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I’ve had the privilege of getting a copy of Tobias S. Buckell’s collection, Tides from a New World, and was honored to read it since the author himself sent it since it to me. (Twitter is a fantastic tool, ain’t it? Man I love free books.)
Let me start by saying that as far as collections go, I can’t think of the last collection of short stories I read that felt like they suited the title so well. Tides feels wet, liquid, and fluid in its movement from one story to another. Sometimes in a collection, I am caught up in writer commentary or looking at the story selection as a whole (A minor failing of mine that’s probably no fault of the author.) In Tides, I enjoyed the brief breaks in storytelling to give me an idea of Buckell’s process and evolution of a writer, but remained a series of stories that felt right, reading one right after another.
There’s a good selection here, from Buckell’s earliest work, up to work written specifically for the collection. Though I felt the stories went well together, there’s enough variety in style, voice and characterization that it never felt monotonous.
Buckell’s unique history colors his work without staining it, and especially in the stories that directly relate to the sea, I can feel a deep connection between his island life and a tie to the water. All of that comes together to make Tides feel different and special without being inaccessible.
I could talk about any number of stories in the collection, but the one that really grabbed me and wouldn’t let go was a story he wrote with Ilsa Bick, titled “Shoah Sry.” The story is, at its base, a great ‘what if’ story. What if men were extinct and the human race went on as generations of women cloning themselves? What stands apart isn’t the idea that some women might develop a cult-like desire to bring ‘man’ back from extinction, but the seductive and silken way the story is told. It isn’t all style, the action is real and feels it, (painfully so in places.) There’s indication of some awesome hardcore science going on, but it feels so very seductive and lush that I just accept concepts like the living ships and their odd relationship with the pilots because I’m more interested sharing the feeling of the story as it flows along. I might question some of the choices made to explain the differences between men and women, but the rest of the read is so smooth and satisfying that I felt more like I was nitpicking than anything else.
All in all, I loved the collection and despite having read it, I look forward to picking up a copy for myself. To those of my readers who enjoy sci-fi, I’d highly recommend it. I’m greatly looking forward to watching Buckell’s career and progress, this collection has turned me into a fan.
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