Reviewed by: BigAl
Genre: Science Fiction/Short Story
Approximate word count: 4-5,000 words
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Author:
“T. Lucas
Earle is a writer and filmmaker. T. Lucas has a degree in Film Production from
Emerson College, and currently works as a script reader in LA. His stories have
been published in Electric Spec and The Colored Lens. T. Lucas also writes two
blogs and reviews television pilots for Blogcritics. His dark comedy, Abduction, was premiered in the 2013 LA
Shorts Film Fest.”
Description:
“Loosely
based on the Chinese myth, the Monkey King, a timeless story about who belongs,
and who doesn’t. In a future in which Chimps can give lectures on cybernetics,
Mr. Towry is a Chimp with an attitude.”
Appraisal:
Reviewing a
short story presents challenges that are unique to the form. At least part of
that is saying something meaningful, yet not too vague, without giving away too
much of the plot. If I was familiar with the Chinese myth of the Monkey King
the description says this is based on, I could riff on that. But I’m not.
Apparently
(cribbing from the description again) that Chineese myth has something to do
with “who belongs, and who doesn’t.” The interesting thing is, I could argue
that Monkey Talk could be interpreted
two different ways. First, in a world where a chimp can be an accomplished
scientist like Mr Towry, where he and his fellow apes are arguably more evolved
than humans, the obvious lesson is that being different doesn’t mean you don’t
belong. However, as Mr Towry argues to his new human assistant, “we’re all
animals,” and the story gives enough ammunition to someone so inclined to make
the claim that Towry isn’t as evolved as he’d like us to think and doesn’t
really belong. I’m going for the first interpretation, but think that leaving
room for either interpretation is a positive and makes the story more thought
provoking.
Format/Typo Issues:
No
significant issues
Rating: **** Four stars
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