Greetings! Welcome to the latest edition of The New Absurdist‘s ‘Siskel and Deadebert’ story reviews. As you may or may not know, Deadebert has been, well...dead for some time now. He can no longer give the thumbs up so we’ll have to do rotting appendages. I myself, Gene Siskel, am NOT dead, but I have infected my limbs with gangrene, so that I may also give a rotting appendage up or down. This week’s story is going to be 'Gone - The Boy on the Beach' by Jack Wyner.
Deadebert: From the title alone, I draw the immediate comparison to William Gibson's work, 'Neuromancer'. It entails a scene in which the main character becomes brain dead and visualizes a conversation he has with the artificial intelligence that goes into his mind and portrays himself as a small boy on a beach. This is important because… Siskel: Shut the fuck up already! Jesus Christ! Deadebert: Right, sorry. This is a very disturbing story. It is almost schizophrenic. Siskel: A little background on our author -- he is a successful playwright out of the Los Angeles area. Deadebert: Recently he even through me a full length script for a movie he'd like to produce. Siskel: Mr. Wyner seems to get involved in all levels of creative writing -- as well as acting. Deadebert: Indeed. The thing that scares me about this story is the whole concept of being unsure if you are dreaming or awake. Siskel: When you're in a dream, a stuck in it -- trying to shake yourself back to reality, but feeling so groggy, unable to speak...
Deadebert: One of my favorite lines is "...the soft red glow coming from the alarm clock..." This story seems to focus more on the action then to take time to have strictly descriptive sentences like this one. Siskel: It is a nice visual he creates there, and yes I agree with you. The nature of this narrative is one which serves almost strictly to kick the shit out of the reader. As you go through this story, you can feel yourself being torn -- torn between reality and a dream; real life and what you possibly wish was real life. Deadebert: This is a bit unlike Jack's other work -- some of it is quite light hearted like 'The Truth'. Siskel: Also notice the name 'Sheila' -- also appears in the story 'Sheila and Sheila' Deadebert: All in all a great story, one rotten appendage up. Siskel: Same here.