"It's a Sunny Day," by Spider Robinson

[lb_lee]

Spider Robinson was one of my favorite childhood authors, and about the only one who's remained so into adulthood. Though better known for his novels now (at least for us), he did put out a lot of short stories, one of which, "It's a Sunny Day," is quite good! Basic summary: the world's most joyless, efficient boy gets shipped off to the boonies to get straightened out, only for an anarchic woodsman to take him under his wing.

It's also hard to find. It was only published three times--in the 1984 version of Melancholy Elephants (the 1985 version doesn't have it) Visions from the Edge: An Anthology of Atlantic Canadian Science Fiction and Fantasy from a small Canadian press in 1981 (which the New England Science Fiction Association library had a copy of, and which I catalogued, thus why I discovered this story)... and its original printing in Galaxy magazine, vol. 37 #1 from January 1976, which someone has digitized and OCRed on archive.org! And that version comes with a charming illustration.

So I figured I'd link it here. It seems like something folks here would like.

Comments

*

[minoanmiss]

It is!

Spider Robinson gave me of my best fan experiences ever. I got to watch his concert at a con (so much fun) and then go up and tell him how much his line "small men and large women go through life wrapped around a softball-sized chunk of pain. It breaks some and makes others magnificent." means to me, and he grinnd wide and gave me one of the best hugs ever (helped by his lanky frame ahahaha).

saves this to read

Re: *

[lb_lee]

Although we forgot it came from him for a long time, his bit from "Satan's Children" about how dishonesty is painful and the average person is carrying a dislocated shoulder's worth has stuck with us. He really does get a lot of credit for who we've become.

Re: *

[sorcyress]

As someone who already had tendency to crush on scrawny dudes, I credit Spider with a big chunk of how I fell in love with big ol zaftig ladies as well (and from there, a general expansion in all directions of who I like to look at to "man, people are just _gorgeous_ aren't they?)

~Sor

[sorcyress]

The Callahan's books are the only of my parents' sci-fi that I read in high school and have felt any need to reread as an adult, and rereading the first three books during mid-2020 was one of the things that made the pandemic seem like it could be coped with. Thank you so much for linking to the story, it is a perfect illustration of how fuckin' _human_ Robinson is.

~Sor

Re: *

[lb_lee]

Zaftig is an amazing word and should be used at all occasions!

[lb_lee]

I'm so glad I learned of its existence while cataloging anthologies! I would never have known about it otherwise! I really like how Robinson often shows sympathy in his writing to even characters like this humorless boy--even the villains, the best ones anyway, usually have at least one moment where you're like, "oh shit, this is a PERSON with feelings and motivations that make sense. Shit, I have to see that now."

That Callahan's trilogy is enshrined in our heart as our favorite, though I think Stardance is his true masterpiece. He and his wife did an amazing job with that book!

Re: *

[minoanmiss]

cheeers