Tuesday, August 16, 2022

Short Story Wednesday: "Fire Watch" by Connie Willis


My short story for this week is the title story from Fire Watch by Connie Willis. 

I have read (and reviewed) all of the four novels in the Oxford Time Travel series: Doomsday Book (1992), To Say Nothing of the Dog (1995), Blackout (2010), and All Clear (2010). Those books are set sometime around 2050, when time travel is possible and used by academics to study the past. "Fire Watch" is a novelette that preceded those books; it is set in the same time and its main character, Bartholomew, is a historian sent back to London in 1940, during the Blitz.   

Bartholomew has been training for years to go back to the time of St. Paul, the apostle, and due to some confusion, is assigned instead to go to St. Paul's Cathedral during the Blitz. He will volunteer for fire watching on the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral. The trip will be considered his practicum, and he has two days to learn about London during the Blitz before he leaves. That is not enough time to prepare so he supplements his research by using memory-assistance drugs to put information into his long-term memory, for access when needed. He is extremely unhappy about the change in plans and doesn't even get a clear understanding of his goal for this "mission."


The story is written in diary format with an entry for many of the days in the three month period that he is in London in 1940. This works well because the reader is as much in the dark as Bartholomew. A minor drawback is that the time travel mechanism is not described at all, although the story makes it clear that Bartholomew travels back in time and that he is a part of a group that does this regularly. That did not bother me but might be a problem for readers not familiar with the series.

I enjoyed reading this story tremendously. I like reading about the Blitz and I think the depiction of that time and how it affected people was very well done. This story made me want to go back and reread all the books in the series, even though each book is at least 500 pages long.

"Fire Watch" was first published in Asimov’s Science Fiction (Feb 1982), and was later reprinted in this collection in 1985 and in many anthologies. It won the 1982 Nebula and the 1983 Hugo Award for Best Novelette. It is available to read online here


16 comments:

Cath said...

I'm not at all a time travel fan in books but I did enjoy To Say Nothing of the Dog. I thought it was well written and great fun. I get the feeling though that other books in the series are a bit more on the serious side. Have I got that right?

Margot Kinberg said...

That sound like a really effective approach to telling a story, Tracy. And although I don't usually go for time travel stories, they can be interesting ways to explore different periods in history. I'm glad you thought it worked well here.

pattinase (abbott) said...

If you haven't read LIFE AFTER LIFE by Kate Atkinson, I think you might enjoy it.

Todd Mason said...

I've read some of Willis, but not yet anything of this series...oddly enough, since, as you note, it's been some of her most rewarded work, and its among her most popular. Should rectify that!

Lark said...

The only thing I've read by Willis is Blackout. But I really liked it. :)

TracyK said...

Cath, You are right, the other three books are more serious. The first book is about the plague and then also an epidemic of a serious disease back in the "present" day, but both story lines were very good. Set around Christmas, at least at the start. Blackout and All Clear are connected, really intended to be one long story, a total of 1150 pages. I loved them, have great memories of reading them, especially the parts in London. But they do get confusing.

TracyK said...

I have always liked stories using diary format, Margot, but it really worked well here, to keep the reader aware of how much time had passed. The going back to a specific historical event was really good too. And I learned more about that time, as usual.

TracyK said...

Patti, I have read LIFE AFTER LIFE by Atkinson, and I did like it a lot. I kept my copy to read again someday. I have the follow up to that book, A GOD IN RUINS, but haven't read it yet.

TracyK said...

Todd, I think you should try at least one of those books. First of all because based on what I know of your reading, I think you would like them or at least appreciate parts of them. But also because I would like to hear your opinions on them. I sort of let books flow over me, but you notice more of the details and have more background in that area.

TracyK said...

Lark, I have only read the time travel series by Willis, plus two or three short stories. My husband said I should try Lincoln's Dreams, which he has a copy of, and I have seen some novellas of hers that I would like to try.

George said...

I've read several of Connie Willis's books, both novels and short stories. All excellent!

TracyK said...

George, including this book, I have a total of three of her short story collections, and I look forward to reading more of her short stories.

Kathy's Corner said...

I tend to stay away from science fiction because I have the sense that many of the novels deal with hard science and I was never good in that subject. But time travelling I do enjoy and what an interesting idea to have the character want to go back to the age of St Paul but wind up instead in St Paul's Cathedral in 1940's London. Also stories told in diary form are favorite of mine.

TracyK said...

Cathy, I was good with sciences in school but when I do read science fiction, I don't pay that much attention to the science and just enjoy the story.

But, as you say, time travel is different and sometimes it is more fantasy than science, and I never care if it makes sense. I know that St. Paul's Cathedral shows up in either Blackout or All Clear and maybe both, and I liked that a lot.

CLM said...

Willis is very talented! I also like this setting so might have to get over my dislike of short stories.

If you ever come across it, Time to go Back by Mabel Esther Allan is my favorite WWII time travel novel.

TracyK said...

I agree with you about Willis's talent, Constance. If it helps any, this short story is 43 pages long (small print) so about 2-3 times as long as most short stories.

I did look into Time to Go Back by Allan and it does sound good, but very very hard to find at a reasonable price. I will keep checking for it online or at book sales, you never know what will show up.