This series focuses on stories that are both well-written and do something that I find interesting from a technical perspective. This week, let’s talk about what makes us who we are.
There’s no evil in Sustaining Memory, by Coral Moore and published in Diabolical Plots. The reader would be forgiven for thinking that a machine powered by draining a person’s memories would be evil, but that’s not quite the case. There’s no evil in this story, no real antagonist at all; just a character letting the essence of herself evaporate for the good of people long dead and yet to be born.
Writing a story with no external opposing force is difficult, and I think this one is an excellent example of how to do it well. The conflict in this story is within the point-of-view character: how much of her memory will she sacrifice to build a new world? The theme of loss is pervasive here, and, even after reading it a third time, I’m still not sure which character loses the most: the main character, or the ones who were left behind. I’ll let you decide.