Reviews for San Diego Lightfoot Sue and other stories

The average rating for San Diego Lightfoot Sue and other stories based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-10-04 00:00:00 Jeffrey Brown Who knows what wonders Tom Reamy could have provided the world if he hadn't died early of a heart attack, found literally over his typewriter working on a new story. He went from fanboy to convention organizer to published author, and left us with two works: the novel Blind Voices and this collection of stories and novellas. The book bursts with talent, fully formed. Reamy was a lover of genre fiction and it shows: the pieces here range from the horror noir of "Under the Hollywood Sign" and "The Detweiler Boy" to the strange post-apocalyptic science fiction of "Dinosaurs" to the cheeky, Vonnegut-esque "The Sweetwater Factor" to the wistful urban fantasy of the title story to the wonderfully creaky Old Dark House-ness of "Insects in Amber" to the rural, small town dark fantasy of "Beyond the Cleft" and "Twilla". An embarrassment of genre riches are between the pages of this collection. A bit more about some of the stories: "Twilla" was super fun - a dark kind of fun, but fun nonetheless: a thrilling battle between an elderly schoolteacher, living out her days in a dusty small town, and a vicious little witch, trapped in a schoolgirl's body and armed with spells, homunculi, and and an enslaved djinn. That horrific, demonic, rape-happy djinn is the story's biggest character, in all definitions of the word, but what I loved in particular was how Reamy fully invests in his brave heroine - still virginal after all her years, but still an intrepid maverick who knows how people think and who knows exactly how to take care of business. "Beyond the Cleft" and "Dinosaurs" are about the end of things: in the first, the end of human life as we know it in a small town (and perhaps everywhere) and the beginning of something terrible and new to take its place; in the second, the end of human life on our earth and the beginning of something new and perhaps not so terrible, ready to take our place. The first story was pitch dark, deadpan horror; the second was incredibly imaginative science fiction that is at ease in depicting completely alien cultures - human and otherwise - with a bleak and mournful tone. Sad and memorable stories depicting sad, terrible things. Ah, the sad, terrible cycle of life! I had so much fun reading the slightly amateurish "Insects in Amber" - and the feeling I had of this story being written by an excited writer just developing his skills actually added to the fun. It was slapdash and speedy and I smiled constantly. The plot: a number of strangers find that a storm has trapped them all in an old dark mansion, one that comes complete with an eerie, elderly mistress, her sinister servant, a strange supernatural force, psychic powers galore, and a couple memorable deaths. What's not to love? I have literally just described everything I'm interested in when it comes to old dark mansions. The cynical, snarky appeal of urban noir that stars police detectives and private detectives is fully present in "Under the Hollywood Sign" and "Detweiler Boy". The careful putting together of clues, the stubborn protagonists, the untrustworthy suspects, the sudden plunge into a bleak existential darkness - all there, alongside a rich vein of disturbing, surreal fantasy that involves inexplicable angels (the winged kind) and a mysterious twin (the bloodthirsty kind). And mixed in with all of that is what felt like a kind of homoeroticism, one not curdled with any sort of loathing, self- or otherwise. I'm not sure what the sexuality of the author was, but the feel I get is that of a person not just completely at ease with their own sexuality, but open and nonjudgmental of the spectrum of sexuality itself. That was a good feeling and a surprising thing to find. That openness is certainly present in the highly regarded and awarded title story, which has a sweet, very naive teen from a small town, new to Los Angeles, taken in by two very flaming and, much more importantly, very kind queens. I completely loved that the depiction of these two embraced both the stereotypes and how genuine and nurturing they are. Reamy was certainly not an author who Othered those outside the mainstream. The boy falls in love with the much older prostitute-painter next door; tragedy soon follows. The story is actually barely even genre fiction - outside of the opening and the tragic closing, this is more of a coming of age tale featuring a remarkable and very sympathetic cast. The collection does have its non-starters, of course. Reamy was at the beginning of his career, and despite his incredible skills, there are a few not so great items included: the feminist but half-baked deconstruction of female roles and the gothic novel of "The Mistress of Windhaven"; the very romantic sorta-ghost story, also half-baked, of "Waiting for Billy Star"; and what looks like a not-even-baked draft for a post-apocalyptic adventure tale along the lines of "A Boy and His Dog" that the author hoped would also be sold as a movie: "2076: Blue Eyes". I'm not sure why any of those pieces were even included. I read the mass market paperback edition - not the hardcover that this review is under (I just really prefer the cover of this edition!) - and it includes a no doubt laudatory but probably still fairly critical introduction by the esteemed Harlan Ellison. However, since I am absolutely not a fan of Ellison's voice when it comes to his appraisal of other authors, I skipped it. But I don't want to end on a critical note. The book is fabulous! All lovers of buried treasure and the darker side of genre fiction will be well-rewarded if they seek it out.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-12-13 00:00:00 Daemerson Moses San Diego Lightfoot Sue By Tom Reamy, 1976 Nebula Award It was the Silver Age of Science Fiction, the 1970s were. Or was it golden? Isaac said gold was the 1950s, but. The 70s had Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Robert Silverberg, Isaac hisself, Frederik Pohl, A. E. Van Vogt, Roger Zelazny, Ursula Le Guin, Frank Herbert, Jack L. Chalker, Larry Niven, Ben Bova, C. J. Cherryh, Spider Robinson, Theodore Sturgeon, and many others were at the top of their game. Maybe Isaac meant that many, like himself got started with the whole genre in the 1950s. Pick up Dune, or The Weapon Shops of Isher, or even the Callahan Bar stories. You might find the now in them. Don't leave out the Nathan Brazil books, them that were written long before The Matrix ever was thought of. San Diego Lightfoot Sue is a love story from that time in the middle of the 20th Century when there was no Internet, and Kansas and Los Angeles were still different places that were still a bit mysterious to each other's inhabitants. People could actually travel between the two without papers then, to document their own place in the bipolar America of the 21st Century, lest they forget who they are and why what they believe is the only truth for all. The story is only a tiny bit science fiction, only maybe 1%. The other 99% is people. An innocent kid from the heartland that loses that jewel that we all ultimately must surrender when time and life force it from our grasp. It has gay people before gay rights and tells them as just people. Maybe that is the seeing the future that science fiction often has in it. There is an old prostitute in it, before they were "sex workers" or something to trot out on the local news to titillate at 11. She is an artist, not to give away the story, human too. And there is love in the story, forbidden love of a kind, but real in its portrayal. It is well worth a read. Who knows, you may see the future - and the past in it. Those are the best kind, after all.