"Kathleen Ann Goonan - What Science Fiction is All About, or The Amazing Dancing Chairs" - читать интересную книгу автора (Goose Mother)

chemicals that have been around for a long time--might sweep the countryside and kill off everyone.
Smallpox, anthrax. The cities might be bombed with nuclear weapons that terrorists, local or foreign,
have gotten hold of. The grid might not work. All of us think about this. All the time. We are supposed to
worry. Even though we are protected by our government, by the Department of Homeland Security, and
various other forces (not the National Guard, though; they are in Iraq). Anyway, they are doing a good
job of making us worry about these scenarios, which are well represented in science fiction.

Lefton would suffer too, of course. HeтАЩd have to brew his own beer. Home-brewed beer doesnтАЩt always
turn out well, and keeping big bags of grain around draws mice, which carry hantavirus.

But otherwise, he would be king. His hunting skills would be prized; his gun collection envied. He would
survive on mammal protein, while the man with the crucifix and the Log Home Vacationers would starve
to death.

And I would be forced to barter my dancing chairs for bear meat. That would be hard.

You just never know.

ThatтАЩs what science fiction is all about.




About the Author




Kathleen Ann Goonan has published six novels, including her Nanotech Quartet: QUEEN CITY JAZZ,
MISSISSIPPI BLUES, CRESCENT CITY RHAPSODY, and LIGHT MUSIC. THE BONES OF
TIME is about Princess Kaiulani, PenroseтАЩs ideas about consciousness, and the theft of the Kingdom of
Hawaii. Her thirty or so short stories have been published in venues such as ASIMOVтАЩS, STRANGE
PLASMA, INTERZONE, F&SF, OMNI ONLINE, and in various anthologies. тАЬSundiver DayтАЭ will
appear in THE STARRY RIFT in 2008, and she has a story in ECLIPSE, which will be out in
November 2007. Her latest novel, IN WAR TIMES (Tor), achieved the Review Trifecta of starred
reviews in PW, Kirkus and Booklist. She lives in Florida and Tennessee.