Ancestors

Toot

Written by Clarkesworld on 2024-12-13 at 14:30

Continued recs for time travelers. For those of you packing for 2010, we suggest "The Things" by Peter Watts ~6800 words.

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/watts_01_10/

This has the distinction of being our most widely-read story (1 mil+). You can find more of Peter's work at https://www.rifters.com/real/shorts.htm

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Descendants

Written by Jay on 2024-12-13 at 15:26

@clarkesworld I remember reading this and liking it…up until the last sentence: “I will have to rape it into them.”

It destroyed the enjoyment by being utterly unnecessary, contrary to the rest of the story, and it made it almost too human by treating sexual assault as deliberately cruel violence and as a punchline.

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Written by Nudeln Al Dente on 2024-12-13 at 18:33

@WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld I read that as a lack of understanding by The Thing. Penetration/merging was a form of communication for it with no violence component before it encountered humans & while it had started to learn about individual-on-individual violence, it hadn't yet internalised its meaning. As for sexual violence, it didn't need sex so how could it understand twisting it into violence for power.

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Written by Nudeln Al Dente on 2024-12-13 at 18:34

@WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld A more accurate sentence probably would be "I will forcibly educate them" but it had encountered the word "rape" without fully understanding it beyond the basic physical mechanics of the act & had used it as shorthand.

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Written by Jay on 2024-12-13 at 18:38

@NudelnAlDente @clarkesworld I don’t buy this excuse.

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Written by SnoopJ on 2024-12-13 at 18:36

@NudelnAlDente @WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld it's both. Watts has written similarly uncomfortable-but-apt material into his Rifters books.

I try to include a CW whenever I share/recommend the story, because I can understand why it would sour folks on it.

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Written by Nudeln Al Dente on 2024-12-13 at 22:54

@SnoopJ @WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld Yeah, it's definitely worthy of a content warning, but an excellent story nonetheless.

Dare I say, I like it better than the film & that is probably my favourite horror film.

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Written by Jay on 2024-12-13 at 18:37

@NudelnAlDente @clarkesworld The author understands what it means. He chose to use that phrasing instead of words that relate to changing, not specifically sexual violence.

If the creature does not understand the concept of rape, why would it use that concept?

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Written by Nudeln Al Dente on 2024-12-13 at 22:59

@WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld It encountered it as a partial concept in the mind of one of the men (I forget which) but it doesn't get fully developed. As far as I can gather, it understands the mechanics of the act but not the impact on the victim. And it never encounters women, so it's much less likely to understand the perspective of a victim of a mainly gendered crime.

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Written by Nudeln Al Dente on 2024-12-13 at 23:01

@WhiteCatTamer @clarkesworld As for Watts choosing the phrasing intentionally, yep, that's what writers do. Word & phrase choice is a big part of conveying the message (both informational & emotional) that the author wants to impart to the reader.

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