"Ike at the Mike" is an alternate history short story by Howard Waldrop. It was first published in Omni, in June 1982.
Synopsis
[edit]Decades after he decided to pursue music rather than attend West Point, an elderly Dwight Eisenhower — now a legendary jazz clarinetist — performs at the White House and reminisces about his late friend, drummer "Wild" George S. Patton; in the audience, Senator Presley considers the path of his own life.
Reception
[edit]"Ike at the Mike" was a finalist for the 1983 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[1]
In the Washington Post, Michael Dirda called it "comic and touching".[2] Kirkus Reviews found it "amusing",[3] while Graham Sleight, writing in Strange Horizons, noted that it is "more concise" and "less a prisoner of its own research" than some of Waldrop's other stories.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ 1983 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved August 23, 2020
- ^ The Magazine Rack: Currents and Choices, by Michael Dirda; in the Washington Post; published March 28, 1986; retrieved August 23, 2020
- ^ THE WAY IT WASN'T: GREAT SCIENCE FICTION STORIES OF ALTERNATE HISTORY, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published February 1, 1996; archived online, May 20, 2010; retrieved August 23, 2020
- ^ Other Worlds, Better Lives: A Howard Waldrop Reader—Selected Long Fiction 1989-2003, reviewed by Graham Sleight, at Strange Horizons; published December 22, 2008; retrieved August 23, 2020
External links
[edit]- Ike at the Mike title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database