Dzhek Makdevitt - Cryptic: The Best Short Fiction of Jack McDevitt

Subterranean Press 2009

Cryptic: The Best Short Fictionof Jack McDevitt 2009 by Cryptic, Inc.

All rights reserved.

Jack McDevitt, This Ones for You 2009 by Robert J. Sawyer.

All rights reserved.

Dust jacket Copyright 2009 by Lee Moyer.

All rights reserved.

Interior design Copyright 2009 by Desert Isle Design, LLC.

All rights reserved.

ISBN

9781-1-59606-322-8

Subterranean Press

PO Box 190106

Burton, MI 48519

www.subterraneanpress.com

Dedication

Introduction by Robert Sawyer

Foreword

Part I: Unlikely Connections

Cryptic

The Fort Moxie Branch

Nothing Ever Happens in Rock City

Tweak

Melville on Iapetus

Lighthouse (w/Mike Shara)

Cool Neighbor (w/Mike Shara)

Whistle

In the Tower

Part II: Lost Treasures

Ignition

Indomitable

Last Contact

Never Despair

Windows

Dutchman

The Tomb

Promises To Keep

To Hell With the Stars

The Mission

Part III: Out There

Report from the Rear

Black To Move

The Far Shore

Sunrise

Kaminsky at War

Part IV: Touching the Infinite

Fifth Day

Deus Tex

Gus

Welcome to Valhalla (w/Kathryn Lance)

Tyger

Auld Lang Boom

Part V: Inventions and Fallout

Cruising Through Deuteronomy

The Candidate

Act of God

Ellie

Times Arrow

Dead in the Water

Henry James, This Ones for You

Time Travellers Never Die

Story Credits

For Scott Ryfun,

the Voice of the Golden Isles

by Robert J. Sawyer

I remember when I first encountered Jack McDevitts writings. A full twenty years ago, back in 1988, Bantam Books sent every member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America a copy of their new anthology Full Spectrumfirst in what became a distinguished seriesin hopes of garnering Nebula Awards attention for the stories in the book. I read them all, but only a few have stuck with over the years, and foremost among those is Jacks The Fort Moxie Branch (which did indeed get nominated for the Nebula, as well as the Hugo).

Here, it was clear to me, was an author who loved writing, and who cherished the art of fiction. His Fort Moxie branch library contained very special booksbooks unknown to the world, books abandoned by their authors or forgotten by history, books such as Hemingways Watch by Night, Melvilles Agatha, and The Complete Works of James McCorbin, whoever the heck he might be (but canny readers will see significance in his initials).

I was reminded of that book-loving Jack McDevitt a short time ago when I read his much more recent Henry James, This Ones For You, also a Nebula finalist. That story is in part about how we choose which works will be remembered and which forgotten.

Theres a wistful quality to Jacks ruminations on ones literary legacy, and yet his own seems safe, as Ill explain in a momenteven though, in a field full of teenage wunderkinds, Jack didnt come to writing until his mid-forties.

Jack McDevitt was born in Philadelphia in 1935, and now lives in Brunswick, Georgia, with his wonderful wife Maureen. My (often faulty) math skills tell me that Jack must be in his early seventiesbut he could pass for twenty years younger. Recently, he kindly blurbed my own latest novel, Rollback, about rejuvenation. I wonder

Jack had a full life before coming to science fiction. Hed been a Navy officer, an English teacher, a Philadelphia taxi driver, a customs officer, and a motivational trainer. It wasnt until 1980 that Maureen suggested he try his hand at writing SF. The result is one of the most important bodies of work in the SF field in the last quarter-century.

Jacks first publication was just a year latera remarkably short apprenticeship in this fieldwith The Emerson Effect in the late, lamented Twilight Zone magazine. And it didnt take long for the award nominations to start coming in.

His first of fourteen Nebula nominations came in 1983 for Cryptic, the title story of the wonderful collection youre now holding in your hands. His first award win was in 1986 for the remarkable SETI novel The Hercules Text, which took the Locus Award for Best First Novel, and also received a special citation for the Philip K. Dick Award. The Hercules Text was one of Terry Carrs new Ace Specials, published as part of the line that launched the careers of Kim Stanley Robinson, Michael Swanwick, Lucius Shepard, and William Gibson.

In 1992, Jack won the worlds largest cash prize for SF writing, the $10,000 Premio UPC de Ciencia Ficcin, for his novella Ships in the Night, and in 1997 his novella Time Travelers Never Die won the Homer Award, voted on by the members of CompuServes Science Fiction and Fantasy Forums (and it was also nominated for the Hugo and the Nebula).

In 2002, his novel DeepSix took the Southeastern SF Achievement Awardand then, at last, the biggies started rolling in. In 2004, Jacks Omega won the John W. Campbell Memorial Award (the SF fields principal juried award), and in 2006, he received the Life Achievement Southeastern SF Achievement Award. And then, at last, on his thirteenth nominationthe most of any author without a winJacks Seeker took the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Americas Nebula Award, the academy award of the SF field, for Best Novel of 2006 (and his Odyssey was nominated for the same award the following year).

All the nominations and wins are enough to ensure Jacks legacy, but it doesnt address the question of why McDevitt books have proved so popular. And, make no mistake, they are popular: without anyone really noticing, Jack has become one of the top-selling authors in the science-fiction field; Ginjer Buchanan, who edits his novels for Ace, tells me hes now within spitting distance of the New York Times bestsellers list, an extraordinarily rare achievement for books that arent media tie-insand Ginjer is determined to put him on the list soon.

Once you read the 200,000 words collected here, the reasons for Jacks popularity will be obvious. In a field that often contains clunky prose, Jacks writing is exemplary: not just smooth and clean, but charming. In a field that often gives short shrift to the human in its pursuit of the grandly cosmic, Jacks writing is warm and intimate; it appeals as much to the heart as to the head.

Its that charm, that warmth, that sticks with youand, if you are ever lucky enough to meet the man in person, youll see that he shares those traits. Jack is, above all else, a nice guy. Hes friendly, welcoming, supportive, kind, and wise. Theres no one in the SF field I more look forward to seeing at conventions.