Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the story:

"When Your Child Strays From God” by Sam J. Miller

This short story is available to read on-line @Clarkesworld.

This story is part of the 2015 Nebula Award nominees short story discussion.

This was the second nominated story I've read in which some strange drug seems to be the only link to fantasy.

I like this story; it made me laugh! It's a triumph of writing style over anything else.

The drug in question is called "spiderwebbing", which produces a shared hallucination between users of the same batch. It reminded me a bit of the titular drug in Nexus, which similarly produces shared consciousness (well I think in the case of Nexus, there are nanobots involved.)

The story is written as an article by the Deacon's Wife in the church newsletter. She's a mother looking for her runaway son, Tim, who is apparently a "webhead". Mom's attitude is amusing as she writes this newsletter. She dares to take some of the drug she finds in her son's room in the hopes the shared illusions will lead her to him. Then she sets off to meet with his girlfriend, who mom refers to as, "Whore Susan".

"An old woman Googling it is more dangerous than a drunk blind bus driver asleep at the wheel."

Anyway, funny enough to get a thumbs up from me. I'd always nice to see a story with a sense of humor on an awards list.

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