Blue Lightning by
John Harvey
pbk out September 98
(Slow Dancer Press)
at £7.99
Now here's a brilliant idea a collection of all-new short stories by
writers, all of whom, wittingly or not, subscribe to Nietzsches dictum:
Without music, life would be a mistake.
Thirty years ago, writers featured in such an anthology would no
doubt have found their muse in classical music, in symphonies, in opera
or string quartets. Now, as a direct result of the musical democracy
brought about by the arrival of jazz and rock n roll, musical stimulus
arrives from a far broader spectrum. Here are stories inspired by the
music of Billy Strayhorn, Robert Johnson, Don Fagen and Walter Becker,
Charlie Parker, Glenn Frey and the rest of the Eagles and thats just
the titles!
With about four exceptions, the writers are best known as crime
writers. But this is not a crime fiction anthology. Of the eighteen
stories, about six or seven perhaps would sit happily within say, the
annual CWA compilation. Amongst them are Liza Codys telling
observations on the destructive jealousies of the rock life and Jeffery
Deavers O.Henry-like fairy-tale of Mozart, muggers, Stradivarius
violins and Smokey Robinson. Mozart crops up again, this time in more
distressing circumstances in James Sallis's Vocalities, the source incidentally of the Nietzsche quote above. Then there is Gary Phillips's authentic despatch from the frontline of the rap wars, inspired by the real-life killings of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls. In lighter mode, delight in Neville Smiths subversive and wickedly funny story of police corruption, and John Harveys pleasing but disturbing Resnick story (at least to Duke Ellington devotees like me).
Not that you are shortchanged elsewhere. Here is the wistful mythmaking
of Roseanne Cash no less, imagining a Memphis meeting between her
father, Johnny Cash, his legendary guitarist Luther Perkins and John
Lennon. Here is the spiky abstraction of Stella Duffy's No, inspired by the spiky abstractions of the Japanese musical avantgarde. There are poignant musical portraits from Charlotte Carter,Bill Moody and Peter Robinson, and Michael Lewin on those unsung heroines of the recording studio, the backing singers, whilst Ian Rankin takes Rolling Stones fans on an edgy journey from Beggars Banquet to Altamont. And there is Julie Smith's oddly haunting meditation on motherhood, together with Brian Thompson's ironic story of the perennial conflict between the material world and musical idealism. More humour is provided by John L.Williams's anecdote concerning the Cardiff White Panthers.
The best, perhaps, is the title story, Walter Mosley's beautifully
written piece in which Socrates Fortlow is finally offered a place in
the society against which he so mortally offended, but instead is
reconciled with what little he had. A simple tale but in twenty pages,
a whole world unfolds. And it will be a long time before I forget Kirsty Gunn's wonderfully wrought Aja, moving and resonant, illustrating the power of music to evoke the events and feelings of another time and place.
One of the most enjoyable short story collections I've come across for
some time. Buy it.
Blue Lightning by
John Harvey