Briefly

For over a year, I've been writing stories that have a bit of sci fi to them. I don't read a whole lot of sci fi. But I find situations, extreme situations made of fantasy and magic, a great screen on which to project daily interactions and anxieties, an easy way to make the unquestioned suddenly questionable. Sci fi seems to be everywhere these days. Did you read Jonathan Lethem's beautiful essay about sci fi in last month's Harper's? Sadly, the website won't allow you to read it without a subscription. If you see an October issue lying about, grab it! Lethem's article is in the Readings section, excerpted from his new book of essays. Here's a bit: "The protagonist in science fiction analogizes not to the writer but to the reader, plunged into a world organized according to hidden operations, full of codes to crack and of the affective feedback of people taking for granted what you're puzzling to grasp. This stance feels important for its resemblance to science, philosophy, or what the academics call theory; to experience it is to feel consciousnesses as a never-ending stream of epiphanies..." There's also a gorgeous bit on the community of readers and writers, existing together in the noble pursuit of making lighted spaces in a sea of dark. I do the bit injustice. To read the real thing, you'll have to get the article.

I can, however, provide you with a link to a fantastic story by Murakami, one of my favorites. It's about meeting the 100% most beautiful girl. And knowing what to say to her. The story isn't traditional sci fi but it shares a realm, a little patch of light in that darkness.  It's called "On seeing the 100% perfect girl one beautiful April morning." It's available online, here. Murakami's new book IQ84 is based on the story. The NYT Magazine did a story on the author recently -- "The Fierce Imagination of Haruki Murakmi." Read it, here. In it we learn that the writer is in bed by 9 PM, up by 4 AM. He writes steadily for six hours. “Concentration," Murakami tells the reporter, "is one of the happiest things in my life."