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Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes
A symmetrina by Michael Bishop, entitled “Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.”
- GenresShort Stories
6 pages, ebook
First published July 11, 2011
11 people want to read
About the author
Michael Bishop
306 books105 followersMichael Lawson Bishop was an award-winning American writer. Over four decades & thirty books, he created a body of work that stands among the most admired in modern sf & fantasy literature.
Bishop received a bachelor's from the Univ. of Georgia in 1967, going on to complete a master's in English. He taught English at the US Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs from 1968-72 & then at the Univ. of Georgia. He also taught a course in science fiction at the US Air Force Academy in 1971. He left teaching in 1974 to become a full-time writer.
Bishop won the Nebula in 1981 for The Quickening (Best Novelette) & in 1982 for No Enemy But Time (Best Novel). He's also received four Locus Awards & his work has been nominated for numerous Hugos. He & British author Ian Watson collaborated on a novel set in the universe of one of Bishop’s earlier works. He's also written two mystery novels with Paul Di Filippo, under the joint pseudonym Philip Lawson. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages.
Bishop has published more than 125 pieces of short fiction which have been gathered in seven collections. His stories have appeared in Playboy, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the Missouri Review, the Indiana Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Georgia Review, Omni & Interzone.
In addition to fiction, Bishop has published poetry gathered in two collections & won the 1979 Rhysling Award for his poem For the Lady of a Physicist. He's also had essays & reviews published in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Omni Magazine & the NY Review of Science Fiction. A collection of his nonfiction, A Reverie for Mister Ray, was issued in 2005 by PS Publishing. He's written introductions to books by Philip K. Dick, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Pamela Sargent, Gardner Dozois, Lucius Shepard, Mary Shelley, Andy Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Bruce Holland Rogers & Rhys Hughes. He's edited six anthologies, including the Locus Award-winning Light Years & Dark & A Cross of Centuries: 25 Imaginative Tales about the Christ, published by Thunder’s Mouth Press shortly before the company closed.
In recent years, Bishop has returned to teaching & is writer-in-residence at LaGrange College located near his home in Pine Mountain, GA. He & his wife, Jeri, have a daughter & two grandchildren. His son, Christopher James Bishop, was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre on 4/16/07.
Bishop received a bachelor's from the Univ. of Georgia in 1967, going on to complete a master's in English. He taught English at the US Air Force Academy Preparatory School in Colorado Springs from 1968-72 & then at the Univ. of Georgia. He also taught a course in science fiction at the US Air Force Academy in 1971. He left teaching in 1974 to become a full-time writer.
Bishop won the Nebula in 1981 for The Quickening (Best Novelette) & in 1982 for No Enemy But Time (Best Novel). He's also received four Locus Awards & his work has been nominated for numerous Hugos. He & British author Ian Watson collaborated on a novel set in the universe of one of Bishop’s earlier works. He's also written two mystery novels with Paul Di Filippo, under the joint pseudonym Philip Lawson. His work has been translated into over a dozen languages.
Bishop has published more than 125 pieces of short fiction which have been gathered in seven collections. His stories have appeared in Playboy, Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, the Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, the Missouri Review, the Indiana Review, the Chattahoochee Review, the Georgia Review, Omni & Interzone.
In addition to fiction, Bishop has published poetry gathered in two collections & won the 1979 Rhysling Award for his poem For the Lady of a Physicist. He's also had essays & reviews published in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer, Omni Magazine & the NY Review of Science Fiction. A collection of his nonfiction, A Reverie for Mister Ray, was issued in 2005 by PS Publishing. He's written introductions to books by Philip K. Dick, Theodore Sturgeon, James Tiptree, Jr., Pamela Sargent, Gardner Dozois, Lucius Shepard, Mary Shelley, Andy Duncan, Paul Di Filippo, Bruce Holland Rogers & Rhys Hughes. He's edited six anthologies, including the Locus Award-winning Light Years & Dark & A Cross of Centuries: 25 Imaginative Tales about the Christ, published by Thunder’s Mouth Press shortly before the company closed.
In recent years, Bishop has returned to teaching & is writer-in-residence at LaGrange College located near his home in Pine Mountain, GA. He & his wife, Jeri, have a daughter & two grandchildren. His son, Christopher James Bishop, was one of the victims of the Virginia Tech massacre on 4/16/07.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
July 23, 2013
Am not amused.
Read
April 1, 2020I counter that sometimes it’s OK to make the reader work to parse the meaning of a fictive dream.
I had absolutely no idea what a symmetrina was before starting Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes. Always great to learn something new! So, what is it? Well, according to this website, a symmetrina consists of an odd-numbered series of stories. Each story must be able to stand alone. All of the stories are written to a common theme, which must be named in the overall title. Ideally, though, the title names the theme in an oblique or sly way. So, bear all that in mind when you read Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.
To give you an idea of how this played out in the story, the sections are: All Saint’s Eve in Tokyo, A Lesson outside Seville, Renovations in Chautauqua, Enraged Red Octopi on Mars, Adventures in Time and Space, A Perfect Game in the Keeler Dome and Goodbye to All That. I'm really intrigued by this format for stories and it made for an interesting read.
The story is available here. More about the collection, which was written for David G. Hartwell, on his seventieth birthday, here.
I had absolutely no idea what a symmetrina was before starting Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes. Always great to learn something new! So, what is it? Well, according to this website, a symmetrina consists of an odd-numbered series of stories. Each story must be able to stand alone. All of the stories are written to a common theme, which must be named in the overall title. Ideally, though, the title names the theme in an oblique or sly way. So, bear all that in mind when you read Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes.
To give you an idea of how this played out in the story, the sections are: All Saint’s Eve in Tokyo, A Lesson outside Seville, Renovations in Chautauqua, Enraged Red Octopi on Mars, Adventures in Time and Space, A Perfect Game in the Keeler Dome and Goodbye to All That. I'm really intrigued by this format for stories and it made for an interesting read.
The story is available here. More about the collection, which was written for David G. Hartwell, on his seventieth birthday, here.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews