One evening, Ms. K— is escorted to the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage, an involuntary home for parents who’ve lost their children to the War on Worldwide Wickedness. It’s a place full of metaphors, where the only rule is that you may never leave.
Michael Bishop recently lost a son and it’s obvious he’s speaking from experience here. The story is filled with painful, evocative imagery of loss. However, it was just too metaphorical for me. I think this story will reverberate with a lot of people but unfortunately I wasn’t one of them.
(Asimov’s, July 2008)
