"Andrew Weiner - Changes" - читать интересную книгу автора (Weiner Andrew)

Changes
Andrew Weiner

Born in Britain but now a Canadian citizen living in Toronto, Weiner
has published short fiction in F&SF, AsimovтАЩs, Interzone and others, and
has published an SF novel, Station Gehenna. He tells us that тАШChangesтАЩ
тАШis part of a cycle which IтАЩve been writing backwards. Martha Nova and
Robert Duke (identified, for some obscure reason, only as the тАЬdancerтАЭ)
first appeared in Getting Near the End, a story about the end of the world
published in a 1981 Ace anthology, Proteus. More recently, I wrote a
novella called Seeing (recently sold to F&SF), which is a kind of prequel
to Getting Near. тАЬChangesтАЭ, in turn, is a prequel to Seeing.тАЩ

No doubt the cycle will be finished any decade now; but тАШChangesтАЩ
stands in its own right as a seriously political speculative fiction story
that works from the personal level to give a wider sense of a society
shaking itself to pieces on an apocalyptic rollercoaster ride. It is all the
more effective because of the beautifully quiet and transparent narrative,
and the meticulous verisimilitude of its stadium rock backdrop, for which
Andrew Weiner has drawn upon his experience as a freelance rock
writer in the early seventies. тАШI stopped because I figured I was getting
too old,тАЩ he says, тАШbut IтАЩve since come back to the subject again and
again in my fiction.тАЩ

****



W
ell?тАЩ Sykes asked.

The tape was half-over. Duke had not said a word since it began. Now
he looked up, shrugged. тАШItтАЩs what I expected.тАЩ

тАШBut you donтАЩt like it.тАЩ

тАШLiking it wasnтАЩt part of the deal.тАЩ

Another song began, perhaps the best thing Duke had written in
years. Like all the others, Sykes had choked the life out of it.
 тАШThis is the new sound, Robert,тАЩ Sykes said. тАШThe old sounds are
over. Finished.тАЩ

тАШSo IтАЩve been told.тАЩ

Duke got up. He stared blankly for a moment at the walls of SykesтАЩs
office. They were blanketed with gold and plati-num discs, Grammies,
Producer of the Year Awards.

тАШI think IтАЩve heard enough,тАЩ he said.