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Ike at the Mike

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"Ike at the Mike" is an alternate history short story by Howard Waldrop. It was first published in Omni, in June 1982.

Synopsis

Decades after he decided to pursue music rather than attend West Point, an elderly Dwight Eisenhower — now a legendary jazz clarinetist — performs at the White House and reminisces about his late friend, drummer "Wild" George S. Patton; in the audience, Senator Presley considers the path of his own life.

Reception

"Ike at the Mike" was a finalist for the 1983 Hugo Award for Best Short Story.[1]

In the Washington Post, Michael Dirda called it "comic and touching".[2] Kirkus Reviews found it "amusing",[3] Graham Sleight, writing in Strange Horizons, noted that it is "more concise" and "less a prisoner of its own research" than some of Waldrop's other stories.[4]

References

  1. ^ 1983 Hugo Awards, at TheHugoAwards.org; retrieved August 23, 2020
  2. ^ The Magazine Rack: Currents and Choices, by Michael Dirda; in the Washington Post; published March 28, 1986; retrieved August 23, 2020
  3. ^ THE WAY IT WASN'T: GREAT SCIENCE FICTION STORIES OF ALTERNATE HISTORY, reviewed at Kirkus Reviews; published February 1, 1996; archived online, May 20, 2010; retrieved August 23, 2020
  4. ^ Other Worlds, Better Lives: A Howard Waldrop Reader—Selected Long Fiction 1989-2003, reviewed by Graham Sleight, at Strange Horizons; published December 22, 2008; retrieved August 23, 2020