is going on. "Proof of Zero" is an interesting story, but one which ultimately did not make a whole lot of sense to me. As such, it was not quite as satisfying as it otherwise could have been. Good, but not good enough.

This is the eighth story from Spicy Slipstream Stories.

SSS: "Little Black Dress"

Ooh, "Little Black Dress" was a surprise. The seventh story from Spicy Slipstream Stories opens with a grieving high-end prostitute locking her pain away into her heart and attending an exclusive party where her next client will be. Shirl, our prostitute, took those memories which caused her such pain and compressed "them into a hard little gem that lived in the middle of her heart" (pg 124).

My first thought was that this "hard little gem" was simply the analogy Carrie Vaughn chose to describe how Shirl compartmentalized her emotions so she could do what she had to do, but soon we learn that there is more to it. Like Forrest Gump, that's all I have to say about that, but the gem is more important than its utility as analogy.

Shirl herself is not a terribly engaging character, nor her is personal pain (sorry to say), but somehow the story works in spite of this. The character who ends up being the antagonist is no more compelling as a villain than Shirl as protagonist. What works is what I did not want to talk about so as to not spoil the story. What works is how Shirl's personal pain is a major part of the story. Not the pain, but the interaction.

That's very vague. I don't know how to talk about that better without giving away every detail of the story.

Having read four of Carrie Vaughn's six Kitty Norville novels, and a small handful of her short stories, I can say that "Little Black Dress" isn't Vaughn's most compelling work. It's got an interesting concept that is stronger than the rest of the story and that's enough to get by, but Carrie can and has done better (and I'm a fan, for what it is worth).

SSS: "Outside the Box"

That little theory I had about liking every other story? No sooner did I read the first page of "Outside the Box" did I know I was wrong.

Lynne Jamneck's story is a hardboiled detective story, though the focus is more on the detective than the case. Fin talks the talk.

I can spot what you're thinking. That I got a soft spot for the ladies. Aren't you the smart-son-of-a-gun. Lookie here - you've gone and won a prize. But the prize ain't worth nothing so I'll just decline on your part. But stick around. Things could get saucy. I got a soft spot for that, too. - pg 108

"Outside the Box" has hardboiled detective style and it suckers the reader in. It is a comfortable, familiar rhythm that the narration has. It works because Lynne Jamneck does such a good job with the cadences of this style that I missed one rather important bit of characterization the first time around. Fin's "a girlie dick", a female private detective.

I'm not sure how that changes my reading of "Outside the Box". I know that it does demonstrate that my default is mostly male when a gender is not specified and the character is in a traditionally masculine profession. I can say that the realization did not alter my enjoyment of the story (either positively or negatively). It was just another detail - important but not one that knocked me off my game.

What matter was that even though I didn't really care about the investigation Fin was conducting on behalf of Stella I did care about Fin and that's what carries "Outside the Box".


For those keeping score at home, this is story #6 from Spicy Slipstream Stories. Not that this is an album and the track number really matters (though I do like the idea of anthologies being albums)

SSS: "The Fantastical Acquisition of the Sword of General Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna

Angeline Hawkes tells a story of a combined American / Mexican mission to stop Adolf Hitler from acquiring the sword of famed (and infamous) Mexican General and President Santa Anna. The year is 1938.

Quinn O'Reilly sometimes assists the Texas Rangers with missions that even they need help with. He joins with Anna Rosa Ramirez, a beautiful intelligence agent from Mexico, and with the assistance of Anna Rosa will try to stop Odell Roberts bring the stolen sword to Hitler. Posing as husband and wife, Quinn and Anna Rosa set up in a house near Odell's mother's home. The mother is their only link to finding Odell.

What works here is the initial air of mystery. The reader doesn't know why the sword is important, only that it must be found. Nothing happens until Quinn leaves to make his report to the Rangers, though this "nothing happening" is strangely the most compelling aspect of the story. After Quinn leaves Anna Rosa behind I had to sigh in frustration. Of course there is a rape in the story. Of course. Thankfully we never see the physical act on the page, but was it necessary to the story?

I don't know. But it bothered me. Not even simply in a moral sense - that's a given. I just don't think it serves the story.

Yes, yes, I'm sure this is something that fits in with the pulp nature of the story. I get it, maybe. The rape just felt too "easy" to include. Out of place. Unnecessary.

The rest of it, the resolution - good stuff. A little campy with the inclusion of Hitler himself, but that works. The twists presented in the rest of the story both fits in with the story and works as a narrative delight (especially the final one). Had I thought about the nature of the story as I was reading I probably could have predicted that final twist, but I was (and am) content to enjoy the story.

"The Fantastical Acquisition of the Sword of General Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna" is the fifth entry in Spicy Slipstream Stories. It's a good one.


This is only tangentally related to the anthology, but I'm noticing a trend forming. I like every other story. The Selke, Mantchev, and now the Hawkes. Stories 1, 3, and 5. Not so much stories 2 and 4. I don't expect this Bret Saberhagen odd-story trend to continue, but it struck me enough to mention.

nothing about "The Blue Shift"

I've been reading through Spicy Slipstream Stories with the intent to post about each story as I come to it.

After reading Joe Murphy's "The Blue Shift" I found myself without anything of any substance to stay about it.

I was completely baffled by the story, something about a detective showing up at the scenes of crimes and seeing people as a woman wearing a blue shift, and then they switch back to being the people they are supposed to be. The entirety of this story was a big ol' "huh?" to me.

If I didn't think I would have run into something worth saying about the story, beyond whatever it is that I'm writing now, I would have quit on the story and moved on to the next. I persevered, but the story wasn't worth it.

I really wish I had something better to say about the story. Not necessarily more positive, but something that could analyze or explain what I found so dissatisfying.

All I've got is that I was confused from start to finish. Is that enough?

SSS: "Sequined with a Vengeance"

Sometimes you briefly forget that titles mean something before the title slams back home after just a couple of pages. "Sequined with a Vengeance" opens backstage at a strip club with a rivalry between two of the dancers, Inari and Lily. The story centers on Lily. The first impression is that the dislike is just plain old regular dislike, until somebody mentions that the man who may have bailed Inari out of jail was Lily's man on the side, Dominic Marlowe.

There is magic, real magic, as part of the performances and even used as sniping attacks between Lily and Inari and the initial thought is that the vengeance of the title might have something to do with Lily and Inari. A page or two later gives lie to that first impression when the true recipient of Lily's long planned vengeance is revealed and Lily is shown to be far more than just a dancing moll.

This third story in Spicy Slipstream Stories continually plays with the reader's expectations. "Sequined with a Vengeance" is an ever-evolving story that evokes the pulps with dolled up dames and well dressed men who exude danger, but never rests or stops to let the reader remain comfortable. Lisa Mantchev provides reveal after reveal in a very natural way that does not distract from the story but rather enhances it. Even the big reveal at the end is less of a mind trip and more of an "aha!" moment that brings the story full circle.

In short, it's a good and pleasing story that messes with the expectation of genre and form. Much like what we should expect from Spicy Slipstream Stories.

SSS: "Heroes Welcome"

I had to remind myself of what the editors said in the introduction.

Spicy Slipstream Stories was born of two things - a burning desire to make fun of all things 'slipstream', and a love of the occasional brilliant line that bubbled out of the classic pulp tales of the first part of the last century. pg 10

See, John Bowker's "Heroes Welcome" opens as an obnoxious pulp story with a hyper-masculine James Carter having a post-coital cigarette in the breeze of the open door of a plane. When the woman wakes and tells him no man ever made her feel like that before, Carter quickly puts a parachute on her and pushes her out of the plane.

My disgust was evident from the start. So, like I said, I had to remind myself of what I only hoped Bowker was doing here. The story opens with all sorts of pulp absurdity like Carter saving the plane as it crashes, having sex with all sorts of women who are also on randomly deserted island, and all in all talking serious hero smack.

Then the story turns with the introduction of an independant woman named Rose who doesn't think the world revolves around Carter and has her own ideas as to how to get off the island. It's not that things get better for Rose, but things get progressively worse for Carter as the hero-worship wears thin.

Yeah.

I don't know. Intellectually (or, as intellectual as I get), I like what Bowker does with "Heroes Welcome" and how he turns the whole thing on Carter and gives the man comeuppance. That's great.

I never could exactly get past my opening disgust even though I knew, more or less, where the story was going. I should be able to accept the absurdity of the story and and there was no chance Mamatas and Lake would have bought a straight pulp tale that doesn't turn the conventions of pulp tales, but "Heroes Welcome" still doesn't work for me. I understand what the story is doing and why. It just wasn't enough.

"Heroes Welcome" isn't my kind of story.