Review: Some Things Take Time
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 14, 2014
"There are events which are so great that if a writer has participated in them his obligation is to write truly rather than assume the presumption of altering them with invention." ~ Ernest HemingwayThere are many fields of endeavor where individuals come to learn what it is to truly and fully experience something traumatic twice. But, I would say that writers are more familiar with this reality than are most others. Recently my friend Hugh Howey allowed me the great honor of reading a pre-release copy of his short story entitled Peace in Amber.  The story would allow Mr. Howey to accomplish several things. First, he was going to get to participate in fan fiction from the fan side of the equation. The World of Hugh Howey's Silo Saga had been one of the first fictional worlds opened up to fan fiction authors in Amazon's new Kindle World's program, and now, Hugh was going to have the wonderful opportunity of writing a piece of short fiction in the World of another great author -- in this case, that of the inimitable Kurt Vonnegut.  Second, it was an opportunity to write in a world created by a brilliant author whose style and vision are very hard to grasp. Hugh tells about not liking Slaughterhouse Five at first, but later he came to truly appreciate the book... but I'll let you read about that in his own words when you get the story. Third, writing Peace in Amber became an outlet for him to tell a traumatic and visceral true story, one that any reader will see has long needed the perfect and proper outlet.Slaughterhouse Five was just such an outlet for Kurt Vonnegut. Just the right venue to share a horrific story that really happened -- in Vonnegut's case, being there at the bombing of Dresden. Billy Pilgrim's tale is very much Kurt Vonnegut's story; a way to pour out words like blood so that healing could occur.  Hemingway also said, "There is nothing to writing. All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed." But writers often need the right mechanism -- the right vehicle -- to do that which they feel they must do. Maturity, patience, time... the right vehicle, all of these things must be right for the artist to share a truth when it has been this traumatic.Regardless of what anyone thinks about the events of 9/11, it is inarguable that the day changed the world forever. And within the scope of that day, individuals were changed too. Peace in Amber is a moving testimony of that day from the point of view of someone who was in the very shadow of the twin towers as events unfolded. I can't imagine what that must have been like. And that is exactly why stories like Hugh's are so important.I was at the foot of the twin towers six months earlier back in 2001.  I stood at the base of the north tower and looked up and shot footage with my video camera and as I stared straight up the side of that tower, recording, I said, "this is the North Tower... the one that got blown up."  I was referring, of course, to the 1993 attack on the tower. Earlier that morning I had stood on the observation deck of the Empire State Building, shooting with my video camera down the whole length of Manhattan. And I remember seeing the twin towers in the distance and thinking, "what if that bomb in 1993 had actually taken one of those towers down?" A few days after 9/11 I pulled out my video footage of my trip to New York and watched it and a chill went down my spine.  But I wasn't in Manhattan on that horrible day. I was long gone when the 9/11 attacks happened. I was back at home safely in Texas. Hugh wasn't. He was there.We all -- at least all of us who were alive and cognizant -- have stories of where we are and what we were doing on 9/11. Every story is different. Hugh's story is one that begged to be told.Peace in Amber is a strange story (as any story taking place in the Vonnegut world must be,) shuffling the reader back and forth between the narrator's experiences on 9/11, and the story of Montana Wildhack - a kidnapped porn star held captive by aliens on the planet Tralfamadore with Billy Pilgrim. Through this structure, PIA somewhat follows the framework of Slaughterhouse Five, while still allowing Hugh to say the things he needs to say about life, love, and peace. We also learn more tidbits about the narrator's life... about his early marriage and divorce, and about his friends at the time and how he feared losing them.I highly recommend this short story... for anyone who loves literature, and beautiful writing, and truth embodied in fiction. It is a short read, but not an easy one. It can be read in one sitting, but not forgotten as easily.  I know that this was a painful story to write. Opening up one's veins to tell a story is never an easy thing. I easily give this story five stars -- not because it needs accolades or critical approval, because it does not, but because as art, it excels. Tolstoy said, "Art is not a handicraft, it is the transmission of feeling the artist has experienced." According to this definition, Peace in Amber succeeds as magnificent art.Wonderful work, Mr. Howey. Wonderful work.