Unearthed

Tales of the Old Man #3

by William Preston

This 18,000-word novella is the third story to feature my enigmatic hero, referred to as the Old Man in “Helping Them Take the Old Man Down” and as the Big Man or “the man himself” in “Clockworks.” The stories are best read in the order in which they’re being published in Asimov’s Science Fiction—that is, out of chronological order. “Helping Them Take the Old Man Down” takes place in 2001-2002, and should be read first. “Clockworks” takes place in 1962. This prequel is as far back as I plan to go. Two more stories, both sequels to the original tale, are in the works. The earlier stories are available, bundled together as a single e-book, via both Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

64 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 1, 2012

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

The first writer I stole from was Ray Bradbury, whose poetic prose, rural details, and wild inventiveness made me see what was possible in fiction. Later, writers such as Joyce, O'Connor, and Updike made me see what else was possible--and for a long time, I stayed away from science fiction and fantasy, at least in my own writing, dabbling in it only as a reader.

I studied fiction writing in college (though I don't think I learned much). When work and family made fiction-writing difficult, I shifted to poetry, and I managed to sell a few things over the years. Then I wrote a Bradburian (at least in my mind) science fiction story, "You Will Go to the Moon," sent it to Asimov's Science Fiction, and found myself, at last, published as a fiction writer. Subsequently, my work has continued to appear in Asimov's as well as some non-genre publications. Additionally, my story "A Crisis for Mr. Lion" won the 2006 Zoetrope: All-Story short fiction contest.

Reviews

[Emmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I adored the first two stories in this series (Helping Them Take the Old Man Down and Clockworks) so I was really, really excited for this one. Still an awesome read, by the way, but this one definitely tips into "weird fiction". Still, an excellent story, really engaging, and I can't wait to see what happens next!

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yes, this is anal and probably a waste of time, but I am manually adding the novellas and novelette's I've read in Asimov's this year to count toward my 70 book goal. If people get to count very thin issues of Batman, then I get to count these. :p

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unearthed is the second book, but third story of William Preston's Old Man tales and I really enjoyed it. This one goes back to the characters younger days. Set in 1925 this story finds the "Old Man" character in a South American mine, sent by his father after an accident and subsequent strangeness of the miners, the tale takes a turn into the mysterious. This is a great novel, still very much in the pulp style of the Doc Savage tales and is a joy to read.

[John Duckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

The prequel to The Old Man trilogy.

I truly enjoyed this Doc Savage pastiche. A rare look at his early days, still under tutelage of his father. Love the fact that, while his name is never mentioned (he’s known in this story as “the Young Boss”), he’s instantly recognizable to Doc fans.

[Steven Donoso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although he is never named, William Preston's "Old Man "stories are inspired by the pulp adventures of Doc Savage (published between 1933-1949). Somehow, through his stories, Preston has managed to give us more insight into his character and his workings, in a short story form no less, than the last six "new" Doc Savage adventure novels combined. He has also managed to delve into adventures that take place both before and after the chronology of the original pulp tales.

William Preston's stories need to be read in sequence, as opposed to chronological order. The first story, "Helping Them Take the Old Man Down" takes place in 20001/2 amid the aftershocks of the events of 9/11, largely told through the eyes of a former "assistant". The second story, "Clockworks", takes place in 1965(!) and is largely told from the perspective of a rehabilitated criminal scientist (these two stories are collected in another Kindle volume and both are more than worth the price of admission).

This third novella, "Unearthed", is an early solo adventure without any regular assistants and takes place in 1925. It is an otherworldly marvel and a hell of a good tale. We get to see our protagonist at an early age, taking on a fantastic mystery underground in a forgotten South American locale. Preston's writing here, as elsewhere, manages to be both sparse and descriptive at the same time. He seems to instinctively know just how much of the story to unfold for us and how much, to use the novella's title, to leave "unearthed".

His fourth and forthcoming "Old Man" story, "Each in His Prison, Thinking of the Key," takes place in 2006 and is to be published in February 2014 in the April/May issue of Asimov's Science Fiction, which will be available in both print and Kindle format.

For the time being, Preston is keeping secret the time-setting of his fifth and final "Old Man" story, "The World Will Be the World Again" with a yet-to-be-announced publication date.

All of Preston's stories are worth both my time and my money.