Review of Challenging Destiny
Number 16, June 2003

This review is by Jetse de Vries, from The Fix (Issue 8). It appears here with the permission of the editor/publisher.

A strange thing caught my eye: not only have three of the five featured authors (Vincent W. Sakowski, Ken Rand and A.R. Morlan) also appeared in issue #8 but their stories reflect Dave Switzer’s editorial ‘What’s Really Going On?’, about the suppression of certain news items by the powers that be. Now is this a conspiracy, or what? Most specifically in Ken Rand’s ‘The Ear of Mount Horiuchi’. This is the tale of a reporter who tries to get the scoop on how Sergeant George Horiuchi broke the deadlock of a very long lasting miner rebellion. He gets the story from Horiuchi -- involving a poker game mirroring the classic zippo bet from the Roald Dahl story -- only to find out that the powers that be will censor it. Thing is, both the reporter and Horiuchi want it to get out. Read this one to see how they get that done. Energetically told in the best Challenging Destiny mode with the usual fine illustrations.

Echoes of the editorial also reverberate in Vincent Sakowski’s story, but in a very twisted way: it’s not those that raise their voices against authority who are being witch-hunted, but rather those that do not seem to do so. But things have changed and you’d better be a ‘Part of the New Master Plan . . . ’. Short but definitely not sweet.

In a way, ‘Etamin at East 47th’ also deals with subjects one should not know about. However, in this case it is because they are considered forbidden rather than threatening for an authority’s status quo. Masahiro Takeguchi is a Japanese immigrant in New York City, is making a reasonable living there, but in essence he will always be trapped in the past, ie his native traditions and -- especially -- taboos. He earns enough money to live in a normal appartment, but he keeps living in a little suite at the local YMCA, and his mother has left his father and him, all because he descends from Burakumin -- a Japanese underclass society that performed the necessary, but also strongly despised tasks of handling the dead -- be those animals or humans. Even halfway accross the globe he cannot shake that off. Then his next roommate -- with whom he’ll be sharing the bathroom -- is an alien. The aliens have come to Earth and they are not only enigmatic, but have a very strong penchant for privacy, as well. Strict rules and taboos are in force around them. Through this shield of rituals, though, Masahiro does find out certain things about the aliens that rather mirror his own predicament, and finally gets the idea of why his mother really left him. Thing is, this does not free him from his mental prison, but rather reinforces it. A tragic story of a man who is ultimately unable to challenge his destiny, put down in A.R. Morlan’s style where events surrounding the one main character mirror that of the other. However, while it’s beautifully set up and its internal consistency is impeccable, I still wonder why the story needed an alien to drive this point home. While the logic and mirroring analogy of island Japan/generation spaceship and the need for a certain ‘class’ of people doing the dirty work are fine, I strongly suspect that using another Earth-based culture like -- say -- India might have been more effective. I just mean to say that I’ve read quite a lot of stories about aliens where the aliens were nothing but a disguised non-Western culture. Realising how extremely difficult this is to do, I still long for the odd piece where aliens are really Extra-Terrestrial.

‘General Density’ is a company that develops systems for the asteroid mining industry. It’s run by Gertrude Querchan-sky, that rare CEO who lets profit making take second seat behind developing technologies for the greater good. She’s especially looking for a way to reduce human bone deterioration in zero gravity. In order to do so, she hires Agamemnon Teresticu, a wino living in an old refrigerator, but who was the last protege of the physics genius Herbert Segal. Agamemnon cleans up his act somewhat, and starts a research program. Basically, what he’s really looking for is rather metaphysical, but Gertrude lets him carry on in the hope that he stumbles on something with more practical uses on the way. A bit of wordplay in the title: while Gertrude wants to find something to improve the ‘general density’ in human bones, Agamemnon rather tries to find humanity’s ‘general destiny’. This is a quiet, philosophical one by Uncle River that, while lacking in conflict, still manages to hold your attention. A bit of a deviation from the ‘general’ Challenging Destiny fare, good for variety, with great illustrations.

Michael R. Martin’s tale closes up another fine issue. It’s the only fantasy story here and in general I tire quickly of most fantasy tropes but ‘Soothe the Savage Beast’ is a positive exception. Hirs’taelyn is an al kelalim player: this is a kind of performance art where a musician’s imagination is projected into the audience’s mind with the help of a drug called joval. Actually, he’s the acknowledged master of this art form, revered in the great city of Azalith. Then a new al kelalim player -- Celestina -- plays a stellar performance in the Rookery, and with her daring new approach -- balancing precariously on the sharp edge between savageness and subtlety, raw power and finesse -- she outclasses the old master easily. Hirs’taelyn, recognising her edge, locks her up in her tent camp and finds out that her abilities come with a certain price. Acknowledging her superior skill, he plans to cede his master title to Celestina after a duel on stage. Things don’t go quite as he expected, though, as the audience gets more than they bargained for. Then he goes back to her tent camp to pay that price . . . Done with verve and style, while the accompanying artwork is superb, once again.

Once more, I need to say that this is a fine magazine with a delectable presentation. Not only are the stories and artwork of a consistent, high quality, but both are improving, as well. Therefore, I heartily recommend Challenging Destiny to those readers who like their fiction to be both adventurous and thought-provoking.

Challenging Destiny edited by David M Switzer: R.R. #6 St Marys, Ontario, Canada N4X 1C8. Digest, 128pp, 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: July 24, 2004

Copyright © 2004 by The Fix and Jetse de Vries