Burn by James Patrick Kelly

“Burn” is a 2005 science fiction novella by James Patrick Kelly. It is about a farmer-turned-firefighter who accidentally summons the ruler of a distant world to help fight forest fires.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Prosper Gregory Leung (“Spur”) is an orchard farmer who has been recruited to help fight the intentionally set forest fires in the Transcendent State on Walden. After being injured in the line of duty, he is sent to recover in a modern hospital full of all kinds of neat and otherwise forbidden gadgets. Oh yeah, did I mention that the citizens of the Transcendent State are under a consensual cultural quarantine? Yep, they have voluntarily given up complexity and technology in an effort to create a harmonious and simple society. This, of course, means that Spur is fascinated by the hospital’s ability to contact Upsiders – people living on other planets. What does Spur do with this newly discovered technology – use it to increase his knowledge and better himself? Nope, he tries to find other people that share his name – only he ends up conversing with the High Gregory, a young ruler on the planet Kenning. While it is interesting to talk with the High Gregory, Spur unknowingly brings the young “luck maker” (and his entourage of equally young diplomatic protegees) to Walden. Well, Spur isn’t too happy with his new Upside friends so he consequently tries to keep them hidden, but that plan fails miserably when they come to his hometown to help uncover a secret terrorist plot!

The screen shimmered and went dark. A moment later, it lit up again with the image of a boy, perched at the edge of an elaborate chair.

He was wearing a purple fabric wrap that covered the lower part of his body from waist to ankles. He was bare-chested except for the skin of some elongated, dun-colored animal draped around his thin shoulders. Spur couldn’t have said for sure how old the boy was, but despite an assured bearing and intelligent yellow eyes, he seemed not yet a man. The chair caught Spur’s eye again: it looked to be of some dark wood, although much of it was gilded. Each of the legs ended in a stylized human foot. The back panel rose high above the boy’s head and was carved with leaves and branches that bore translucent purple fruit.

That sparkled like jewels.

Spur reminded himself to breathe. It looked very much like a throne.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• There are some very fascinating descriptions of being in the midst of a life-threatening forest fire! In reality that would be scary and definitely suck, but it does make for fun reading!
• The High Gregory is a totally funny character! I was laughing out loud at some of the things he did and said!
• The idea of a self-imposed cultural quarantine in a technologically advanced society was pretty cool – one which I could see really happening.

• The bad:

• There is not much about this story that I didn’t like. Sure, it has a few instances of mild profanity, and a couple of scenes that almost get hot and steamy, but the fact is that those parts made sense overall. So why belabor the point? If you can get through all 81 pages then I think you’ll enjoy “Burn”.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 81
• Word Count: 40,088
• “Burn” garnered the following awards:

• This story won the 2007 Nebula Award for Best Novella.
• It placed fifth in the 2006 Locus Poll.
• “Burn” was also nominated for the 2006 Hugo Award for Best Novella.

Where you can find “Burn”:

• This novella first appeared in 2005 as a short novel: Burn.
• You can listen to a podcast or download a great PDF or DOC version of this story at James Patrick Kelly’s website.
• You can also read a nice HTML version of “Burn” in our very own short story library.

Some Interesting Links:

• You may enjoy this story more if you have a bit of knowledge about the American naturalist Henry David Thoreau.
• This is a long story, it may be easier to read in 52 bite sized emails.
• Strange Horizons has a nice interview with James Patrick Kelly – and in part of it he talks about “Burn”.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like O One, about the chief computator, in an alternate history China, who is challenged by a new computing engine, by Chris Roberson.

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