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So Far, So Near by Mat Coward
02/08/2008 . Source: Gareth D Jones 
pub: Elastic Press. 212 page enlarged paperback. Price: £ 5.99 (UK). ISBN: 978-0-9553181-0-8. Buy So Far, So Near in the USA - or Buy So Far, So Near in the UK  check out website: www.elasticpress.com
I once read somewhere that a good story is either about ordinary people doing extraordinary things or extraordinary people doing ordinary things. That definition fits Mat Coward's short story collection 'So Far, So Near' very well indeed. There are ordinary people, like a grandmother who washes the air or the five friends who see a UFO. There are extraordinary people, like the aliens living among us who cook a fried breakfast or live in an old people's home. The whole collection of seventeen stories is written in a friendly, informal style with a wry sense of humour. Many are written in the first person, allowing the narrator to include details on the banalities of life along with comments on the extraordinary. It also allows us to appreciate the narrator's bewilderment at the unusual goings-on, so much so that at time we are none the wiser by the end of the tale. I'll come back to that point in a moment. Meanwhile, a few of the highlights:
'Time Spent In Reconnaissance' is the story of a captive alien who is released by the UK government to take up a normal life, accompanied by an army officer to keep an eye on him. A wonderful, if somewhat one-sided relationship develops between the two as they adjust to civilian life. The story makes ironic observations on society as the two contemplate their futures.
A successful burglar discovers that the most valuable thing the rich possess is 'Room To Move'. It's a story that makes no attempt to explain the bizarre, but merely accepts it as normal and a good attitude to have.
Another alleged alien living in the suburbs is the central character in 'Little Green Card'. A conspiracy theorist tracks down his home address and asks to emigrate to his home planet. Whether he really is an alien or whether the visitor is just wrong is strung out throughout the story. The author makes the comment somewhere in the book that he likes to think of the practicalities behind classic SF tropes and this little tale does a magnificent job of exploring such a theme.
Is time travel possible? Is it possible to write a time travel story without tying yourself up into paradoxes? 'The Second Question' very cleverly explores some of the unanswerable questions on the subject and does so with great style and humour.
The final story of the collection, 'Remote Viewing', only marginally qualifies as SF yet I still found it one of the most enjoyable. A young soldier is given the job of chauffeuring a mysterious American woman around the countryside for a week and that's about the sum of the story. The dialogue and characterisation are excellent though and really draw you into the enjoyable road trip. It's a very satisfying conclusion to what I found to be a fabulous collection.
Although a couple of the stories were a bit uncomfortably weird, I enjoyed all of them. A large proportion of them were originally published in 'Interzone', so you can be sure a high quality prevails throughout. Many of the tales end with an air of mystery, which mostly was quite satisfying. The protagonists were perplexed, and so were we. Occasionally, I found this disappointing, though. Sometimes the unexplained ending gave the impression that the author didn't really know neither. If you like to be left hanging that's fine, but if you like a satisfactory explanation to your story, you may be left wondering.
Gareth D. Jones
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