Have Burden, Will Travel
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davidkmSneyd, Steve, 2005, Ahasuerus on Mars, Atlantean publishing, 38 Pierrot Steps, 71 Kursaal Way, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS1 2UY, United Kingdom, checks to DJ Tyrer, £1, saddlestitched with cover of lightweight cover stock. Not paginated. Illustrated by Alan Hunter.
This book contains one 8-page poem. Ahasuerus is of course the wandering Jew, and in this poem he wanders pretty dang far. To his sorrow he discovers that no matter how far you go it is pretty difficult to escape your own thoughts and memories. Steve departs a little in this poem from his usual highly compressed style, although you can't read a stanza without knowing who wrote it.
The poem begins with Ahasuerus telling in the first person how he relates to his short-lived crewmates, then that he did not expect the curse would allow him to leave Earth. He speculates about the reasons, and also tells facts about his life, as if to a curious questioner. We learn that he can father children, cannot be killed (although he can suffer pain from physical injury or illness), has little in common with vampires, and so on. He goes on at great length about his millennia of suffering. This is followed by a long section in which the Wandering Jew reminds the reader of why he received his curse in the first place. Finally, the trip down memory lane ends, and the story comes back to its present on Mars.
As a story the poem is not entirely successful. I did learn or remember a number of things about the biblical story. We can all picture what life must be like for the reluctant immortal, though Steve fleshes it out more than we might have in our imagination. Mars seems like a contrived vehicle for telling the protagonist's story. He could be anywhere, and that is the problem I have with the plot. It is not a true science-fiction story because the science-fiction elements are grafted on like Frankenstein's monster's head.
As a poem this comes closer to the mark. Here are a couple of examples.
First he whines...
though in fact I have tried madness
too and that is also too self-heal
to help at all or any drug
or anything to change to shut
the tick of brainpan down
then he tries to justify himself...
did him a favour really made sure
he didn't let himself down
weakness shown before his following his fans
the silent majority of the town
artfully damning himself more with every phrase. This is where Steve almost always excels and he certainly does it here. The reading is both a challenge and a delight.
The layout in this book leaves something to be desired. The right hand pages, those that would have odd numbers if they had numbers, have no left margin at all. The words almost run right out of sight. When it was realized it was going to look like this, the publisher really should have reformatted the manuscript. However, everything is actually visible and can be read.
To summarize, the book could look better and to the plot could be more believable, but the writing is superb.
This book contains one 8-page poem. Ahasuerus is of course the wandering Jew, and in this poem he wanders pretty dang far. To his sorrow he discovers that no matter how far you go it is pretty difficult to escape your own thoughts and memories. Steve departs a little in this poem from his usual highly compressed style, although you can't read a stanza without knowing who wrote it.
The poem begins with Ahasuerus telling in the first person how he relates to his short-lived crewmates, then that he did not expect the curse would allow him to leave Earth. He speculates about the reasons, and also tells facts about his life, as if to a curious questioner. We learn that he can father children, cannot be killed (although he can suffer pain from physical injury or illness), has little in common with vampires, and so on. He goes on at great length about his millennia of suffering. This is followed by a long section in which the Wandering Jew reminds the reader of why he received his curse in the first place. Finally, the trip down memory lane ends, and the story comes back to its present on Mars.
As a story the poem is not entirely successful. I did learn or remember a number of things about the biblical story. We can all picture what life must be like for the reluctant immortal, though Steve fleshes it out more than we might have in our imagination. Mars seems like a contrived vehicle for telling the protagonist's story. He could be anywhere, and that is the problem I have with the plot. It is not a true science-fiction story because the science-fiction elements are grafted on like Frankenstein's monster's head.
As a poem this comes closer to the mark. Here are a couple of examples.
First he whines...
though in fact I have tried madness
too and that is also too self-heal
to help at all or any drug
or anything to change to shut
the tick of brainpan down
then he tries to justify himself...
did him a favour really made sure
he didn't let himself down
weakness shown before his following his fans
the silent majority of the town
artfully damning himself more with every phrase. This is where Steve almost always excels and he certainly does it here. The reading is both a challenge and a delight.
The layout in this book leaves something to be desired. The right hand pages, those that would have odd numbers if they had numbers, have no left margin at all. The words almost run right out of sight. When it was realized it was going to look like this, the publisher really should have reformatted the manuscript. However, everything is actually visible and can be read.
To summarize, the book could look better and to the plot could be more believable, but the writing is superb.
