After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar -- Who can resist a drink poured by Gilgamesh?

After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar
Edited by Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray
DAW 2011

Reviewed by Clare Deming

In After Hours: Tales from the Ur-Bar, editors Joshua Palmatier and Patricia Bray have taken the clichéd tavern meetup of fantasy stories and role playing games and turned it on its head in an entertaining anthology that revolves around a time-traveling bar. Benjamin Tate establishes the origins of this Ur-Bar in the first story of the collection, "An Alewife In Kish". In ancient Sumeria, perhaps in the city of Ur, Kubaba has been cursed to live an immortal life spent tending her drinking establishment. While the origins of her curse and the nature of the magic are never really elaborated, that is not the point. When her bar is visited by Gilgamesh, she strikes a deal that allows them both to achieve their ultimate desires.

With Gilgamesh, known as Gil to many of his patrons, at its head, the Ur-Bar evolves a second meaning as the earliest or original Bar. Popping into different time periods, the bar brings Gil in contact with many people and cultures in its travels. There are a few common elements to each story - mainly that Gil runs the bar and makes at least a peripheral appearance in every tale. I found that he was a remarkably consistent character for being written by such a diversity of authors. Other recurring elements include a stone tablet that contains the gods' original beer recipe. Gil himself has a mystical quality, which comes into play in some of the stories. Whether he can mix that most exemplary (and maybe magical) drink, or if it's just to talk, Gil helps his guests with their problems.

The stories follow "An Alewife In Kish" in chronological order, from the Vikings to ancient Rome, on to Europe and America in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and even into one possible future. The tales are set in a bar, but are only peripherally about the drinks - rather they are about the relationships that evolve as a result of entering the Ur-Bar and interacting with its other patrons and inhabitants. At the end of the volume, there are biographies for all the authors. I have highlighted some of my favorite stories below:

Maria V. Snyder pours us some "Sake and Other Spirits" in ancient Japan. Azami has fled from life as a samurai's wife and works in the Ur-Bar, but a water vampire is killing travelers and complicates her escape after her identity is discovered.

An orphan boy peddles junk and causes strife between rival bars in "The Tavern Fire" by D.B. Jackson. Set in Boston in the 1700's, this story ties a true historical event into the narrative.

Seanan McGuire highlights some lesser-known properties of mixed drinks in "Alchemy of Alcohol", complete with drink recipes at the end. The Summer King hopes that Gil's alchemist can help him revive the Winter Queen, but family disagreements lead to broken bottles amid a magical battle.

While Prohibition may have impeded Gil from operating his bar in America for a short time, Paris during the '24 Olympics makes an exciting setting in "Paris 24" by Laura Anne Gilman. An epee fencer from the U.S. team seeks a little excitement, but instead has to think about what he wants out of life when a world war hovers in the near future.

"Steady Hands and a Heart of Oak" are needed by British sappers, but a stiff drink from Gil can also help. Ian Tregillis shows several futures and a man's struggle to decide upon the best one amid war-torn London.

I found Jackie Kessler's tale – "Where We Are Is Hell" - to be the most unique story. A ghost trapped between heaven and hell finds her way into the Ur-Bar, where speaking to Gil helps her remember what was important in her life.

What does the future bring for the Ur-Bar? Zombies, apparently. In "Izdu-Bar" by Anton Stout, we see a glimpse of the world after the zombie apocalypse. The bar is on lockdown and no one is to be admitted after dark. However, when the bouncer's greed overcomes his common sense, will a drink be able to save him?

This was a light-hearted collection of stories which I think would be easy for most readers to relate to, as the majority of them have a historical setting that is readily identified. As with all anthologies, the theme is present throughout, but I felt that there was enough variety to keep me entertained without causing me to feel like I was reading the same story repeatedly.

U Minus 90 - sf flash

Char rubbed the back of her sore neck. She'd been poring over the jigsaw puzzle of variables between universes without a break ever since the Cornerstone indicators and three quantumly-tagged people ceased to exist twelve hours ago. Something — or someone — changed the timeline. She had to determine when and how. Who would be nice as well. She told herself to get up, move around, hydrate, eat.

Hearing a thunk behind her after a brief whir of a generator and a flash of light, she nearly jumped out of her chair. Everyone had long since gone home and the underground lab had been as quiet as a church on Monday. Her heart raced. No one was expected through the U-Gate. She whirled around, registering a scuffling sound and a sharp, burnt toast odor.

A man pulled himself to his feet just outside the U-Gate. His blond, shoulder-length hair stuck out in every direction. A filthy khaki uniform clung to his gaunt frame. His blue eyes darted around, then stared at her from over his stubbly cheeks.

"Who..." he rasped. He swallowed hard and licked his cracked lips.

"Who is in charge?" he said.

Char gawked at him. There hadn't been an incursion for thirty years. The QPP (Quantum Purity Protocol) Lab didn't even post guards any more; just left motion-sensor cameras running 24/7. The troops will be minutes away. Judging by his obvious distress and condition, whatever U he was from wasn't a good vacation spot.

"Not me," she finally answered. "Military personnel are en route. My name is Dr. Charlotte Banner. Who are you?"

"Randall Stevens. Water. Could I..."

"Of course." Char was glad for the normal request and the excuse to move away from him and collect her thoughts. She went to the sink by the wall, pulled down a clean mug from a peg and filled it with water. Is he the first of a steady stream of refugees from a troubled world? Is he a forward scout for an invasion force? Is he a mad scientist who just found the way between the Us? He doesn't appear to be armed. That's a good sign.

As she came toward him with the mug, he seemed to struggle to stay upright, his body swaying slightly and his feet shifting frequently.

"There's a cot over here. Would you like to recline? You don't look so good."

"Thanks. Yes." Her visitor gulped the water and gave her back the mug with a shaking hand. He collapsed onto the cot just as the grunts rushed through the door, guns at the ready.

"What's the situation, Doctor?" said the Sergeant.

"Easy, Sarge. We're just talking. He's unarmed. Are Doctor Schilman and Professor Einstein on their way?"

"Yes, Doctor," said the Sarge. He shifted to parade rest and signaled to his men to stand down.

"Good. You boys have a seat." She sounded a lot more confident than she felt.

Char got the man another mug of water while she thought about what to ask him first. And what she could reveal. She handed him the refilled mug and brought a stool from one of the computer stations to the cot. "Can you answer a few questions now?"

He nodded. His eyes darted around again, lingering on the soldiers squatting on the floor like loaded springs.

"Mr. Stevens," Char asked in what she hoped was a calming voice. "How have you come here?"

"Through a World Splitter. I've come from an alternate reality. A world like yours, but not yours. Do you have this capability here?"

"The leaders of this project will get to your questions in due time. First, why have you come here?"

"To seek your help. Our world has undergone a shift. A faction from another reality has taken someone from our world. No, taken is not the right word." He rubbed his stubbly chin. "He was eradicated. Removed from our history. Never born. Do you understand?"

"Let's say that we do for now. Go on," she prompted.

"Without him, our society is lost. Now my world is a stagnant police state filled with video-addicted sheep. The people let the government tell them what to do, what not to do and even what to think."

"But this is your world, is it not? How do you see these changes?" she asked.

"I was off-world when it happened, you know, in another reality. I can't go back because my world no longer has a World Splitter to receive me. People in the alternate reality I came from can move between realities, but not through time."

"And you think we can?"

"That is my hope," he said. "That man needs to be born. Our enemy erased him by having his mother miscarry."

"I see."

"Do you?" His eyes sparkled and the corners of his mouth turned up.

Gazing at his eager face, Char believed him. But it didn’t matter what she thought. And it could still be an act.

"Hypothetically speaking, how far back in time would you need to go to prevent this miscarriage?"

The Sergeant cleared his throat meaningfully. Char had just crossed a line and she knew it. But the words were out there. She couldn't take them back.

"1920. Their agent put something in his mother's morning tea on March 22, five months before he would have been born."

"Who was this guy? A scientist, politician, world leader?"

"He was an author. He predicted all of it! He warned us what could happen."

***
Happy 90th Birthday, Ray Bradbury!




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