Some Desperado - Joe Abercrombie

 Some Desperado - Joe Abercrombie

If you are looking for rewarding reading, fantasy is one of the least promising genres. As a young reader, encouraged by early experience of tales of King Arthur, I was fortunate enough to discover Michael Moorcock and the weird fantasy of Robert E Howard. Their works, though, encouraged me to read more in the genre, until I eventually came to realise that Moorcock’s assessment of The Lord of the Rings as ‘Epic Pooh’ would be the kindest that could be said for most works of fantasy fiction. Even as a reader of short stories, works in the fantasy genre can rarely hold my interest long enough to encourage me to find out how they end. Some glaring piece of poorly realised detail will, almost inevitably, end my willing suspension of disbelief, and I will flip through pages to the next story. 

Generally speaking, I trust Gardner Dozois as an editor, and, so, I decided to try reading his anthology Dangerous Women, co-edited by George R R Martin, published in 2013. The first story in it, Some Desperado by Joe Abercrombie, is a satisfying work of fantasy fiction. It was nominated for the Locus award for Best Short Story. It was also chosen by Jonathan Strahan for The Best Science Fiction & Fantasy of the Year: Volume Eight.

There are flaws in Abercrombie’s story. It quickly becomes plain that he has, in fact, written a Western. The setting, action and dialogue could all easily be transplanted into a Western. Only the weapons are different. It’s a minor criticism. After all, Leone’s adaptations of Kurosawa, and, indeed, the concepts of Kurosawa’s original borrowings from Westerns, showed that there are few differences between warrior cultures. However, it was an idea that quickly formed in my reading and which stayed with me to the end. 

The weapons themselves caused some difficulties, too. Perhaps Abercrombie’s knowledge of weaponry is greater than mine. However, the co-existence of a battle axe and a basket-hilted sword in the same culture seems, to me, a failure to acknowledge the reasons for developing the different forms of weapon. As I understand technological changes in weaponry, the development of the basket hilt occurred as armour became lighter. The battle axe belongs to an earlier period, based around the need to forcefully penetrate, or mash, flesh that is more heavily armoured. Still, this is a minor criticism. Abercrombie is writing fantasy, not history. And this, in itself, is part of fantasy’s problem. For the sake of verisimilitude, invented cultures should obey consistent rules. That said, I still don’t fully understand why the fugitive protagonist is armed only with her ‘eating knife’. It provides a good plot device for the story that follows, but the explanation given in the story for her lack of equipment is, again, inconsistent.

Finally, on the subject of the protagonist, there is very little in the story to make her female, other than the consistent use of pronouns. With very few changes, it would be possible to reimagine the story with a teenaged boy as protagonist. This is both a strength and a weakness. The two characters in the cinema of science fiction most often cited for changing representations of women, Ellen Ripley and Sarah Connor, both developed as a consequence of experience. Although this is a short story, Abercrombie provides us with little convincing explanation for Shy’s life choices. She has become a fantasy Bonnie Parker, without even Bonnie’s motives for choosing an outlaw life.

Given that I have criticised the genre, the setting, the characterization and some plot devices, why am I still recommending this story? It is one of the best sustained action sequences that I have ever read in any genre. The set-up is explored through the eyes of the protagonist, albeit from a limited third person perspective. We are given her fear, her desperation, and her determination, as she searches for a way out of her potentially lethal predicament. Once the characters are placed on the board, the moves that follow are perfectly detailed. The fight is choreographed beautifully. The description is precise and realistic. The outcome is reasonably well realised. Abercrombie doesn’t maintain perfect control over his tone, but his sense of pace helps. 

Once the fight is over, we are back in uncomfortable territory. The accident with the money bag is beyond cliche. We are to believe that the stallion is fierce enough to resist handling by a stranger, and also meek enough to be roped into line behind another horse. There is enough here to convince me that I will never read a novel by Mr Abercrombie. However, as an example of good quality fight writing, Some Desperado would take some beating.