Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy discussion

This is our discussion of the short story....

"Only Ten More Shopping Days Left Till Ragnarök" by James Morrow

From the anthology Drowned Worlds edited by Jonathan Strahan. See the Drowned Worlds anthology discussion hub for more info on the anthology and pointers to discussion of its other stories.

Bizarre.Ridiculous. But Fun! I enjoyed its cheekiness.
Love the anthropological use of the Blob as part of an oral history. Might be too overtly political for some but I enjoyed the silliness

Kind of a strange, metaphorical fairytale. A group of "egotourists" on the way to the North Pole get stranded on the ice pack and meet an isolated Inuit tribe led by a sarcastic and strangely hip chief who proclaims them key figures in an upcoming battle to save the world. Delightfully wacky and tongue-in-cheek.

I'm trying to figure out if “Tukkuyummavuvungga Atuqtuaq itigaituk Qaumaniq," is some sort of substitution cipher I should decode.

"My tale has run its course. Little of it is credible, and all of it is true"

Narwhal breaching. ★★★★

I noticed that as the anthology goes along, the drowned worlds/global warming theme, and even the pretense of "science" fiction, seems to be floating away in favor of the bizarre, fantastic and amusing.

I like that! The bizarre fantastic and amusing- a description that sounds like something I want to read ;)

Definitely a move away from science fact this one, but as others have said, it was kinda fun.
I'm not sure it the character's plight would have been all that dire when they got stranded. Isn't there a permanent research facility at the Arctic these days, with aircraft flying in and out fairly regularly?

I thought the golden narwhal was going to be some kind of allegory; something the characters would achieve to allay cynicism, but no, it was exactly what it said it was; a big whale with a spike on the front.

This was certainly one of the more uplifting stories.

It was...weird? I kept waiting for them to wake up and discover it was a dream. But I agree with others, it was fun, especially the bit with the Expedient. The moral of the story was a bit too much in your face, the kind of thing I found you get from kids movies about the environment.

Not sure why it was those two people in particular who were saviour-worthy, was it because of being a reporter/teacher/author that would allow them to spread the word more easily? Why not Golly whose job involved taking people around and showing off nature in all its glory?