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473 pages, Hardcover
First published July 9, 1993
Originally posted on my website, Koenix
Time is the Fire is a collection of 10 Hugo and Nebula award-winning stories by Willis, ranging from short stories to novellas. Willis is well-known for her humor and "comedy of manners" plots, which usually involve characters running around, unable to communicate, and completely misunderstanding each other. These stories walk a thin line for me between amusing and annoying, since lack of communication is one of my habitual pet peeves in fiction. I think it's too easy to lean on communication problems to create tension in a story, and such abysmal communication is often unrealistic.
Willis's stories are timeless in the sense that the humor is often grounded in universal human behavior and personality types that we all know. They are "soft sci fi" and focus tightly on individuals. Technology and science are background elements. And technology is the only weakness in many of these stories. Willis hasn't made many accurate predictions about future technology, especially about future communications technology! And it really irks me when I'm reading a futuristic tale in which all the characters' problems shouldn't be problems because really they should have cell phones, email, text messages, and social media. Ahh, I know this happens in science fiction! But like I said, lack of communication can irk me.
A few of these stories were rereads for me, and I loved them even more this time. "Fire Watch" packed much more of a punch, and it's the perfect length for the story, with its craziness and sleepless, neurotic feel. I've criticized the last two Oxford time travel books (Blackout/All Clear) for their excessive bloat and repetitiveness, and it was nice to revisit this original story in that world which nails the length.
"Inside Job" is about a man and his assistant who debunk mediums in Hollywood - and then they encounter a new medium in town who may be truly channeling the spirit of H.L. Mencken! (Such irony!) I enjoyed it the first time I read it last year, and even more so this time, knowing full well from the beginning about Mencken. It was fantastic and funny and made me want to read more scathing, pithy, and hilarious commentary by Mencken. I also think this is a rare Willis story that doesn't rely so much on communication problems to develop plot tension, so the change is very pleasant. This is one of the best Willis stories I've read and the one I'd recommend people pick up first, as it's a standalone.
"A Letter from the Clearys" was a reread too, and another one I enjoyed more the second time around. There's this magnificent shift in the story, in which you realize you've gotten the setting completely wrong, because you assume at the beginning... and it's written cleverly enough that nothing contradicts your assumption, but when you go back and reread the opening paragraphs, you see exactly what you missed the first time. I don't know how else to explain it without ruining it! It's about paranoia and post-nuclear explosion life.
The absolute funniest story, in my opinion, is the fantastically titled "The Soul Selects Her Own Society: Invasion and Repulsion: A Chronological Reinterpretation of Two of Emily Dickinson's Poems: A Wellsian Perspective". Where do I even begin! It's a total hilarious parody of excessively detailed, over-analyzed, and misinterpretive academic essays on really flawed esoteric opinions. You know, those things academics write that are total made-up BS and clearly a desperate attempt to publish something (anything!). It's funny because it's so, so true. It also imagines a zombie Emily Dickinson fighting an alien invasion!!
Some disappointments: "The Winds of Marble Arch" and "The Last of the Winnebagos" did not live up to my expectations at all. I didn't understand the message of "The Winds of Marble Arch". Or perhaps I did, and I just don't want to accept how bleak it felt. "The Last of the Winnebagos" hasn't aged well since it imagines a pretty crazy future of highways and travel limitations. I was impressed at the writing, because like I mentioned before, Willis is great at vividly sketching in a world and its rules, and the frustrations. However, I think this story particularly hinges on the reader's emotional attachment to dogs as pets, in order to invoke similar feelings about other issues. Maybe I'm cold-hearted, but I was just not that sad by the end.
Overall, Time is the Fire was a grab-bag of great and average stories. Some of them were really fantastic, and it's great to read humorous award-winning science fiction, because it's so rare!
" 'You know what I've always wondered?' Karen said, leaning conspiratorially close to Mother. 'If Maggie Thatcher's menopause was responsible for the Falklands War.' "