EP208: An Almanac for the Alien Invaders

[JoeFitz]

Wow, a SF story written by somebody who's been reading postcolonial theory.  (Did it use the word "subaltern"?  I can't remember.)

Yes, it did!

I found the application of postcolonial theory interesting and particularly well-done, even as it was also postmodern in its explicit evocation of some touchstones of postcolonial analysis and its internal dialogue. It could easily have been so very, very dry with further references.

I also enjoyed that the story placed the protagonist in the ultimate "human" position of attempting to comfort someone who is sick, but belligerent. It was strongly evocative of the decisions she had made in life, and she accepts the burden of being the target of her student's misplaced anger as itself a consequence of her role in causing it.

Well done!

[Jagash]

I very much appreciate the deep intellectual discussions built into the story, it was introspective and intelligent science fiction which used the future as a mirror to our present world.  In short, it was very well done classical science fiction.   My only beef was that setting the entire work in the future tense seemed a touch odd to me and I am uncertain if it will be the best approach for this particular story.

[bnielson]

I loved this story. I never did decide if the invasion was good or bad. (Guess that was the point.)

[Unblinking]

The story itself was interesting, bringing up lots of philosophical questions about colonization and the choices of the conquered.  It was a little slower paced than I generally like but it worked well for the story.

What DIDN'T work well is the future tense, which didn't add to the story, only distracted.  It's sort of like having a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood... and then painting it lime green.  Sure, it's still a nice house, but it's really hard to look past the green and see the other qualities.

The only reason future tense seemed to be used was to justify the title, since almanacs are a sort of everyday oracle.  An interesting device, but it didn't work for me.
1.  These are not really predictions.  These are clearly past tense as told by the narrator.  So the future tense just struck me as a gimmick
2.  First person is all wrong for an almanac.  An almanac doesn't say "I will do ____."  Because the POV is the almanac or the almanac writer.  The reader of an almanac is not interested in the future fate of the almanac writer, they are interested in their OWN fate.  This may be the only time that I ever say that 2nd person would've been a better choice, because an almanac is telling it's reader what to do.  Even that wouldn't have worked very well, because the story is well-rooted in a particular occupation, so 2nd person would conflict with my own occupation.  To REALLY fit the title, the story would have to be 2nd person referring to the aliens, but even then for it to really work it would have to justify why the writer has knowledge of the future.  But that would be a different story entirely. 

So I think the title and the stylistic choices made to match the title ultimately hurt the story.