Washed By a Wave of Wind: Science Fiction From the Corridor Edited by M. Shayne Bell Signature Books, 1993. Trade paperback: 378 pages. ISBN: 1-56085-038-8 Suggested retail price: $18.95 (US)
Reviewed by: Linda Adams

I found this delightful book in our public library this summer, and still haven't returned it. After reading it I felt it was well worth reviewing here. I'll be taking it back as soon as I write this, to get my check-out privileges reinstated. (This is where procrastination gets you . . . ) I'd be very interested in owning my own copy, as soon as I have a free $20 lying around (which hasn't been happening often enough lately!) -- it's definitely worth the cover price. One other interesting point about the cover: It has a huge red, calligraphic "W" on the front to represent the "W" for all three words in the title. Separately, my husband and my 9-year old daughter each came to me and said, "That's a really strange title . . . Ashed by a Ave of Ind?" I had to laugh.

I'd heard this book discussed on AML-List, and was excited to stumble across it in the library while looking for something else -- it's not often in Missouri that I run across LDS-oriented books there.

This is an anthology of short speculative fiction from authors located or tied to "The Corridor," which in the foreword is described as Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. All the stories are set in one of these states, and the setting is generally crucial or meaningful to the story. I generally don't read very much short SF, preferring novel-length works which can develop character, situations, and world-building more fully. However, I was very pleasantly surprised by these stories. Each one is fascinating, with its own particular merits, and overall the book was a very enjoyable read. I highly recommend it. It was like a eating a literary box of fine chocolates -- with none I didn't like. Many of the contributing authors are subscribed to AML-List, LDSF, or both, and I was familiar with their (your) posts before reading the stories. I'd like to go through a few of my favorite stories with a mini-review. (I'd meant to do them all, but I've put this off long enough already, and I'd better just get it done now while I ca n. I'll be happy to discuss any of the stories, though.) If you don't want to know that much about them, then stop here. Just go find the book and read it.

"Other Time," by Diana Lofgran Hoffman, wins my prize for best of the bunch. I loved it. It's about a young, overworked mother who finds an unusual ball on her way home from work, which has the power to stop time. I loved it because I could relate to the mother -- with the ball she can get all her housework done, she has time for naps, for hobbies . . . of course she is soon addicted to using the thing, and it is fascinating to see how the story develops from there. It takes a fascinating concept and incorporates it into how such a technology would affect a person's life. I could see myself doing much the same things if I stumbled across such a device . . .

"Shannon's Flight," by Glenn L. Anderson. Whoops -- I lied. This one was my hands-down favorite. This is a well-woven story about a woman, Shannon, and her decision to leave her abusive husband, and stay gone this time around. This doesn't sound much like speculative fiction at first -- but she begins tutoring a young girl in her new town (Moab, UT), and they talk together about the ghosts of the horses at Dead Horse Point. (Apparently, from the paragraph quoted at the beginning of the story, this is a real place? with a real legend behind it.) The story skillfully weaves together Shannon's feelings and history with her experiences seeing the ghost of a dead Appaloosa, and the legend of Dead Horse Point. The ghost horse seems terrified of something, and the story continues to show how Shannon, the girl, and the girl's father, an archaeologist, unearth (somewhat literally) what exactly the ghost-horse is afraid of -- a large-as-life Jurassic ghost-dinosaur. The story builds up to a fascinating and tense climax as Shannon executes her plan to free the ghost-horses from Dead Horse Point and the terror of the ghostly Tyrannosaurus Rex. Overall, her experiences strengthen her so that she can finally resist her husband's pleas to get back together at the end. I loved this story because the characters are all so real and vivid (even the ghost-horses); Shannon's thoughts and feelings are very well portrayed. I wanted to cheer at the end. It was a beautifully written, moving story.

The rest of the stories -- I wanted to pick one for "third place," and I can't. They are all so good. "The Shining Dream Road Out," by M. Shayne Bell, is a wonderful story of an LDS pizza driver, who discovers mystery as he practices deliveries on the Virtual I-15 Highway. "Pageant Wagon," by Orson Scott Card, the longest story of the bunch, is a novelette by itself. It was a fascinating look into a post-apocalyptic lifestyle through the eyes of Deaver Teague, a range rider whose horse dies, and he is picked up by a pageant wagon -- a traveling theater show family. (It was first published in his Folk of the Fringe, if that sounds familiar.) "Pueblo de Sion," by Charlene C. Harmon, is a story of a group of archaeologists who become stranded in the Grand Canyon after a nuclear blast. "Solitude," by Carolyn Nicita, is a story of an alien being who crash-lands on Earth while seeking a lost love, and is rescued, somewhat questionably, by a solitude-loving girl working at Sundance. "Scrap Pile," by Melva Gifford, is a humorous look at what happens to a crew when their broken-down ship is finally repaired.

There are more. They are all good. I'm out of time, though, and have children home for the holidays who need my attention! I recommend giving some of these stories your attention over the holidays, for a short break during all the hustle and bustle. If you like speculative or science fiction at all, you'll be glad you did.

Linda Adams adamszoo@sprintmail.com