Exploring Dark Short Fiction #5: A Primer to Han Song
Edited by Eric J. Guignard,
Written by Han Song, Michael A. Arnzen (contributor),
Michelle Prebich (Illustrator),
Nathaniel Isaacson (Translator)
There are very few things that are consistently awesome. No band is without a bad record, no director without a stinker. So far Eric and his Dark Moon imprint are a perfect five for five with this series of collections 'Exploring Dark fiction'. That said this is my favorite so far for lots of reasons I will explain.
In the previous editions I had read maybe one thing by the author and was familiar to a degree with his work by reputation. I have read quite a bit of Chinese science fiction and genre, as that line is blurred much more in China. That said this is my first experience with Han Song who did not appear in Invisible Planets the first of Ken Liu's anthology of Chinese Translations. He appeared in Broken Stars the second of that series which is still on my list to read.
This series always comes with pretty illustrations and commentary on each story by Professor Michael Arnzen. All are excellent non-fictional commentaries. The author interview provides insight but Han Song's own essay 'Sending Chinese Science Fiction Overseas' is a highlight. He talks about several novels and works of scholarship I wish were translated.
So who is Han Song? He is an award-winning Chinese science fiction author and considered to be one of their three most important voices. He is a journalist who has had his fiction censored by the Chinese government for being too dark as in the case with his early story 'Gravestone of the Universe' that was published in 1991 in a Taiwanese magazine. In China he has published nine novels and almost as many short story collections.
I can't speak to his novels, as I am judging his work by six short stories, I know I am more willingly to experiment with short fiction, I think it is important to point out this is a small sample size. The vibe I am getting reminds me of Brian Evenson's short fiction. That is no small piece of praise as Evenson's last collection just won the World Fantasy Award and I consider him to be the best author of dark short fiction since Clive Barker.
Han Song's style has the same surreal feel and zero fucks given for convention or expectation. These stories don't have to access reality as we know it. Given that Song was censored early in his career you can see he embraces the genre's ability to subvert conformity and repression. It is not a shock that this author struggled with censorship. I wondered as I read this if the translators were able restore any of this lost material?
All six stories were good, but the two that stood out for me were 'Transformation Subway' and 'Fear of Seeing.' Both were dark surreal stories. 'Transformation Subway' was a haunting tale about a subway train that keeps going endlessly through a dark tunnel never stopping or even seeing a station in passing. Once Zhou the main character tries to escape by climbing to the other cars he discovers something more horrible. This surreal tale plays with time, cosmic dread, and is metaphoric nightmare. The situation reflects a dark mirror on human behavior and is probably a commentary on Chinese culture that I am not able to gleam.
'The Fear of Seeing' is the story of parents whose child is born with eight eyes. It is the most traditional horror tale, but it is still a surreal trip. The parents who I don't remember ever being given a name try to love and relate to this freakish child of theirs. It is important that written in 3rd person, if it was in first we would be to connected. A little space gives us room to digest at distance how painful and weird this would be for the parents. I got the sense the idea is how weird and isolating it would feel to have wide open eyes and be able to see more than the people around you. A negative of being a creative free thinker in a stifling society. I don't maybe I reading too much into it.
The fiction in this entire series is great but this is my favorite yet. Han Song is incredible and the essay is something Sci-fi academics are dying for. In the movement for more international voices in genre this book is a must read.
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