‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ – Ray Nelson

Page Count: Six Pages

I came across ‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ in ‘The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction No.13’ (Edited by Avram Davidson); in fact, it’s the main reason I bought the book when I saw it in Greenwich Market. If you’re looking to read it yourself, you can find it Here or the November 1963 edition of ‘The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction’ (thanks Wikipedia!) Either works but clicking on the link might be quicker ;o)

I came to ‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ the long way round, taking a circuitous route via Stephen King’s ‘The Ten O’Clock People’ and a brief stop to (finally) watch ‘They Live’. I’d always had it in mind to give ‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ a go though so like I said, when I saw it mentioned in the blurb, I had to grab the book before someone else did…

At the end of the show the hypnotist told his subjects, “Awake.” Something unusual happened. One of the subjects awoke all the way. This had never happened before. His name was George Nada and he blinked out at the sea of faces in the theatre, at first unaware of anything out of the ordinary. Then he noticed, spotted here and there in the crowd, the non-human faces, the faces of the Fascinators. They had been there all along, of course, but only George was really awake, so only George recognized them for what they were.

At only six pages long, ‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ is very much a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ kind of story. Don’t blink, that’s my advice ;o) ‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ is told very matter of factly (a little too matter of factly for me) and doesn’t hang around but it’s definitely worth taking your time over. This is a story that gives us a particularly insidious invader but offers us hope at the same time. All you need to do is wake up and see the enemy for what it is, it’s that simple. Yep, the allegory is definitely heavy handed but that’s really the point, isn’t it? It’s easy to just sit back and let the thinking be done for you; you’re going to need the equivalent of someone yelling in your ear if you’re going to wake up from this.

And I love the fact that Nelson goes to all the trouble of doing all of this, only to turn everything on its head in the very last sentence. Conseqences are consequences. George may not see where his attempts ultimately lead bit it’s a cruel world and that can happen. If you can’t do anything about an issue, don’t hope for too much, that seems to be the message here. Keep fighting though, you never know.

‘Eight O’ Clock in the Morning’ is deserved science fiction classic and should be required reading, at least from where I’m sat.