THE DEEP ONES: "The Thyme Fiend" by Jeffrey Ford

"The Thyme Fiend" by Jeffrey Ford

Discussion begins September 21.

First published as The Thyme Fiend (ebook; 2015).



ONLINE VERSIONS

http://www.tor.com/2015/03/11/the-thyme-fiend-jeffrey-ford/

BIBLIOGRAPHY

http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?1963963

SELECTED PRINT VERSIONS

Some of the Best from Tor.com: 2015 Edition
The Thyme Fiend

MISCELLANY

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffrey_Ford
http://www.well-builtcity.com/
http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ford_interview/
http://www.sffworld.com/2015/06/jeffrey-ford-interview/
http://weirdfictionreview.com/2016/07/review-natural-history-hell-jeffrey-ford/
http://tinyurl.com/zcf87mp

I've not read any Jasper Fforde, but mentally I substitute that name each time I read Jeffrey Ford. Those double-f's, no doubt. I'm hopeful that reading this story (online!) will help separate the authors for me.

I rather liked this one. I have a soft spot for skeleton stories, and I liked the cover imagery of harvesting a field of flames.

At first I thought Ford was doing Bradbury with the early 20th century, rural America setting and a young protagonist. But I thought his imagery was effective, and the idea of thyme keeping the visions away didn't seem Bradburyesque.

That Jimmy Tooth would be both a figure of menace, a murderer, and yet, ultimately, a saving figure was unexpected.

I thought the dialogue wobbled with the seemingly too modern "think logical" admonition of Emmett's parents.

For me the big question, the most weird element was how Gretl made it out of Hell. She seems to have a sort of contigent existence when Tooth says, unlike Emmett, Gretl is "neither dead nor alive". What is that contingency based on? Emmett's future actions?

This story passes the Ed Bryant test in showing how all this is explained to the authorities -- not that it does a bit of good apart from uncovering Tooth's crime. The pastor's wife is still murdered. That's a deviation from the ghost-story template the story uses.

I agree, Gretel is a mystery still.

Using "The Minister's Black Veil" by Nathaniel Hawthorne was an interesting touch, along with the Washington Irving and Jules Verne books.

I've read a fair bit of Ford now (a series of three novels, plus assorted short stories), and this was the most naturalistic piece of his that I've encountered.

Ah, thinking about Gretel, I just reviewed the final paragraph, and it seems like she might have died in the fire after all, and thus she's a ghost at the end. He goes to consume the thyme that suppresses his visions, and:

“Don’t,” she said. He never did again, and from then on, she was always with him.

>5 paradoxosalpha: I certainly understood that Gretel had died (although the lack of a body after the fire keeps this ambiguous until the final paragraphs). I thought it gave a kind of Tim Burton feel to the end of the story. I confess I had films as much as literary fiction in mind as soon as Jimmy Tooth's body was discovered - Ringu, The Changeling (1980 - starring George C Scott), even the Hammer adaptation of The Woman in Black - although that was very possibly some intentional misdirection on Jeffrey Ford's part. Jimmy Tooth didn't want his foot recovered in order for his spirit to rest (as one of the commentators online also seems to have initially thought events would play out).

The way the universe works - the fictional universe of this story - isn't explained, either in terms of how Emmett's "visions" work when they transport him from one location to another or even another plane of reality (does this also explain the missing body?); or in terms of the theology of the place. Is Jimmy Tooth in any sort of Christian Hell or something altogether different? This isn't a criticism, by the way.

>5 paradoxosalpha: That seems a credible interpretation.

I liked this quite a bit. I think a central pull for me is, though I don't understand fully, I'm persuaded the world of the story has a solid existence, that it operates in a cohesive (not necessarily logical/rational) manner, and therefore has integrity. I wonder if Ford has other stories set in this world.

I liked the allusions, the story seemed rife with them: some have been mentioned already, I suspect there are others I didn't catch. I was prompted to look up the Genesis account of the Pillar of Salt, which I knew generally and suspected some relevant aspects weren't familiar. The wikipedia entry indicates there are several Jewish interpretations of this story, the one I knew being just one, viz, that Lot's wife is turned into a pillar of salt as punishment for her implicit yearning after Sodom and Gomorrah. I found more interesting the exegesis that in fact, she is turned into a pillar of salt upon the sight of God, as the cities are destroyed.

I have read very little Stephen King, yet I was struck by how much Ford's story felt like one of King's, to me. Upon reflection, I decided it was the characteristic of both supernatural and natural elements coexisting, and in fact aligning with one another over a character's behaviours or perceptions. Other characters tend to see either a supernatural or a natural explanation for those behaviours and perceptions, but not both. And the story is written in such a way that it's not a choice for the reader, rather both are true. For anyone familiar with King, is that a valid interpretation? I really can't think of how I got this strong impression, having read only Firestarter, though I've seen quite a few movie adaptations.

>3 RandyStafford: At first I thought Ford was doing Bradbury with the early 20th century, rural America setting and a young protagonist.

The setting made think of a previous read of ours, Bixby's "It's a Good Life". There's little enough in common between the stories otherwise, but the comparison came unbidden to me reading the early part of this.

>5 paradoxosalpha:

I like that interpretation - makes the ending, which I thought was a bit of a letdown, much more meaningful.

>6 housefulofpaper:

Jimmy says he's working for Satan, so I think we have take it as the Christian Hell, albeit a heterodox version thereof - the Adversary isn't supposed to be able to lessen the damneds' punishment in reward for honest work.

Speaking of Jimmy, the demons that plague Emmett early on seem to disappear once he shows up. Did Jimmy somehow chase them away? We get, near as I can tell, no indication of their nature - are they, too, the shades of the dead? - nor why they're tormenting Emmett particularly.

>9 AndreasJ:

Reading that section again I'm inclined to agree with you. Jimmy does seem to know what's going on, whereas Emmett is pretty much always struggling to make sense of things.

I re-read this story a couple of days ago. Now I'm not sure Gretel was ever alive--or at least not during Emmett's lifetime. I think she may only ever have been an apparition. She's unknown to the police chief in the small town where everyone seems to know each other, and she only ever interacts directly with Emmett.

You prompted me to re-read from the link in >1 semdetenebre:: I knew I'd read it but could recall almost nothing, even as I read through again.

The idea Gretel is dead for the duration of the story is persuasive: the only contradiction I noticed from the story itself is that she's described as having a dusting of glitter from the day's Christmas project, in the scene at the bike rack after school. And of course she touches him, uncharacteristic of a typical ghost -- but not of a revenant. Then too, Jimmy whispers at one point, which also shouldn't be possible for a skeleton lacking vocal chords and lungs, so the normal limitations don't apply. Jimmy pronouncing that she's "neither dead nor alive" makes clear she's just not a kid from school -- even before the icehouse fire.

I wonder who Gretel was, and if she was linked to Jimmy or the Pastor & Mrs Williams, or if her path just crossed Emmett's coincidentally.

Still a great story. I wonder whether I'll remember any more of it this time!