Junior Critic
Posts: 62
Joined: October 17, 2013, 12:09:46 PM
Location: Mid-Atlantic U. S.
One For Sorrow by Ed Sullivan
The story employs the traditional medical setting dating back to “Frankenstein.” Action unfolds like a log entry on the patient’s chart: we read display screens and hear the avatar speak. A computer simulation, naturally it speaks like a vending machine. The father believes that the avatar is the mind of his injured child. He speaks to the avatar as a client implores a medium. However, this time, the simulation changes direction.
Black birds are intriguing symbols of death and doom. Drawing on Irish legend, Mr. Sullivan places the Morrigan in the simulation. (Morrigan, a goddess comparable to the Valkyries, was a mythological queen who accosted warriors on the battlefield. Legend identifies her with the crow.)
In his earlier story, the author uses “penance” to describe Morrigan’s interaction with the father. I think guilt motivates the father to undertake his trip through the VR machine, and denial carries him through repeated sessions. Even as the story resolves, the father seems not to understand who controls the simulation. In “Night Crow,” Theodore Roethke writes, “A shape in the mind rose up: / Over the gulfs of dream.” The dream arises from the dreamer.
It might be smoother reading if the author consistently punctuated direct address in the dialogue, where I think several commas went missing. In addition, "You are aware that everything here is in your control?” seems to want an attribute tag. I’m confused who is speaking.
I enjoyed both of these stories--“One For Sorrow” makes a satisfying sequel to “Silence the Crows.”
QW