1.25.2012

The Ultimate Anthology: "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss"

Kij Johnson's award-winning tale "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" is one of the more heart-warming pieces I've encountered in recent years. The story has so much to recommend it: Johnson's rhythmic, succinct prose style; its beautiful treatment of the nature of companionship and personal healing; that final element of paying a life-saving favor forward.

I offered my students extra credit for writing on this story years ago in a literature class at the college. To this day, no story that I've taught has created such an emotional and positive response.

To date:

"26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" ~ Kij Johnson

"Mrs. Todd's Shortcut" ~ Stephen King

"Voluntary Committal" ~ Joe Hill

"The Pear Shaped Man" ~ George R.R. Martin

"The Small Assassin" ~ Ray Bradbury

"Professor Gottesman and the Indian Rhinoceros" ~ Peter S. Beagle

2 comments:

Aaron Polson said...

Wow. Just wow.

I'd never read "26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss" before. Great one.

Daniel Powell said...

Yeah, she's a really fine writer, and that's a story I look at often. It would be neat to get the rights to all these works and pull them together!

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