lunchtime reading, clifford w. dunbar, helix speculative fiction

War Tourism In A Flying Bus

The latest issue of Helix Speculative Fiction just went online, and it includes a few great science fiction stories, including the alternate-universe romance "The Einstein-Rosen Hunter-Gatherer Society" by George S. Walker. But probably the best piece this time around is Clifford W. Dunbar's "Holiday In Hot Zone 16," a brutal satire that targets our easy-chair consumption of horrors around the globe. Click through for details, and then head over to Helix to check it out.

Image from Randa Mirza.

In "Holiiday In Hot Zone 16," a group of tourists fly over a battle between warlords in the U.N. designated hotzone of "Lower Hazmatistan." (And yes, it's a broad satire, as well as a vicious one.) The tourbus includes a couple on honeymoon, a family with small kids, an older couple... and the tourbus driver, who has a shady business on the side. Safe in their shielded bus, 50 feet above the ground, they watch the Donites and the Khaffis slaughter each other with primitive AK-47s and big knives. When the mass murder is over, that's when things get really nasty. Here's a sample passage:

He was cut down in a burst of gunfire before he could raise [his rifle.] The bullets slammed him backwards into the campfire, where his blood sizzled and his clothes and hair burst into flames. He was dead before he could scream.

"Oh, how delightful!" a woman exclaimed. Gus glanced up at his mirror again with another satisfied smile. The lady was peering out the window with a tiny pair of opera glasses.

It's pretty twisted stuff. Check it out. And donate to the writers if you like it. [Helix Speculative Fiction]

10:15 AM on Fri Apr 4 2008
By Charlie Jane Anders
1,383 views
8 comments

Comments

BlindKarma at 10:35 AM on 04/04/08
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If you two don't stop arguing we'll just leave you in Hot Zone 16... Do you know what the insurgents do to little boys like you in Hot Zone 16?
Miranda Kali at 10:46 AM on 04/04/08
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Connectedness Index: 150

Tourbots Verboten. (and for damn good reason.)
Dr. Spaceman, Esq. at 11:02 AM on 04/04/08
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There was an e-sheep comic like this, but from the other perspective end; offering help and aid via networked cameras and robots.
gunterk at 11:47 AM on 04/04/08
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Sounds vaguely similar to a short story by J. G. Ballard I read a while back. I think it was "War Fever", about Beirut being cordoned off by the UN and kept as an ongoing battle for decades. I'll have to find that collection and re-read the story now. Ought the read more Ballard, in general, now that I think about it...
moncapitaine at 12:15 PM on 04/04/08
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What's the big deal? why can't we enjoy violence anymore?
sqr at 01:05 PM on 04/04/08
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And I thought poverty tourism was bad . . . The sad thing is, I could see this happening at some point in the future.
tamoko at 05:32 PM on 04/04/08
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Connectedness Index: 456

@sqr: Me too. Or at least reality television themed on the latest global hotspots and simmering conflicts. In a way, we're already starting the process.

I just finished reading Kevin Sites' "In the Hot Zone - one man,one year, twenty wars". He became a one man news team for Yahoo! News, traveling the globe and getting himself in deep. It really gave me a fresh perspective on how wars are covered, and reminded me that there are dozens of "tiny" brushfire wars raging all over the planet, all eclipsed by the media's choices of "prioritizing" coverage and news worthiness.

This feels like the threads from a Gibson novel...
KokorHekkus at 03:01 AM on 04/05/08
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Another novel with a similar feel and theme, _War Surf_ by M. M. Buckner. The jaded ultra-rich elite kit themselves up with hi-tech gear and tour warzones.