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Hidden Paths: Nine Fantasy and Science Fiction Stories
Delve into forbidden jungles, travel across flesh-eating oceans, and chow down on some cryonic sushi in these nine fantasy and science fiction tales from M.K. Hutchins. Originally appearing in Orson Scott Card's InterGalactic Medicine Show, Daily Science Fiction, and elsewhere, these stories are collected here for the first time.Included is this collection is the novelette "The Temple's Posthole", which won an IGMS Reader's Choice award and was placed on the Tangent Online Recommended Reading List.
129 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 21, 2014
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July 13, 2022
Hidden Paths is a showcase of MK Hutchins’ versatility. Each story transports readers to a distinct science fiction or fantasy setting. My favorite is “The Temple’s Posthole”, but all of the stories are worth experiencing.
The Temple's Posthole: The magic system in "The Temple's Posthole" may be my favorite use of magic in any work of fiction. The story is set in a world where buildings develop souls that remain even after the building is destroyed. Pools of magic form in postholes that can be used in ways that align with a building's original purpose.
This magic has all sorts of interesting applications. For example, the magic in the homes of the wealthy ensures prosperity and a butchery shop can be used to magically sever an enemy's limb. Because postholes are a source of magic, the Kab don't build anything to last. Buildings stand for five to ten years to allow a soul to develop, then are burned to expose the postholes. Ironically, the magic in the postholes would be stronger if the buildings were left standing longer, but consistent with human nature, the Kab prioritize their short-term interests over the long-term. It's the Xook, who hated magic and therefore didn't feel the need to burn buildings down, who had the oldest buildings and therefore the most powerful magic.
The magic also ties in really well with the central mystery of the book: what are the magical capabilities of the long lost temple of the Xook people? Its magic was powerful enough to regenerate Aiyah's limbs but her grandmother insisted it was dangerous. Clearly, the Xook temple was more than a place of healing.
The revelation that the temple was a place of judgment where those found guilty were executed and the innocent were healed was an amazing twist. Given that the Xook were described as a people with an "infamous reverence for life," I would never have seen the twist coming. But their reverence for life was precisely the reason they used their temple the way they did. The temple allowed them to reconcile their belief that "man may not kill man…life's end is for the Gods alone to decide" with the fact that they executed criminals by having a priest representing the Gods perform whatever executions they did at the temple.
The fact that Kaloomte knew the true nature of the temple and the whole expedition was an elaborate attempt to assassinate his brother was also an amazing twist. His decision to draw from the temple's magic as a part of his coronation is really gutsy and I like that we never learn how the temple's soul judges him.
This story has something to say about the fallacy of presentism. Yuknoom was fooled into thinking that the Xook temple would provide healing because Kab temples were places of healing. But one shouldn't assume the way things are done today are the way they were done in the past. The meaning of a temple was very different for the Xook than it was for the Kab. There is a lesson here of striving to understand the past on its own terms that fits really well with the fun Indiana Jones style adventure.
Water Lilies: There were two things I loved about “Water Lilies. First, it’s funny how the narrator tries to follow the “Princess and the Frog” script and kisses a frog, only to be rebuffed by him. “I do not believe we know each other,” the frog replies, “I’m happily married, thank you!” Ha! Funny! Second, the whole concept of being able to use a Monet “Water Lilies” painting to teleport to anywhere they have another “Water Lilies” painting is really cool. My family is spread out all over the country, so could I buy prints for everyone and use them to visit people whenever I want? I could have a “Water Lilies” print at my house, one at my parents, one at my sister’s and so on. Totally wouldn’t mind if I had to swim. I like swimming.
Blank Faces: “Blank Faces” has a fun atmosphere: a blend of Western and cyberpunk. It reminded me a bit of Westworld. I love the little details: the wind-up girls, Jeb’s gearwork arm and Annie’s “eye patch with lace around the edges and an embroidered flower on top.” The Western-inspired world is a bit wilder than the Wild West of history. Shopkeepers hire snipers to take out any who would dare to rob them and the preacher has long since been run out of town.
There are some great lines too: "Sometimes, seems like my clothes are just mud. Cracked mud, wet clumpy mud, fine dusty mud. Underneath it, there's cloth somewhere, but it don't show on the outside much." Love Annie’s life philosophy: “There’s been enough ugliness in this world, sir, without me adding a drop to it.”
Raspberry Pudding: Because the POV character has had her memories zapped away, “Raspberry Pudding '' provides only a glimpse of its world, but what’s there is fascinating. What’s clear is that there’s a war between the stabilizer and the nomads where the stabilizers dissect nomads in hopes of developing better weapons. How dissecting nomads leads to better weapons remains mysterious until Tani stabs out her own eye and uncovers an emergency transmitter, suggesting that the nomads are cybernetically enhanced. By studying how the cybernetic enhancements work, the stabilizers can hope to gain understanding of nomad technology. (I get the sense that the nomads are technologically superior.) I would love to get the fuller context of how things went wrong between the nomads and the stabilizers, but the fact we only get limited context fits perfectly with the amnesiac point of view. Piecing the limited morsels of information together is what makes this story fun.
Wishing Hard Enough: I’ve seen many retellings of the Cinderella story, but I had never read one from the fairy godmother’s point of view. This is the central conceit of “Wishing Hard Enough” and it’s a lot of fun. The twist is that Elise herself -- the Cinderella stand-in -- is the real source of the magic. She has the power to manifest whatever she wishes for, but she attributes the power to Adelle who she calls “fairy godmother”. I love how this power ends up helping the kingdom’s war effort. The king’s observation that “Damien’s twice the commander he was before” is probably the result of Elise wishing for her husband’s safety. And I love Adelle’s snarky voice: “Magicians are all unstable prima donnas. The average person has nothing on a fellow thinks the world’s ended if there’s too much thyme in his bouillabaisse. And if that’s Armageddon, imagine what anguish accompanies a stubbed toe. Me, I’d have to see bits of ocean and continent drifting off into the stars to believe the world was over”
Under Warranty: The idea of an artificial intelligence who embezzles millions from their company so they can play hundreds of MMORPGs at once is brilliantly hilarious. I love that their punishment involves grading standardized tests for elementary schools. Unlike AI’s in other stories, the narrator is far too jaded to try taking over the world. They just want to be entertained. The narrator is someone I’d love hanging out with. They could probably manage hanging out with me, grading tests and playing video games all at the same time. Efficient. One favorite line: “The only time I want to hear fluids is if my level forty-two sorcerer just blasted a vampire to jelly.”
Canvas: In “Canvas”, magic is tied to achieving a spiritual state: “Silence makes music, blank spaces make art.” While the narrator is able to achieve this state early in life, she has trouble with it after a plague starts killing her family. This forces her to turn to extreme measures in pursuit of spirituality. She stabs pins into her eyes to make “blank spaces” and drives pins into her ears to make “silence”. Only then is she able to unleash the magical power to stop the plague. There are parallels to manifestations of spirituality in the real world. There are forms of spirituality that are relatively safe and mainstream (e.g. the growing popularity of meditation). But there’s also a spiritual deep end that’s more “dangerous”, where you might suffer real bodily harm. In “Canvas”, power is achieved through dangerous spirituality. But is such power worth the cost?
Cryonic Sushi: I love how “Cryonic Sushi” discusses a technology that has appeared in many science fiction stories and explores a creative application for it. There are other science fiction stories where cryonic freezers are used to preserve the terminally ill until treatment is developed to cure their illness and in this story, that was why the freezers were developed in the first place. The twist is that they never figured out how to defrost someone without killing them. Enter Mr. Patel who sees another use for the freezers: his Wisconsin restaurant can have fish as fresh as anywhere in the world.
The heart of the story is a lawsuit between Mr. Patel and the Animal Practices Protection Lobby (APPL) who claim that the cryonic freezers are inhumane. What’s interesting is that both sides of the lawsuit are being bankrolled by other entities: Mr Patel by the company that makes the cryonic freezers (in hopes that there is a future for their machines in the restaurant industry) and the APPL by rich people who lost loved ones when the cryonic freezers failed and want to sink the company that made them. This felt true to life. Where there are contests, there are sometimes special interests hiding in the shadows that have an interest in one side or the other and are willing to spend money to ensure that side prevails.
Bricks and Sunlight: It’s always interesting to read a story suggesting that it’s ok to marry for something other than romantic love, that romantic love can develop after you’re married. (I’m looking at you, Brandon Sanderson and your “arranged marriages that work out” motif!) “Bricks and Sunlight” is another entry in this tradition. Ara is a firm believer in the trope that “when you marry a person, you marry their family”. While she has a thing for a guy named Damgar, she doesn’t want to be in his family. A guy named Ukkin has a lovely family, so she wants to marry him. Problem is “the Goddess’ gift” prevents her from passing through the veil of the temple if she marries against your heart. The Goddess ultimately accepts Ara’s solution: “No one should marry against their heart. Goddess, that whole, beautiful family is my heart. Maybe I can’t lie to you. Maybe I can’t convince myself I hate Damgar. But I love these more.”
The Temple's Posthole: The magic system in "The Temple's Posthole" may be my favorite use of magic in any work of fiction. The story is set in a world where buildings develop souls that remain even after the building is destroyed. Pools of magic form in postholes that can be used in ways that align with a building's original purpose.
This magic has all sorts of interesting applications. For example, the magic in the homes of the wealthy ensures prosperity and a butchery shop can be used to magically sever an enemy's limb. Because postholes are a source of magic, the Kab don't build anything to last. Buildings stand for five to ten years to allow a soul to develop, then are burned to expose the postholes. Ironically, the magic in the postholes would be stronger if the buildings were left standing longer, but consistent with human nature, the Kab prioritize their short-term interests over the long-term. It's the Xook, who hated magic and therefore didn't feel the need to burn buildings down, who had the oldest buildings and therefore the most powerful magic.
The magic also ties in really well with the central mystery of the book: what are the magical capabilities of the long lost temple of the Xook people? Its magic was powerful enough to regenerate Aiyah's limbs but her grandmother insisted it was dangerous. Clearly, the Xook temple was more than a place of healing.
The revelation that the temple was a place of judgment where those found guilty were executed and the innocent were healed was an amazing twist. Given that the Xook were described as a people with an "infamous reverence for life," I would never have seen the twist coming. But their reverence for life was precisely the reason they used their temple the way they did. The temple allowed them to reconcile their belief that "man may not kill man…life's end is for the Gods alone to decide" with the fact that they executed criminals by having a priest representing the Gods perform whatever executions they did at the temple.
The fact that Kaloomte knew the true nature of the temple and the whole expedition was an elaborate attempt to assassinate his brother was also an amazing twist. His decision to draw from the temple's magic as a part of his coronation is really gutsy and I like that we never learn how the temple's soul judges him.
This story has something to say about the fallacy of presentism. Yuknoom was fooled into thinking that the Xook temple would provide healing because Kab temples were places of healing. But one shouldn't assume the way things are done today are the way they were done in the past. The meaning of a temple was very different for the Xook than it was for the Kab. There is a lesson here of striving to understand the past on its own terms that fits really well with the fun Indiana Jones style adventure.
Water Lilies: There were two things I loved about “Water Lilies. First, it’s funny how the narrator tries to follow the “Princess and the Frog” script and kisses a frog, only to be rebuffed by him. “I do not believe we know each other,” the frog replies, “I’m happily married, thank you!” Ha! Funny! Second, the whole concept of being able to use a Monet “Water Lilies” painting to teleport to anywhere they have another “Water Lilies” painting is really cool. My family is spread out all over the country, so could I buy prints for everyone and use them to visit people whenever I want? I could have a “Water Lilies” print at my house, one at my parents, one at my sister’s and so on. Totally wouldn’t mind if I had to swim. I like swimming.
Blank Faces: “Blank Faces” has a fun atmosphere: a blend of Western and cyberpunk. It reminded me a bit of Westworld. I love the little details: the wind-up girls, Jeb’s gearwork arm and Annie’s “eye patch with lace around the edges and an embroidered flower on top.” The Western-inspired world is a bit wilder than the Wild West of history. Shopkeepers hire snipers to take out any who would dare to rob them and the preacher has long since been run out of town.
There are some great lines too: "Sometimes, seems like my clothes are just mud. Cracked mud, wet clumpy mud, fine dusty mud. Underneath it, there's cloth somewhere, but it don't show on the outside much." Love Annie’s life philosophy: “There’s been enough ugliness in this world, sir, without me adding a drop to it.”
Raspberry Pudding: Because the POV character has had her memories zapped away, “Raspberry Pudding '' provides only a glimpse of its world, but what’s there is fascinating. What’s clear is that there’s a war between the stabilizer and the nomads where the stabilizers dissect nomads in hopes of developing better weapons. How dissecting nomads leads to better weapons remains mysterious until Tani stabs out her own eye and uncovers an emergency transmitter, suggesting that the nomads are cybernetically enhanced. By studying how the cybernetic enhancements work, the stabilizers can hope to gain understanding of nomad technology. (I get the sense that the nomads are technologically superior.) I would love to get the fuller context of how things went wrong between the nomads and the stabilizers, but the fact we only get limited context fits perfectly with the amnesiac point of view. Piecing the limited morsels of information together is what makes this story fun.
Wishing Hard Enough: I’ve seen many retellings of the Cinderella story, but I had never read one from the fairy godmother’s point of view. This is the central conceit of “Wishing Hard Enough” and it’s a lot of fun. The twist is that Elise herself -- the Cinderella stand-in -- is the real source of the magic. She has the power to manifest whatever she wishes for, but she attributes the power to Adelle who she calls “fairy godmother”. I love how this power ends up helping the kingdom’s war effort. The king’s observation that “Damien’s twice the commander he was before” is probably the result of Elise wishing for her husband’s safety. And I love Adelle’s snarky voice: “Magicians are all unstable prima donnas. The average person has nothing on a fellow thinks the world’s ended if there’s too much thyme in his bouillabaisse. And if that’s Armageddon, imagine what anguish accompanies a stubbed toe. Me, I’d have to see bits of ocean and continent drifting off into the stars to believe the world was over”
Under Warranty: The idea of an artificial intelligence who embezzles millions from their company so they can play hundreds of MMORPGs at once is brilliantly hilarious. I love that their punishment involves grading standardized tests for elementary schools. Unlike AI’s in other stories, the narrator is far too jaded to try taking over the world. They just want to be entertained. The narrator is someone I’d love hanging out with. They could probably manage hanging out with me, grading tests and playing video games all at the same time. Efficient. One favorite line: “The only time I want to hear fluids is if my level forty-two sorcerer just blasted a vampire to jelly.”
Canvas: In “Canvas”, magic is tied to achieving a spiritual state: “Silence makes music, blank spaces make art.” While the narrator is able to achieve this state early in life, she has trouble with it after a plague starts killing her family. This forces her to turn to extreme measures in pursuit of spirituality. She stabs pins into her eyes to make “blank spaces” and drives pins into her ears to make “silence”. Only then is she able to unleash the magical power to stop the plague. There are parallels to manifestations of spirituality in the real world. There are forms of spirituality that are relatively safe and mainstream (e.g. the growing popularity of meditation). But there’s also a spiritual deep end that’s more “dangerous”, where you might suffer real bodily harm. In “Canvas”, power is achieved through dangerous spirituality. But is such power worth the cost?
Cryonic Sushi: I love how “Cryonic Sushi” discusses a technology that has appeared in many science fiction stories and explores a creative application for it. There are other science fiction stories where cryonic freezers are used to preserve the terminally ill until treatment is developed to cure their illness and in this story, that was why the freezers were developed in the first place. The twist is that they never figured out how to defrost someone without killing them. Enter Mr. Patel who sees another use for the freezers: his Wisconsin restaurant can have fish as fresh as anywhere in the world.
The heart of the story is a lawsuit between Mr. Patel and the Animal Practices Protection Lobby (APPL) who claim that the cryonic freezers are inhumane. What’s interesting is that both sides of the lawsuit are being bankrolled by other entities: Mr Patel by the company that makes the cryonic freezers (in hopes that there is a future for their machines in the restaurant industry) and the APPL by rich people who lost loved ones when the cryonic freezers failed and want to sink the company that made them. This felt true to life. Where there are contests, there are sometimes special interests hiding in the shadows that have an interest in one side or the other and are willing to spend money to ensure that side prevails.
Bricks and Sunlight: It’s always interesting to read a story suggesting that it’s ok to marry for something other than romantic love, that romantic love can develop after you’re married. (I’m looking at you, Brandon Sanderson and your “arranged marriages that work out” motif!) “Bricks and Sunlight” is another entry in this tradition. Ara is a firm believer in the trope that “when you marry a person, you marry their family”. While she has a thing for a guy named Damgar, she doesn’t want to be in his family. A guy named Ukkin has a lovely family, so she wants to marry him. Problem is “the Goddess’ gift” prevents her from passing through the veil of the temple if she marries against your heart. The Goddess ultimately accepts Ara’s solution: “No one should marry against their heart. Goddess, that whole, beautiful family is my heart. Maybe I can’t lie to you. Maybe I can’t convince myself I hate Damgar. But I love these more.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 12, 2017
Amazing
A wonderful varied collection of incredible stories set in fantastic worlds and times. The stories draw you in fast and are a great read
A wonderful varied collection of incredible stories set in fantastic worlds and times. The stories draw you in fast and are a great read
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews