Rat

by James Patrick Kelly

In a hard-edged cyberpunk future, a courier is has stolen a load of the most dangerous, most dazzling drug ever invented and is smuggling it into New York City. Pursued by a hired hit woman disguised as a young girl and a federally-appointed vigilante, he must find his way through the mean streets of Manhattan to his lair. He is ruthless, amoral, and a rat. Not just figuratively, but literally: a two-foot-long, walking, talking rat. Hearing is believing.

James Patrick Kelly, author of this Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated story, is a two-time winner of the Hugo Award and has been nominated 10 times for the Nebula Award, including for "Rat" (which was also nominated for a Hugo). His stories appear frequently in Asimov's Science Fiction, and he writes the magazine's "On the Net" column. Publishers Weekly has called him "a meticulous craftsman in the demanding short-story form".


0 hr and 39 mins

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction

1 pages, Audible Audio

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

James Patrick Kelly (please, call him Jim) has had an eclectic writing career. He has written novels, short stories, essays, reviews, poetry, plays and planetarium shows. His short novel Burn won the Science Fiction Writers of America's Nebula Award in 2007. He has won the World Science Fiction Society’s Hugo Award twice: in 1996, for his novelette “Think Like A Dinosaur” and in 2000, for his novelette, “Ten to the Sixteenth to One.” His fiction has been translated into eighteen languages. He produces two podcasts: James Patrick Kelly's StoryPod on Audible and the Free Reads Podcast (Yes, it’s free). His most recent publishing venture is the ezine James Patrick Kelly’s Strangeways. His website is www.jimkelly.net.

Reviews

[Erich Franz Linner-Guzmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is story about a drug dealing rat. A drug dealing "Stuart Little" as James Kelly likes to put it. The Rat is my favourite anti-hero as of yet. The drug he sells however is one nasty substance! This drug is in a dust form called "Algerian Yellow." It is the most horrible drug, but with the most euphoric feeling there could possibly be, along with an hallucinatory joy ride. And all it takes is one single dose! And then there you go; heading down that dirty dusty road. JPK put's it best when he writes:

"The dead were his customers. People who had chosen the dust road. Twelve to eighteen months of glorious addiction: synthetic orgasms, recursive hallucinations leading to a total sensory overload and an ecstatic death experience. One dose was all it took to start down the dust road. The feds were trying to cut off the supply—with dire consequences for the dead. They could live a few months longer without dust, but their joyride down the dusty road was transformed into a grueling marathon of withdrawal pangs and madness. Either way, they were dead."

Jim Kelly said he had sleep deprivation and hardly even remembers writing it on his

Then thought it was a dream, except that in the next morning there was a manuscript

coming out of his


A pretty sweet setup I must say :)
Didn't the 80's just ROCK!

[Althea Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK, so this is a fairly standard and unsurprising cyberpunk-ish drug-smuggling tale - where the main character happens to be an anthropomorphic rat. I'm really not sure why he's a rat. It's not explained. Is it supposed to be funny? All the other characters in the story seem human-standard. Go figure. Future. Drugs. Violence. Rat. Shrug.

[Ivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's actually not that bad of a story. A drug dealing rat? Sure why not?

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

A cyberpunk story of a dystopian future where drug running feeds a growing population looking to tune in and check out. Rat, himself, is a genetically modified being—either an intelligent rodent or a human who’s modified himself to rat-like proportions. It doesn’t really matter, other than to understand that he can talk and yet is small and rat-sized, if on the larger scale (26-inches high if standing upright). He’s running some dust, a drug that induces ecstasy so well that its users basically burn out in a year and a half, and he’s got enough on him this run that he’s decided if he cuts out his middle-man, he’ll be set for life. But a Fed spots him, and things go haywire. It’s an interesting and extremely well-done example of the genre, but for all the world-building, didn’t leave me with anything other than the ugliness of the world, and I wanted something a bit more.

[Adam · Rating 1 out of 5]

*Read as part of the "Masterpieces The Best Science Fiction of the Twentieth Century" by Orson Scott Card*

I might actually hate this story, so at least it made me feel something. A story about a rat, yes, a rat - for absolutely no reason, don’t try to figure out why - who sells drugs and it goes wrong. Well, the drug is actually interesting, by far the best part of the story. Nominated for a Hugo, Nebula, and Locust. Unreal. I guess it’s just me!

[Jon · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story of a drug dealing rat. I guess I just get it. Being a rat works for me...parallels the scum dealers of the world peddling their “disease”. Overall the story really worked for me.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

what if Stuart Little (author's analogy) was a drug dealer in a cyber punk world? weird...

[Lennie Grace · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found the whole thing pretty confusing. But it was short, free, and I really liked the last scene.

Maybe it'd be more fun for bigger science fiction/steam punk fans?

[Ethan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Generic cyberpunk but very, very fun

[mark propp · Rating 3 out of 5]

not unreadable. it's fine.
i personally would not have put it in an anthology called 'masterpieces,' but i'm not the final authority on such matters.

[Mack · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yuck.