The Evolution of Science Fiction discussion

A Dry, Quiet War by Tony Daniel is our short story of the month. Thanks to Peter for suggesting it. You can read it online in Infinity Plus magazine here:
http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories...

A very strong novelette. I've never heard about the author but now I plan to check other works by him. It is interesting that in The Year's Best Science Fiction: Fourteenth Annual Collection, where this work is present, a blurb before the story says: "One of the fastest-rising stars of the 1990s"... I admit my knowledge of the 90s SF is inadequate (a that period what was available for me were pre-1972 translations, no current stuff)

Great choice. I enjoyed it very much and will look for some more stuff by this author. It doesn't matter how technological and far in the future warfare becomes it still involves the emotional entanglements of the participants. The emotions began with the joy of coming home and renewing a former love and finally erupted in the powerful urge to seek revenge. This was very powerfully written without resorting to the verbosity you find in so much SF today.

Lovely read. Reminds me a lot of The Forever War. In both cases there are parallels to be made with the wars of modern history, e.g. the utter detachment of soldiers from their cultural anchors.

This was a tough read. I didn't understand everything, as much was left vague or unclear. I guess that was the point, but I prefer things to be a little more concrete.

Why were they fighting near the heat death of the universe? There's nothing worth fighting for at that point, unless it has repercussions in the past.

Why were the glims in Henry Bone's town? It seemed like it was just a random place/time to partake in their hobby: harassing civilians with impunity. Is that right?

They wrote down my brain on a hard knot of space. You cannot turn me. What is the meaning/significance of this statement?

Ryan wrote: "Why were they fighting near the heat death of the universe? There's nothing worth fighting for at that point, unless it has repercussions in the past."

I see it as Ragnaroc or similar end-of-time battles, which maybe determine the rules of the next universe (we cannot know what was before the Big Bang or after the heat death, but my take there isn't something out of nothing, so something like universe re-birth). Another idea is that at the end of time multiverse merge back and it has effect on the whole timeline.

Ryan wrote: "Why were the glims in Henry Bone's town? "

Just an accident to tell the story, just like why Rambo passed that town in the First Blood.

Ryan wrote: "They wrote down my brain on a hard knot of space. You cannot turn me. What is the meaning/significance of this statement?"

I cannot be brainwashed / my loyalty is absolute / I'll do what I must

Oleksandr wrote: "Ryan wrote: "Why were they fighting near the heat death of the universe?"

I see it as Ragnaroc or similar..."

I have a different interpretation about this. I think the war is supposed to appear pointless, just as many wars in our history were arguably pointless. It's made explicit about 1/3 of the way through that the victor inherits effectively nothing:

No light. No heat. No effect. And the universe is dead, and so those who remain ... inherit the dark field. They win.

Take e.g. the Afghanistan or Iraq wars; in hindsight the outcome was always likely to be chaos. There was no real purpose and no real "winner", despite military victory. This story is a social commentary: not only is war brutal, but it's often pointless and/or serves the mindless greed of those in power.

Nice read! I liked the vague explanations about war, it makes you wonder how was it, what happened there. Lefts room to some imagination there.

Poor Bex ...

Sabri wrote: "I have a different interpretation about this. I think the war is supposed to appear pointless,"

Yes, this interpretation sounds fine as well

This question just popped into my head the other day. What's meant by the title of this story? Any thoughts?