Wasps At The Speed Of Sound

by Derryl Murphy

In over a decade of writing short fiction, Derryl Murphy has consistently and poignantly examined the human experience, in relation to other people and to the environment. There are eleven stories in this collection, ten of them gathered together for the first time and one making its debut in these pages, and all of them examine our experience with the world(s) around us, anticipating Dread and Disaster with every turn, even while Hope is sometimes allowed to win out. Come the destruction of the Earth; an alien tourist and the death of a species; Earth at the end of time, coming back from a very long trip; a man and his father, lost in time; sailing on seas of garbage; an insect rebellion; a virtual future that creates an unrealistic past; water, politics, and a big machine; monkeywrenching taken to a new level; lessons in photography; and rebellion on a distant world. Eleven stories that take you into the future even as you wrestle with the present.

196 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2005

About the author

Derryl Murphy lives with his wife, boys and dog in Saskatoon, where he is deeply involved in a life of soccer and writing. His short fiction has appeared in magazines and anthologies since his first sale in the early '90s. His first book, the collection of eco-SF Wasps at the Speed of Sound, was released by Prime Books in 2005, and in 2009 Cast a Cold Eye, a novella co-written with William Shunn, was released by PS Publishing.

Napier's Bones has just been nominated for Best Novel for the Aurora Award. For more information and for information on how to vote for Napier's Bones, please see http://www.prixaurorawards.ca/

Derryl has been nominated for the Canada's Aurora Award for an SF review column he wrote for The Edmonton Journal, for his short story "Body Solar," and for "Mayfly," a short story he co-wrote with Peter Watts.

Once upon a time Derryl was a photojournalist, but staking out murder sites to get a lousy picture was not the career he envisioned.

Reviews

[Isabel (kittiwake) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book in return for a review, via the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Before I start down I look one more time in the stream. I can see nothing swimming in it, no fish, no beetle.
As I walk, I wish there were still birds to sing to me.

Eleven stories about the end of the world as we know it. Although the overall theme of the book is ecological disaster, apocalypse comes in many forms, from invading aliens, water shortages, and garbage-covered oceans, to swarms of huge insects and far future earth that is about to be swallowed by the sun. "What Goes Around" is a more light-hearted story and brings a bit of light relief to the book.

The only story I disliked was "Summer's Humans", which was inspired by Nadine Gordimer's story "July's People". The characters were unpleasant and the aliens' constant hair-shedding made me shudder in disgust (although that was probably the point).

My favourite story was The History of Photography, which was subtle and lyrical and poignant. The author said that when this story appeared in a photography magazine, the readers sent in lots of irate letters complaining about inaccuracies, as the magazine hadn't made it clear that it was fiction. "Those Graves of Memory" and "Wasps at the Speed of Sound" make up my top three.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wasps a the the Speed of Sound by Derryl Murphy

This is the newest edition of Wasps at the Speed of Sound, with 11 short science fiction stories (the original had 10). All of the stories have an environmental warning but this enhances the stories rather than detracts from them.

My favourite story was the Blue Train in which most of humanity that still exists after an extreme water shortage travels the world on a gigantic train in search of water and their subsequent freedom from this train by one man who dared to question the company's monopoly on the earths water.

Murphy constructs the world of each story so well, with little extraneous language as possible so the reader can create a vivid image of their own. Truly a pleasure to read for any science fiction fan and possibly for any environmentalist too.

I received this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers

[Deb · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great book of short stories, chosen as for the UNBC Reads campaign at the University of Northern British Columbia in 2007.