Ramses was in Galveston when she first heard about The Myth.
This is an example of what is known—among other terms—as a teaser. It teases the reader with information that is completely meaningless because it is the first line, but which entices with possibilities. Ramses, for instance. What does one think of when they heard that name? Well, depending upon your level of education, either an Egyptian pharaoh or a condom. Galveston situates setting which is good because you need some sort of information you can latch onto. The biggie here, though, if “The Myth.” That is literary equivalent of a great opening riff to a song you’ve never heard before. Years later, of course, you’ll recognize that riff immediately and probably know most of the lyrics. But that first time is just the purpose of catching you or, as the musicians says, “hooking” you.
The 21st century had been rough for Cuba. The futureshock when the embargo fell was intense, and American developers sensed tender prey. The first free elections were easily bought. It was starting to look like the mob years all over again.
“Sunshine State” is a story appearing in an anthology featuring the words “Climate Fiction” in its title. It is not merely fiction about climate change, however, but futuristic fiction about the effects of climate change. Some might term it absolute science fiction, no different than The Jetsons. Those people are the exact demographic that should most read the stories in the anthology while also being the demographic least likely to do so. “Sunshine State” imagines a Florida far into the future in a world suffering the effects of climate change. Quotes like the one above often assume that the reader will simply understand this. It does not necessarily need to go into detail about what embargo or free elections or what “mob years” means. That is to say, that this type of fiction in general operates that way. Things can be asserted without exposition. Of course, that doesn’t mean exposition isn’t include on other occasions.
We’ve lost a monument, Ramses thought, but found a movement.
A famous movie mogul from the Golden Age of Hollywood once advised a screenwriter that if wanted to send a message he should use Western Union. You don’t need to know that this mean sending a telegram or even known what a telegram was in order to get the meaning: fiction is for entertainment, not politics. This need not be so, of course, but what the mogul was really getting at is you are going to send a message in your fiction, avoid overtly excruciating engagement with the art form. And by excruciating would be meant such statements as the above, which tramples over the borderline of trying to be profound into the abyss of being trite.
