Rayner’s “The Gates of Polished Horn” Takes Us to Places Strange and Familiar

Reviewed by Lisa Timpf

A famous character experiencing an existential crisis. A youth picked on by a gang in a lunar settlement. A professor ruminating on the influence—not always positive—of electronic media. These are some of the protagonists of the twenty short stories in Mark Rayner’s The Gates of Polished Horn.

Some of the stories are literary, some are speculative, and some blur the boundaries. Just over half of the tales in this collection are listed in the Acknowledgements as being previously published in venues such as The Saturday Evening Post, Abyss and Apex, and Corvus Review.

While each story stands on its own, there are some recurring themes. Love, including lost love and unrequited love, is handled with sensitivity and power in several stories. Rayner explores various ways in which the rise of technology, particularly with respect to dataspheres and futuristic brain implants, might affect society and what it means to be human. Rayner also makes knowledgeable references to authors like Franz Kafka and philosophers like Socrates and Plato.

I found Rayner’s style to be very readable, and the stories intriguing. Many of the tales concluded with twist endings. Rayner develops a strong sense of place, particularly in his stories set in European cities such as Prague. Though it’s hard (and maybe unfair) to pick favourites from such an evenly-balanced group of tales, there were a few that stuck with me.

In “Socratic Insanity,” the opening story, time jumping, or “Jaunting,” has become a popular phenomenon. Those who so jump have been assured that it is impossible to change the timeline. Grant, the story’s protagonist, goes back in time to the death of Greek philosopher Socrates. Though he tries to stay on the fringes and just observe, Grant is drawn into conversations with Plato and Socrates, which, understandably, makes him nervous about the implications. “Socratic Insanity,” like many of the other works in the collection, is both witty and thought-provoking.

Some stories are remarkable for their imagination and world-building. For example, in “This Ambiguous Miracle,” Rayner depicts a society named Eutropia that periodically votes for a “Change,” which means residents will change everything—spouses, homes, professions. The Change has been a feature of their culture for thousands of years, and there’s no opting out. This doesn’t necessarily suit everyone, which is where the story’s conflict comes in.

“Under the Blue Curve” presents a world in which people have become preoccupied by the datasphere, which they connect to using cranial implants. Even tasks like placing food orders with your server at a restaurant can be done through the implant. Due to his physiological makeup, Henry, the protagonist, is unable to use the implants. This shortfall becomes a strength when he tries to re-introduce the world to the value and importance of storytelling.

In “Why’s Wally,” Rayner portrays the character Waldo from the Where’s Waldo books. Wally is experiencing an existential crisis as he looks in his closet and finds only striped shirts, non-name-brand jeans, and red and white bobble hats. As Rayner tells it, Wally has read The Stranger and has conversed with Camus about absurdity and being watched.

I was impressed by the consistently high quality of the stories in the collection. In the book’s “Afterword,” Rayner notes that The Gates of Polished Horn started as sixty stories, and was winnowed down from there in successive steps. The twenty chosen stories were then fine-tuned. Rayner also includes information in the “Afterword” about his writing process, and comments on Kurt Vonnegut being his literary hero.

Rayner has a unique and interesting voice, and while the characters and the events are sometimes drawn from beyond this world, they are also believable within the frame of the stories. Even the fantastic or speculative settings feel familiar, as Rayner enables us to make the jump from our own world to one of fantasy or science fiction.

One gets the sense reading the collection that Rayner understands what it means to be human, and has empathy for the human condition. The stories were emotionally compelling without being over the top. After reading The Gates of Polished Horn, I was glad to have experienced Rayner’s writing, and would readily read a follow-up collection should it be produced.

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About the Author

Human-shaped, monkey-loving, robot-fighting, pirate-hearted, storytelling junkie, Mark is an award-winning author of satire and speculative fiction. He writes in the genres of science fiction, humorous SF and dark comedy. When not working on the next novel, he pens short stories, squibs and other drivel. (Some pure, and some quite tainted with meaning.)

He does all of these thing while being Canadian and owning cats.

Book Details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Donovan Street Press Inc. (March 1 2025)

• Language ‏ : ‎ English

• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 220 pages

• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1999431170

• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1999431174