Online čitanka četvrtom: Eric James Stone

Nastavljamo s predstavljanjem ovogodišnjih dobitnika Nebule i nominiranih za Huga. Danas vam nudimo nekoliko priča Erica Jamesa Stonea, pisca iz Utaha. Nebulu i nominaciju za Huga Stone je dobio za priču That Leviathan, Whom Thou Hast Made, no u NOSF-ovoj redakciji je mišljenje o njoj podijeljeno. Stoga, prepuštamo vam da sami presudite da li je Nebula zaslužena.

Za majicu smo jednoglasni!

Eric James Stone je relativno mlad pisac, rođen 1967. Tvrdi da je najranije sjećanje koje ima prijenos lansiranja Apolla na Mjesec i da ga je to razlog njegovom interesu za svemirska putovanja i znanstvenu fantastiku, ali sigurno je pripomogla i očeva kolekcija SF-a. Počeo je pisati na fakultetu, objavio je i jednu priču, ali je ubrzo odustao od pisanja i vratio mu se tek 2004. U međuvremenu je diplomirao političke znanosti i i zaposlio se u političkom miljeu, ali mu atmosfera izgleda nije odgovarala jer se odrekao politike i skrasio u Utahu kao web developer. Osim ovogodišnje Nebule, 2004. godine je pobijedio i na natječaju Writers of the Future.¹

Ako vam se nešto u priči Rejiggering the Thingamajig učini poznatim, vjerojatno ste čitali i strip Schlock Mercenary. Stone je također fan i Thingamajig je mala posveta Schlocku. Dinosauri budisti, pričljivi pištolji, pokvareni teleporti²…

 The teleport terminal had not been built with tyrannosaurus sapiens in mind.

Resisting the urge to knock human-sized chairs about with her tail, Bokeerk squatted on the tile floor, folded the claws of her forelimbs together, and concentrated on her breathing. Meditation would calm her nerves. What should have been a two-minute waystop as she switched to a different teleport line had stretched to three hours, and being the only passenger in the terminal creeped her out.

They Do It with Robots počinje kao priča o kultistima i demonima, ali vrlo brzo skreće u poznate vode superherojskih mutanata. No, umjesto kandži, lasera i eksplozija, ovdje se radi o izgubljenim ljubavima i žrtvama koje smo spremni podnijeti za njih.

Ladies and gentlemen, although all of the participants are consenting adults, the final act of the evening is illegal under United States law,” said the announcer. “Fortunately, our ship has passed the twelve-mile limit, so we are in international waters.”

Guillermo turned his attention from his frozen strawberry margarita to the stage as the ceremonial drums ushered in the feather-clad dancers. At the center of their multicolored whirling, the black-masked priest stood behind the altar. The drums grew louder, slower, and the dancers parted to allow a young man to walk step by step to the altar. Face painted crimson, he was stripped to the waist. Sweat glittered on his chest.

Vratimo ipak Stoneovim prvim sjećanjima i svemirskim putovanjima. Freefall također govori o jednoj vrsti putovanja: slobodnom padu iz zemljine orbite. Što se sve može napraviti u tom letu prije nego li dođe vrijeme za otvaranje padobrana?

Freefall was the best part of a jump.

As she fell, Gina Wright looked down at Earth, half shadowed beneath her as dawn crept toward her landing target in Kansas, and relished the knowledge that she was about to demolish the world freefall record by more than 20,000 miles. This was going to be so much better than her spacejump from the old International Space Station. She would have forty minutes of freefall before she even entered the atmosphere.

Using the gyros in her pressure suit, she turned away from Earth. The space elevator cable stretched like a strand of spiderweb past her toward the rotating hub-and-spoke wheel she had jumped from: GeoTerminal 1.

Kratka priča Upgrade je objavljena u kolumni Probability Zero magazina Analog (prosinac, 2006.), koja objavljuje priče do 1000 riječi. Implanti i kibernetički dijelovi tijela nisu ništa novoga u znanstvenoj fantastici, međutim, u ovoj priče se jedan od njih koristi na vrlo inovativne svrhe.

Through the camera in the waiting room, Harry watched the customer. “Mr. Smith” was standing stiffly, ignoring the chairs and the table full of magazines. Though dressed in jeans and a gray sweatshirt, Smith wore an expensive privacy veil — one that fuzzed the picture even of Harry’s high-end Sony equipment.

Harry smiled. Some body upgrades were more acceptable than others — NeverSleep was popular among executives and lawyers, and artificial eyes had become a fashion statement after several Hollywood stars had gotten them. Something like a brain job was an embarrassment: it meant you weren’t smart enough with what nature gave you.

Nimrod

Mihaela Marija Perković je glavna urednica NOSF magazina, prevoditeljica, novinarka i koordinatorica odnosa s javnošću. Aktivna je članica društva SFera i predsjednica žirija za dodjelu nagrada SFERA.

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1. Ako želite još pokoju kontroverzu, natjecanje je osnovao L. Ron Hubbard.[↩]
2. Mala pomoć: jednu od “krađa” ćete pronaći već na prvoj tabli Schlock Mercenarya![↩]