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Back to Journal  « World AIDS Day 2005: Keep the Promise | Fiction: James Van Pelt - The ED SF Project | GAO Report on 2004 US Election » Fiction: James Van Pelt - The ED SF Project December 2, 2005 This entry is part of The ED SF Project, which seeks to honor the contributions SCI FICTION and its editor Ellen Datlow have made to the SF landscape over the past five years. (more info) 
James Van Pelt cares about people. From his generosity as a teacher--both in the classroom as an instructor, and on online fora where he frequently dispenses writing advice--to his stories concerned less with grand universe-shattering ideas than with the even grander human experience, Van Pelt's is a person-centered science fiction.His SCI FICTION story, "A Flock of Birds," is a post-apocalyptic tale which on the surface seems focused on the materialistic survival of the characters. How does one find food and shelter after civilization collapses? How does one treat or even properly diagnose illness without trained medical professionals among the survivors? All in all, it's a good, well-told yarn. But the more intricate story--the story Van Pelt is really telling here--is concerned with just-as-necessary, more personal survival needs. Companionship. Hope. Hobbies (Are they important tools to prevent mental stagnation or irresponsible escapist luxuries?). Community support systems after community itself has all but failed. I first read Van Pelt's debut story collection Strangers and Beggars a few years back. I remember most how he he set loose in those stories outlandish metaphoric creatures or situations into familiar settings like the classroom or the office. But always I could believe the people in his stories were real, with real reactions and frustrations in response to crises, and with real determination to endure as both physical and emotional beings. Which in the end makes for inspiring literature, and about everything you can ask for in science fiction story. Filed under Journal, Peers & Peerless, Prose and Poetry  
Comments: Discuss this entry at LiveJournalNow also available on the project website: Posted by: alex at December 7, 2005 8:45 AM 
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Alex Wilson writes fiction and comics in Carrboro, NC. His work has appeared/will appear in Asimov's Science Fiction, The Rambler, LCRW, Weird Tales, The Florida Review, Futurismic, ChiZine, Pif, and Dragon. Locus Magazine has called him a "promising new writer," and Publishers Weekly also has nice things to say. Alex runs the audiobook project/podcast Telltale Weekly and the writer wiki Guidevines. He publishes the minicomic/zine Inconsequential Art. He is a 2006 Clarion graduate.  
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