A Son of the Rock

Evidence of Love In A Case Of Abandonment: One Daughter’s Personal Account by M Rickert.

Evidence Of Love… is a cautionary tale set in a “Holy Time” in what is (apparently) a theocracy where regular executions take place. As ritualistic and theatrical spectator events.

The executions are of women who under a previous regime had an abortion and are now retrospectively being subjected to the ultimate sanction for their offence. This is despite the fact that some of them have subsequently borne children. These children are given lockets containing locks of their executed mother’s hair as mementos. Display of these has become almost a fashion statement.

Some women have sought to avoid punishment, have disappeared and are said to be forming a guerrilla army, though we are never actually shown any of them.

Our narrator is the daughter of one such absentee and a father who has been left to bring her up and who tries to protect her from knowledge of her mother’s transgressions. However, she knows her prospects of advancement/marriage are blighted as a result of her maternal inheritance. Paradoxically (but this is a theocracy) they would be enhanced if her mother were to be found and executed.

In the context of the other three short listed works the focus on the narrator’s experience here is refreshing even if the premise of the story falls down as soon as immersion in its scenario ends.

Theocracies in SF are relatively familiar – The Handmaid’s Tale is the most obvious example – but they too often feel like straw men and the settings fail to convince. Even allowing for poetic licence I doubt we could get from abortion being tolerated to the society shown in Evidence in the sort of short order the story indicates. I assume the story will have more resonance in a North American or Middle Eastern context but it is probable this particular idea would never have been conceived by a British author.

No typos in this one but we did get sprung instead of sprang and broke for broken which may be due to the narrative voice (and American usage) but still grated with me.

However, if one of the purposes of SF (if it has any) is to warn or advise, then this story does succeed admirably. Plus, Americanisms notwithstanding, it is well written. Tonally, it is close to that of some of my own short works so it is not surprising I found this the most pleasing of the four in contention. Its emphasis on the human helped.

Are these the best four SF stories of 2008?

I have no idea.

But I do wonder what this selection says about those who nominated them. Taken as a four they do seem to bespeak a preference for idea over human experiences and that’s not really where I’m at my happiest.