An Agent of Utopia

by Andy Duncan

“Andy Duncan is one of the very best short story writers in Science Fiction, Fantasy, or anywhere else. It’s a sure bet that you’re holding in your hand the best story collection of the year.” ―Jeffrey Ford, author of A Natural History of Hell

“Duncan’s unique voice shines through in his third collection. You’ve not read him yet? Shame on you! Go out now and buy An Agent of Utopia. You’ll thank me.” ―Ellen Datlow, award- winning editor

“Andy Duncan is one of the most hilarious and poignant writers of short stories that we have. He effortlessly forges dreamlike and nightmarish tales with wit and wisdom that rivals Mark Twain.” ―Christopher Barzak, author of Wonders of the Invisible World

In these tales you will meet a Utopian assassin, an aging UFO contactee, a haunted Mohawk steelworker, a time- traveling prizefighter, a yam- eating Zombie, and a child who loves a frizzled chicken―not to mention Harry Houdini, Zora Neale Hurston, Sir Thomas More, and all their fellow travelers riding the steamer- trunk imagination of a unique twenty-first- century fabulist.

Genres: Fantasy, Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Anthologies, Collections, Speculative Fiction

280 pages, Paperback

First published November 6, 2018

About the author

Andy Duncan is the award-winning author of two novellas—The Night Cache (2009) and Wakulla Springs (with Ellen Klages, 2013, 2018)—and three short fiction collections: Beluthahatchie and Other Stories (2000), The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories (2012) and An Agent of Utopia: New and Selected Stories (2018). He is also the author of non-fiction book Alabama Curiosities (2005, 2009), and co-editor (with F. Brett Cox) of Crossroads: Tales of the Southern Literary Fantastic (2004). He has won the 2002 Theodore Sturgeon Award for "The Chief Designer", the 2012 Nebula Award for "Close Encounters", and three World Fantasy Awards. Born in Batesburg, South Carolina, Duncan currently lives with his wife Sydney in Frostburg, Maryland, where he he has taught English as an Assistant Professor at Frostburg State University since 2008.

Reviews

[Peter Tillman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's as far as I got before the book came due:
• An Agent of Utopia • novelette. Finalist for the 2018 Nebula and 2019 Locus awards. Historical fantasy: what if an emissary from Utopia had visited Sir Thomas More as he awaited execution in the Tower of London? Eh. Bounced on first try.
• Joe Diabo's Farewell • novelette. Eddie Two Rivers DeLisle is a Mohawk steelworker, building a skyscraper in NYC in 1926. The riveter on his crew falls to his death. Eddie goes to the movies that night. A slice-of-life story, and a nice one. 3.5 stars
• Beluthahatchie • (1997) • short story. Finalist for Hugo award. John the juke-joint musician gets on that hell-bound train, but goes one stop further, to Beluthahatchie. Can he outwit the devil? 3.5 stars.
• The Pottawatomie Giant • (2000) • novelette. Won the World Fantasy award. A Heavyweight Champion (The Great White Hope) meets Houdini. Eh, just OK, 2.5 stars.

TOC and story histories: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?6...
Here's the go-to, story-by-story review: http://templetongate.net/agent-of-utopia
This review lists the previously-collected stories: all but three stories were reprinted in Duncan's first two collections. The first two collections were
• Beluthahatchie and Other Stories. TOC: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?3991
• The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories. TOC: http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/pl.cgi?3...

Library copy came due before I finished it. I may get back to it, but I'm lukewarm about the remaining stories. We'll see.

[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this thru LibraryThing's ER program for an honest review. Honestly, this collection of sci-fi and near sci-fi stories, was a bit of a miss for me. I ended up putting it down about 3/4 of the way thru. Perhaps it was just the mood I was in at the time. There were a couple stories that were exceptional that made the read worthwhile, perhaps I'll go back eventually and pick up the rest. My favorites were; "An Agent of Utopia" - a assassin from Utopia, "The Map to the Homes of the Stars" - life in a small town and the map to the stars in the mind of two young boys, and "Senator Bilbo" - a delightful imaging of Bilbo Baggins as a Senator in the Legislature of the Shire.

[Bill · Rating 5 out of 5]

An entertaining collection of short stories of science fiction and magical realism. The standouts for me were “Real Indians,” a story about Native American construction workers in the 1920s; “Slow As A Bullet,” a story written as a folk tale, about a man who bets that he can outrun a bullet; and “Close Encounters,” about a man coming to terms with an alien encounter decades before.

[Riju Ganguly · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book began with a bang. "An Agent of Utopia" is an excellent fantasy that's razor-sharp and equally smooth.
Next one (Joe Diabo's Farewell) shows a downward trend.
Then it went downhill, with words and snarks without a shred of charm. Undoubtedly they were well-written. But I failed to understand what exactly they had wanted to achieve.
Trouble is, apart from the first one, almost all these stories are rooted in American South. So deep is their contextualisation that for lesser mortal (un-American?) like me they were merely joyless piles of words.
'Nuff said.

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bestest of things, ever. My two favorites were the two previously unpublished, "Agent of Utopia" and "Joe Diablo's Farewell."

"Agent" is powerful and clever and really makes you feel you're stuck in the filth of early modern London. A true delight to see Andy turn his penchant for dialect on the Shakesperean Insult!

"Joe Diablo's Farewell" was just... wow. Heartbreaking and beautiful. It hit all my buttons hard and will stick with me for a while.

So, if you love historical fiction, the delightful ways we shape language regionally, and that shiver of the supernatural or other-worldly... you would do yourself a favor by picking up this collection.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I picked this up because the title story, "Agent of Utopia,"is nominated for multiple SFF awards. The stories in this collection were really a mixed bag for me; I really liked some and wasn't all that fond of others. I actually feel like the collection would be best read spaced out over a long time, reading one story every few days. Part of this is because Duncan has a tendency to fall back on a couple common themes in this collection, such as centering the story on real-life historic and literary characters (i.e. Thomas More, Zora Neale Hurston, Bilbo Baggins, etc). I feel like reading each story separately, rather than back-to-back, would have allowed me to appreciate each on its own merits rather than dwelling on the common theme. Many of the stories are told in various dialects, and while Duncan does a fabulous job rendering the idiosyncrasies of regional spoken word into the written word, it was a bit much to read all at once. In most stories, the SFF elements are subtle, and I'm inclined to categorize many of them as magical realism of a certain sense. I did really like how Duncan weaves in Southern history and culture with SFF, a combination I don't see super often.

[Steve LaForest · Rating 1 out of 5]

Truly bad bad bad! That is to say - utterly terrible. I suppose it is supposed to be funny - but I am not laughing. Do not waste your precious reading time here!

My rating system:
Since Goodreads only allows 1 to 5 stars (no half-stars), you have no option but to be ruthless. I reserve one star for a book that is a BOMB - or poor (equivalent to a letter grade of F, E, or at most D). Progressing upwards, 2 stars is equivalent to C (C -, C or C+), 3 stars (equals to B - or B), 4 stars (equals B+ or A -), and 5 stars (equals A or A+). As a result, I maximize my rating space for good books, and don't waste half or more of that rating space on books that are of marginal quality.

This story, then, is a BOMB!

[Christopher Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book makes me wish I were more familiar with his writings, but it seems likely to me that much of his best work is collected here. Crackerjack storytelling, just very satisfying reading, and nothing here that you could say was a lesser story. The voice is assured, rich with southern flavors, cagey about revealing details. You’ll feel, as I did, like the author is always a step or two ahead of us. I’m grateful to him for having taken such care in the writing, and grateful to Small Beer Press for having put out such a killer-diller collection.

[Simon Mcleish · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mixed bag of fantasy stories. My favourite was the title story, which I had already read in a best of collection. Many of the others were set in a sort of generalised Americana background, often touching on issues of race and class, usually with some humour. It reminded me of the fantastic Little, Big, but I found it alienating (as a non-American) rather than charming.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review is specific to An Agent of Utopia, which is all I have read so far. And as these stories go it's a good one--the best thing about it is the period setting, particularly his florid descriptions of the filth of the Thames in Shakespearian London. The story centers around Thomas More and his execution, imagining Utopia as a real place with an active presence in London. Good if you like Andy Duncan already.

[Christen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like most short story collections, some were better than others. My personal favorites were Map to the Homes of the Stars and Close Encounters. Very good ones were Senator Bilbo and Slow as a Bullet and maybe Beluthahatchie. It took me a while to get through it. I think it's because I kept losing interest in the stories. Not a bad collection, overall.

[Trish Graboske · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Andy Duncan's stories, so I was really looking forward to this collection. Sadly, seven of the stories can be found in The Pottawatomie Giant and Other Stories, and two of them can be found in Beluthahatchie and Other Stories. Only three stories in An Agent of Utopia weren't in the two books I already had. They are all great stories, but the book was a disappointment in my case.

[Maggie Mattmiller · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't want to be unfair, because I know I don't like short stories, but typically in a collection I will at least enjoy one or two despite that. Not so with this one. I only pushed through this one because it was for Book Club.

[Patrick DiJusto]

This book is listed as an anthology of science fiction, but it's not. These short stories are fantasy. Normally, I dislike fantasy, but these stories swept me away. They're almost like poetry.

If you think you don't like fantasy, give these stories a try. You might surprise yourself.

[Misha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, mixed bag of course. Not bad stories, but not quite to my likeling.

[Dave White · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wasn't for me.
I was disappointed.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The first story is pretty good. I'd rate the rest from very good to just ok. Some of them seem to just end and you're left wondering "What the...?" Although perhaps that was the author's intent.

[Patrick H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read though some of the endings fell a little short. Enjoyed the folksy southern stories most.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Totally sucked me in to each story. I think the one from Depression New York was my favorite, but they were all outstanding.

[Jon · Rating 4 out of 5]

"What a thing to tell people. Am I ashamed? Yeah, probably. But am I sorry? No, I am not sorry. There's a difference."

[Unoclay · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent short stories, imaginative and creative across a stretch of different styles and themes.

[Marissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF

[Nigel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great stories. Authors reading their own work is onteresting, not professional, but hey, you'd go hear them read at a shop or a festival right, so why not. Really great stories.

[Douglas Beagley · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read only the title story. It had wonderful, brilliant moments—but the actual resolution seemed drawn from a bag.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed this collection of stories very much. Andy Duncan knows how to put a story together. As I was writing up this review and adding links, my admiration grew and grew at how Mr. Duncan could take a grain of truth and wrap a pearl of a story around it.

CW: a number of these stories deal with racism and abuse. There's possibly more use of the n- word than we really need. But the author's voice is very Southern. If you can take a deep breath and read past the offensive word(s), the stories are worth it.

His stories here often read like tall tales, folk tales, or myths of some kind. I also particularly enjoyed the way he mixes characters from real life into his fiction. In "An Agent of Utopia" the main character is from - surprise! - an actual country called Utopia. He has an encounter with Sir Thomas More (real-life author of a book called Utopia) and More's daughter. The encounter is... strange.

"Joe Diabo's Farewell" builds a story from Native American skyscraper steel workers and early 20th century Indian shows into a story about identity, life, and death.

In "Beluthahatchie" a blues musician meets (and maybe beats) the devil.

"The Map to the Homes of the Stars". I don't know exactly how to characterize this. Maybe a coming of age story?

Jess Willard, aka "The Pottawatomie Giant" encounters Houdini and has a dispute with him. Or maybe not. I liked this one. (I liked them all, but we always have favorites, amirite?)

"Senator Bilbo" takes
an interesting name coincidence and muses on racism and nationalism via orcs.

"The Big Rock Candy Mountain" builds from the
folk song of the same name. It's a little about being satisfied with what's in front of you vs. looking for something new. This one felt like a tall tale to me. I like tall tales a lot.

"Daddy Mention and the Monday Skull": another tall tale/folk tale, this one involving jails and black prisoners, and escapes. Nice. I'd thought, while reading this, that it was just a story. But it turns out that there WAS a Daddy Mention, who may or may not have been a real person.

In "Zora and the Zombie", Zora Neal Hurston researches zombies in Haiti (which really happened: see Tell My Horse: Voodoo and Life in Haiti and Jamaica. I just don't know if she actually met Erzulie or a zombie there. Maybe she did.

In "Unique Chicken Goes in Reverse", a priest meets a girl named Mary who has a talented chicken. The story has a nice zinger at the end too. And holy cow, here's the newsreel referred to in the story!

"Slow as a Bullet" reads like another tall tale. Cliffert Corbett wagers he can outrun a bullet.

"Close Encounters" is about UFOs and alien contactees. As far as I can tell, all the contactees and UFO researchers mentioned in the story were real, including the narrator. It's a great story to end the collection.

[JimmiD · Rating 1 out of 5]

What my ratings mean:
5 – I felt this book was an exemplar in its genre/field. That does not mean I agree with everything it says (or the moral of the story). It is likely to be a book that will change my thinking about a topic.
4 – A very impressive book for its genre/field. It probably didn’t change me or my thinking though.
3 – An enjoyable way to spend the time reading it.
2 – There was something wrong about the way this was written.
1 – Life’s too short and/or I’m not smart enough to get the point of this book.

[Anne Worth · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's the language of these stories that lingers in the mind. I came away from each one feeling like a good friend had told it to me out loud. Several stories inspired me to look up a fact or two, since they're based on actual odd little incidents in the past. I bet Duncan is a fantastic person to have dinner with, given his interest in history.