Short Story Review Gordon R Dickson THE Mortal AND THE Monster
by A monster makes an alliance with a monster hunter.
SHORT SCIENCE FICTION STORY REVIEW – GORDON R DICKSON – THE MORTAL AND THE MONSTER 1976 Random House. (Spoiler warnings apply).
A very clever Loch Ness Monster story suitable for grown ups and younger readers alike.
The famous Scottish Loch is getting more crowded as tourists and monster hunters pour into the region. With sonar and advanced diving skills, the danger of discovery for the last surviving family in the Loch is increasing.
The monsters are highly sentient and have a rich oral history and their own legends. They know a little of humans and avoid being seen. Physical contact with people is very taboo, so when the youngest of the family collides with an injured diver in the Loch, problems arise.
She takes the diver to an underwater cave, saving his life, but his air tanks have run out, due to her not understanding how to switch them off. She could risk stealing fresh tanks from the boat-jetty used by his friends, who want the monsters dead (they know something is in the Loch but not what). But if she rescues the diver, will he help her or his friends? And what if her family discover what she is doing?
A beautiful story that does for the Loch monsters what Richard Adams did for rabbits in Watership Down. Their culture, the need to protect the last of their eggs, their beliefs in a great journey that could be made by night to the open sea, all play a great part in this simple, direct, touching and highly exciting story.
Arthur Chappell
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