The story of "Shock Wave" is a very strange one. It kind of takes what seems like a silly idea and just pursues it directly to the end unwaveringly. It does so in a way that actually made me a bit uncomfortable.
The whole idea of it is that a man who is in charge of a giant church organ is, for whatever reason, under the suspicion that the organ is becoming sentient. He believes it is actually aware that it is about to be replaced for being old. Being that he has been playing the thing for ages, he has a sort of feel for it, and this is why he has these beliefs.
This is a very interesting idea since these great organs use compressed air as a means to produce most of its music. There is a lot of air flow that can affect many aspects of the organ itself. It seems realistic that you would be able to "feel" when something is wrong.
Although the story itself seems silly, this is another Matheson story that has a Edgar Allan Poe vibe happening. It is once again written in a much better way than Poe generally does it. Both times, I have enjoyed this sort of story as done by Matheson.
One of the things I do want to point out about this story is that it is very intense. It has a crazy build-up to it that hits hard and never lets up. It only gets worse. So even if you can't wrap your head around the idea of a sentient organ, you might, like me, get caught up in the intensity of the story itself.
I recommend "Shock Wave." It's surprising for what it is, but it's ability to take itself seriously really won it out for me. I genuinely enjoyed reading it.
This blog was written on May 4, 2023.
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Interesting. The organ is like a faithful horse soon to be rewarded with a trip to the glue factory. If these old things were indeed sentient, how we treat them would be tragic.
ReplyDeleteIt is something a lot of us do sometimes without knowing it. We think of inanimate things as alive things with feelings.
DeleteThe compressed air gives the impression that the instrument is breathing. It has a voice which gains the attention of the hearer. These are aspects which could give it a semblance of life.
ReplyDeleteYeah good point about the breathing thing.
DeleteEven a bizarre notion like a sentient church organ can be taken seriously if the author bothers, and it sounds like he did. I'm gonna add this one to my horror list. I agree, Crescendo is a better tittle.
ReplyDeleteYeah, both titles are good, but "Crescendo" would have been cleverer.
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