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War Slut by Carlton Mellick III
came as a part of a collection called ‘The Bizarre Fiction’. There was a small
note along with this collection that said the readers could expect sexually explicit
contents bordering on pornography. I didn’t find any such thing in this book.
The ‘bizarre’ vibes that I got was probably due to the futuristic world where
the story takes place. It’s a grim, dystopia where war has become the only
legitimate profession. The book begins with a number of soldiers awaiting the
order of their officers. The order doesn’t come, because those officers are in
a strange, comatose state with mysterious bullet holes in their bodies. They
are somewhere in the arctic zone. They have to rub a cream called ‘the climate
camo’ on their body to survive in the harsh weather – some material from
distant future. Their weapons are also futuristic. They have slug riffles.
There are various types of bullets that they can fire from those riffles. One
such bullet is called the library bullet. No matter where it hits you, it kills
you. It gnaws through your body. But all these things probably aren’t as
important as the war slut.
Each camp has a war slut, a
genetically engineered soldier created to relieve sexual tension in combat
situations. A war slut is not a sex toy, or a robot. It’s genetically
engineered soldier – mind it. It can change its gender as per requirement. When
a war slut is not having sex, she usually participates in battle along with
other soldiers. The one we have in this story is called ‘Sweet’. When the
narrator goes to Sweet, he usually asks her to take the form of Chauney.
Chauney is a female soldier who the narrator fancies. From the title of the
book one may assume that the story is about this person called Sweet. I think title
is bit misleading that way, because the war slut disappears right in the middle
of the story. The rest of the book goes on without her. Then at the end she reappears
in the most unexpected place. I think the story is about something else and the
war slut is just a small part of it.
It is an Orwellian world where
people are made to believe that they are threatened by forces that are not
properly explained, and the only way out is waging battles. Who are the
adversaries? That doesn’t matter. Will the war ever end? That doesn’t matter
either. If the enemies are wiped out, they’ll still have the draft dodgers. The draft dodgers are the
dissenters who stand against the culture of war. We call these people ‘anti-nationals’
nowadays. I could see efforts in War Slut by Carlton Mellick III to create that
atmosphere of oppression. I am not of the opinion that it was immensely successful
in that. The description of how the game of saw ball is played, shows a
palpable hatred against draft dodgers. Dummies of teachers, poets and
philosophers are made. The game involves mutilating these dummies in various
ways. The sole purpose of mentioning the game was to help readers visualize the
general aversion against intellectuals.
The story of War Slut takes an
interesting turn when the troops accidentally arrive at a frozen town. No life sign
was detected in their gadgets. The buildings were full of strange mannequins.
The horror begins when this lifeless town suddenly turns violent. There are
snipers on the roof. But the bullets that are showered on them were not actually
bullets. Now they know what turned those officers into living corpses.
Could Carlton Mellick III choose a better
title for War Slut? Yes, I think. Something like The Draft Dodgers could be
more appropriate. The present title limits the spread as well as the purpose of
the plot. The genetically modified soldier is a marvel, but it has very little
contribution to the story, other than explaining some of the mysteries at the
end of the story. The story attempts to send a strong political message, I
understand. But hey, haven’t we had enough dystopian novels already? I mean,
when I look around I see myself living in goddamn 1984 for Chrissake. It’s not
fiction anymore. It is happening right now.
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