What, Again Dangerous Visions: Still-Life
Joseph Nebus
K M O'Donnell
K M O'Donnell is, Ellison goes at length to point out, a
pseudonym for Barry N Malzberg. Left unclear to me is exactly why
Malzberg wanted a pseudonym, and if he wanted one for whatever reason,
why it wasn't kept secret. Perhaps he was trying to keep his brand as
an author from getting mixed up too easily, or perhaps he just wanted to
confuse the database at isfdb.org.
The story is a rather dated one, set as it is in some
unspecified Apollo lunar landing mission. The astronauts, and the
surrounding people, aren't named, a technique which ordinarily drives me
to distraction and here ... isn't so annoying, although as always it
makes me feel more distant from the characters. Since the characters
are roughly inspired by Apollo 11's astronauts, the most garrulous and
approachable trio of humans ever recorded, this leaves me feeling more
disconnected from the main character than even the anonymity provided.
I'm confident that was Malzberg's objective; it's just a storytelling
technique I personally dislike.
Overall there's a series of scenes in the training for and
launch of the mission, including many paragraphs spreading more than a
page long --- another of those things I understand as an artistic choice
but which I dislike --- mostly emphasizing how very much the astronaut
is being scrutinized and watched and studied and pressed into the roles
expected of him to play out.
Ultimately under the pressure of ... pressure, I suppose, the
astronaut --- the Command Module pilot --- decides to head back home
while the Commander and Lunar Module pilot are on the Moon's surface,
pretty efficiently killing them in order to stand up for his basic
humanity as someone who can't be programmed. The Command Module pilot
goes on to a little coda having a dream-conversation with his author.
I like the technical detail; I feel confident that Malzberg
studied how astronauts really trained for the Moon and did his best to
accurately reflect that. But the story is of a remote character who,
after a lot of hard work involving often unpleasant but necessary
duties, murders two people in the most hugely visible manner possible
and proclaims that it's everybody else who's the bastards. This is not
a person I feel sympathy for, and the result is an unpleasant tale of a
deranged person. He's not even an antihero, really, just a guy who
makes life worse for those around him. So it ends up being crafted well
but why craft *this*?
DANGER LEVEL: It's one of those stories lacking someone
to root for.
VISION LEVEL: I think Malzberg figured he was getting at
a deeper point than the text allows to stand out.
NEXT: ``Stoned Counsel'', H H Hollis.
NEAR: ``Monitored Dreams & Strategic Cremations'', Bernard Wolfe.
--
Joseph Nebus
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rich Horton
> K M O'Donnell is, Ellison goes at length to point out, a
>pseudonym for Barry N Malzberg. Left unclear to me is exactly why
>Malzberg wanted a pseudonym, and if he wanted one for whatever reason,
>why it wasn't kept secret. Perhaps he was trying to keep his brand as
>an author from getting mixed up too easily, or perhaps he just wanted to
>confuse the database at isfdb.org.
I'm not sure why Barry wanted the pseud at first -- I suspect for the
common reason that he was too prolific. So I think it was fairly open
from the first (1967 or so). By 1972, as I understand, he was almost
finished with using "K. M. O'Donnell". (His last books under that
name appeared in 1971, though I see at the ISFDB a short story as late
as 1975.)
I wouldn't be surprised if Ellison preferred the "K. M. O'Donnell"
name -- Malzberg's most praised early story, "Final War", appeared
under that name -- and so asked for an O'Donnell story.
I believe we've covered the source of the O'Donnell name before --
it's a tribute to Kuttner, Moore, and one of their best known
pseudonyms, Lawrence O'Donnell.