Review
Dying Stars, Sentient Rivers, and Little Blue Men
Review: The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories by Charles Payseur
Payseur explores the depth of the human experience, steering toward the complex themes of grieving, letting go, and finding a new purpose.
In his new collection of short stories, Charles Payseur boldly goes where no man has gone before. Wait. Scratch that. Boldly goes where no sentient non-binary being has gone before.
Charles Payseur is probably best known for his popular review blog, Quick Sip Reviews, which highlights short fiction from pro-paying magazines and landed him four consecutive Hugo award nominations. He is also an editor, working on We’re Here: The Best Queer Speculative Fiction (Neon Hemlock Press). His debut short story collection contains twenty-two previously published stories and three new stories.
If you grew up on Star Trek and like queer speculative fiction, you’ll love The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories. As with most collections, I think this one starts strong, sags a little in the middle, and ends strong. That being said, I didn’t dislike any of the stories, but several definitely stood out above the rest.
On the cusp of a planned planetary extinction, a dangerous race ensues in the opening story, Rubbing is Racing. Spaceship captains compete for glory and street cred, and something far more valuable than the greatest trophy in the galaxy. I thought I was in for a story about interstellar drag racing, but I came out the other side conscious of desperate struggles and ferocious hope.
Get Bri Downing’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
Payseur’s voice is strong, and his prose is beautiful and provocative. Writing from unique points of view — from that of a dying star to a sentient river, a superhero to a familiar, yet far more thoughtful, cartoon character — the author takes readers on a journey through time and space, across worlds and species, through folklore and fairy tales — yet each piece still hits close to home thanks to bold themes thoroughly grounded in the human experience.
Any reader who has ever felt marginalized or scared to be who they really are will see themselves in this collection, represented in characters like Caleb in Little Blue Men or Wil in Just Toonin’. A gay man estranged from his father, Caleb must handle the old man’s final affairs upon his death, as well as the familiar pressures to live up to old expectations, while Wil, that familiar cartoon character I mentioned earlier, chases after a dream until he finally decides to rewrite his own story.
Payseur explores the depth of the human experience, steering toward the complex themes of grieving, letting go, and finding a new purpose in Humans Die, Stars Fade, where the main character is a sentient star. Another story, Shoots and Ladders, follows a woman forever tempted by the greener grass in the next universe.
And if we’re all being honest, here, who wouldn’t be tempted to jump into a new life?
Payseur asks those big questions that any speculative fiction reader would expect: What if there are an infinite number of universes? What if human-spaceship hybrids could turn the tides of an endless war? What if climate change is irreversible?
What if two immortal legends were sleeping together?
Speaking of sex scenes: if you’re into that sort of thing, good. You’re going to get a lot of it. A little shy? Well, buckle up. You’re going to get a lot of it. While a short sex scene doesn’t detract from the story, it sometimes feels more like an afterthought to identify the character as having a sexual identity rather than a device to further the plot or reveal character traits.
But there are stories where a character might not have a reason to look forward to the future without the lure of romance, such as Snow Devils, where teenage Aspen survives an endless winter alone until an intriguing stranger appears in town. A stranger with a “mouth like summer.”
Though the writing was top-notch, a few stories fizzled for me, but for the most part, I found myself flying through the pages, always hungry for more. And while I don’t usually gravitate toward short story collections, this one earns a prominent place on my shelf!
Look forward to The Burning Day and Other Strange Stories this summer from Lethe Press Books.
