Well, this was rather brilliant. I enjoyed the way the global scope of the cosmic virus opening up perception to the blocktime universe was grounded against more personal and immediate concerns - love, scheming and domestic unhappiness. It's an astonishingly complex narrative for such a short piece, and all the more impressive for it. Would I be right in saying that it's slightly in conversation with my own short 'One Moment in Time' from awhile back, or is that just ego, talking? They deal with the same idea of an observer's blocktime filter getting removing, but what you hit on here is the human impact rather than the somewhat abstract philosophy of 'One Moment in Time'. In either case, your story is a marvellous piece that handles a fascinating and obtruse subject with delicacy, grace and clarity.
I did read and love your short story One Moment in Time. There haven’t been very many tales about Blocktime, have there? The movie Arrival (based on Ted Chiang’s short story) and the comic Watchmen (by Moore and Gibbons) have sunk deep anchors in my mind as well.
My take of course turns the Blocktime vision on the person touched (in 2/3 of my scenarios, without their consent), so I hope this opens a vein of untapped tales…
I’m sure it will — you’ve written something really impressive here, so it’d be surprising if it didn’t start a bit of a trend. In terms of other work that deals with the block universe, have you read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5? I might have mentioned him to you before, but Slaughterhouse 5 also deals with the simultenaety of time and how we’d perceive it if we were no longer anchored to a subjective present. It’s just a really riveting read, too!
Well, this was rather brilliant. I enjoyed the way the global scope of the cosmic virus opening up perception to the blocktime universe was grounded against more personal and immediate concerns - love, scheming and domestic unhappiness. It's an astonishingly complex narrative for such a short piece, and all the more impressive for it. Would I be right in saying that it's slightly in conversation with my own short 'One Moment in Time' from awhile back, or is that just ego, talking? They deal with the same idea of an observer's blocktime filter getting removing, but what you hit on here is the human impact rather than the somewhat abstract philosophy of 'One Moment in Time'. In either case, your story is a marvellous piece that handles a fascinating and obtruse subject with delicacy, grace and clarity.
Thanks for the kind words, PVT!
I did read and love your short story One Moment in Time. There haven’t been very many tales about Blocktime, have there? The movie Arrival (based on Ted Chiang’s short story) and the comic Watchmen (by Moore and Gibbons) have sunk deep anchors in my mind as well.
My take of course turns the Blocktime vision on the person touched (in 2/3 of my scenarios, without their consent), so I hope this opens a vein of untapped tales…
I’m sure it will — you’ve written something really impressive here, so it’d be surprising if it didn’t start a bit of a trend. In terms of other work that deals with the block universe, have you read Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse 5? I might have mentioned him to you before, but Slaughterhouse 5 also deals with the simultenaety of time and how we’d perceive it if we were no longer anchored to a subjective present. It’s just a really riveting read, too!
I read S-5 ages ago and now I need to reread it! Hahaha thanks for the reminder
Really liked the concept of Third Face. Also that opener is a very economical marriage portrait!
Hahahaha O Henry