Review of Challenging Destiny
Number 14, June 2002

This review is by Jetse de Vries, from The Fix (Issue 5). It appears here with the permission of the editor/publisher.

This is a smart little magazine. Great cover with classy interior art to boost, quality paper, and crystal clear presentation. It goes down like good Italian food: stylishly served and evoking a maximum of taste with a minimum of ingredients. Now -- as any chef worth his salt knows -- this will only work if the quality of the ingredients is up to scratch. So let's examine them at Chez Switzer. All literary dishes are presented with illustrations and followed by little snippets of minty quotations in order to prepare the palate for the next course. Patron Dave Switzer's apéritif is a heady cocktail called 'Are Men and Women Really from Different Planets?' Well, maybe they are, but this stuff is a bit strange as an appetizer. For starters there's a thicky, heavy minestrone called 'Deciphering Vermilion', courtesy of Helen Rykes. Here, a woman is on a different planet, for sure, and has to put her talent for improvisation and creative guesswork -- that make her such a good tarot card reader -- to maximum use for establishing first contact with aliens. The poor fortune-teller isn't quite that eager as all previous first contacts have resulted in war. Her Destiny is definitely Challenged and her fortunes changed. A good read, albeit a bit contrived. Followed by a small pizette, baked by E.L. Chen: 'Bobby First ABCs'. This light fare is a well-needed recuperation dish and subsequently doesn't leave quite the long aftertaste of the starter. This is all flushed down with a dry white chardonnay labeled 'Interview with Alison Sinclair'. A good, if rather new vintage, unknown to connoisseurs (the extensive wine encyclopedia of Messrs Clute and Nicholls makes no mention of it yet).

Enter a steaming dish of tortellini alla 'Perfidy', prepared by Gianni ('James') Viscosi. This is a daring combination of contrary elements. A small theatre is heading for trouble because its main star refuses to adapt his freedom of expression in the face of oppression, no matter how his more pragmatic diretor urges him not to. Well executed, literally and figuratively. Nice illustrations as well. Swift service brings the surprise dish of jalapeño poppers: 'Not Poppy, Nor Mandragora'. K.G. McAbee's burning melodrama of spouse and son lost is somewhat softened by the cheesy taste of possible revenge in a crunchy confrontation of man and monster slayer where things are not what they seem. Accompanying wine: a well-rounded Cabernet Sauvingnon labelled 'The Origins of Canadian SF'. A local vintage that has a longer history that one would suspect, and has already won prestigious awards.

Time for the main course: the mixed grill of 'The Trial of Edgar Allan Poe', prepared by a Cook called Hugh, with his nine appearances so far something of a house chef. This creation is about justice, a dish best served hot. Alcoholic, opportunistic Halsey is a journalist following proceedings at the Court of Unitary Justice. There, famous historical figures -- Jack the Ripper, Ronald Reagan, and Edgar Allan Poe -- are judged for their crimes by today's politically correct standards. Halsey is approached by a Cebril Tanchon, Poe's attorney, and is given direct access to Poe if he just signs one pledge. Near the end the story makes a sudden shift as Halsey himself is judged in the future by the Court of Symbolic Justice . . . A mixed bag: for one the premise -- is it right to judge people from other times by our standards -- is muddied up by Halsey's constantly seeing things in a gutter press perspective, making it a slanted view on a slanted case. Maybe the sudden shift from Poe to Halsey -- as if superimposing the two -- is meant to suggest that for Edgar Allan Poe a kind of poetic justice is more appropriate. Ultimately, it left me detached. Finally the sweet trolley: 'A Survey of SF & Fantasy Art (part 1 of 2)'. The sampling of wares on offer is great, leaving me completely stuffed -- yet I'm already looking forward to part 2. My only regret is that the pictures weren't in color.

So, my dearest restaurant critic, what is your overall impression? A good menu, definitely value for money, however there is room for improvement. The blandness of some ingredients had to be masked by the quality of the sauce. Don't expect fine textured nouvelle cuisine here, but if you like your food to be wholesome and nutritious rather than difficult to digest, this is the place for you.

Challenging Destiny edited by David M Switzer: R.R. #6 St Marys, Ontario, Canada N4X 1C8. Digest, 122pp, Cn$6 or Cn$24 for Canada/US$20 for US (US$22 RoW) for four issues. Email: csp@golden.net; website: http://home.golden.net/~csp/

Last modified: January 23, 2003

Copyright © 2002 by The Fix and Jetse de Vries