Are you a writer? If so, you will surely resonate with the above photo of a writer's desk awaiting the presence of the writer. In this case, the desk belongs to none other than Christopher Priest. We can picture the British author walking in, taking a seat, turning on his computer and preparing himself to launch into his next work in progress - hardly a new experience since he's been writing, mostly fiction, for over fifty year with many essays, short stories and seventeen published novels to his credit.
This collection of short stories is unique. Not only do we have the short stories themselves, eleven in number, but each story has a Before and After wherein Christopher Priest shares with the reader how the story came to be written and then informal reflections on the process of writing the story along with it's publishing history and what, if anything, the story gave rise to.
Recognizing this distinctive format, prior to the stories, I'll focus on the Before and After sections (and also First, the book's preface), linking my comments with the author's own words.
"The fantastic itself is still largely unappreciated beyond a small but consistently intelligent readership." Writing fiction with fantastical elements, that is, expanding out from what is conventionally termed "realistic fiction," has placed Christopher Priest in the category of science fiction and associated with authors such as Brian Aldiss and Michael Moorcock rather than Martin Amis, Salman Rushdie and Zadie Smith. This is less than ideal since such pigeonholing has tended to cut him off from a larger readership.
Christopher Priest goes on to explain how the fantastic is not a clearly defined genre such as detective stories, romances or Westerns; no, the fantastic is "indefinable and free of boundaries, with no restrictions on place or time - it can be located in the realistic here and now if needs be, but also anywhere in the world or universe, real or imagined, past, present or future."
"I usually say of the new wave that I was of it but not in it." A number of Christopher Priest's stories were published by Michael Moorcock, but the author is quick to point out he was determined to find his own path in writing rather than adhering to the British new wave philosophy and regimen of drawing inspiration from things like funky poetry, rock music, modern painting and hip films.
"I have gone into this unhappy story in some detail because on the whole readers are unaware of many of the unnecessary tensions created behind the scenes by people like him, and the time and energy they can waste - not just theirs, but other people's." Christopher Priest relates how American editor Harlan Ellison demanded he cut off writing his novel-in-progress and immediately write a "taboo-busting" short story for his "landmark" anthology. The British author wrote back to Ellison and said "no" but Harlan refused to take "no" for an answer and pounded away again and again until he received a short story.
This Ellison episode is one of a number of instances Christopher Priest relates regarding the frequently curious circumstances surrounding the creation of each of his eleven short stories - dealing with the likes of magazine editors, BBC radio people, even a main clearing bank in the UK. This to underscore being a writer entails much more than writing - publishing one's work requires large quantities of time, effort, and not infrequently, frustration and stress. And what became of Harlan Ellison and his "landmark" anthology? Never published! As Christopher Priest tells it, his story An Infinite Summer did eventually publish in a magazine and later became the lead story for one of his short story collections.
By the way, I read elsewhere that back when he was an undergrad at Ohio State University, a professor told Harlan his writing wasn't any good. Harlan punched the professor in the face and was immediately expelled. In the years thereafter, every time Harlan had a story or book published, he sent a copy to that prof.
"I have lived my whole life with books, and the worst hell for me would be incarceration in a cell without a shelf of paperbacks, renewed from time to time. I do not see myself as a collector, but as an accumulator, a gatherer of books." This simple statement speaks volumes of what it means to be a writer of literary fiction - a love of books and a lifetime dedication to reading books.
Here are a few snips from the opening scene of one of my favorite stories in Episodes, a story Christopher Priest wrote in the first person but I've taken the liberty to switch to second person and compress a bit:
fuouristic.com.uk
There you are at your computer, all set to read your email. However, before you do so, you need to delete all those pesky bits of spam. Damn! When will people learn, you're not the type of person to be sucked into sales pitches or other silly garbage.
Tap, delete, tap, delete, tap, delete - ten times over. You stop. There it is again, every day for two weeks running - a most curious email. No doubt it carries a deadly virus that would infect everything on your computer. But, oh, that irresistible caption: Lowest price Time Machine 4U?. You think: 'I'll be damned. They want to sell me a time machine.' The temptation is simply too great - you take a quick peek.
Wow! This email is addressed to you personally. The sender even spelled your name right. The email is from an outfit calling themselves futouristic.com.uk and the email contains the image of their alleged time machine.
These crackpots insist their offer is genuine and their time machine will actually work. 'Buy now and you can watch great historical battles, be present at your own birth or make yourself RICH - legally!' Rich, really? Fantastic! You position the arrow on the screen and click. At that exact moment your doorbell rings.
You'll have to read for yourself to find out what happens next and next and next. Echoes of both H.G. Wells and The Twilight Zone.
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Fans of Christopher Priest will recognize the themes in these stories echo themes from the author's novels - to list several linked with one novel in particular: invisibility (The Glamour), stage magic and illusion (The Prestige), bending of time (The Space Machine), horrific transformation (The Dream Archipelago), romantic love (The Adjacent). And, as noted, there's the bonus of the Before and After sections. So worth your time.
British author Christopher Priest, born 1943
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