With the Night Mail
A Story of the Year 2000, by Rudyard Kipling
The story "With the Night Mail "was first published in McClure’s Magazine in their November, 1905 issue. It was later published in the collection Actions and Reactions in 1909.
Seems like its for free on Kindle / Amazon (Dec 2012)
The story is narrated by an unnamed reporter who is accompanying a Night Mail run from London to Quebec. Shipping, especially intercontinental shipping, is now done by airship. In the course of the trip they encounter the normal dangers of flying an airship, where one is at the mercy of both air currents and electrical storms and discharges. Kipling also includes at the end a number of “advertisements,” “notices,” and “news stories” based on the world of the A.B.C. (Aerial Board of Control) to allow the reader to more fully understand the society in which the story takes place.
Although most people know Kipling for his stories of India, most notably The Jungle Books and Kim, he was also a prolific short-story writer, and one of the founders of the science fiction genre along with Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. He is considered by most SciFi fans to be an early master of the genre.
With the Night Mail explores one aspect of what life would be like in the year 2000, according to Kipling’s imaginings. It shows how technological advancements, in this case things like travel by airship and radio communication, affect the lives of ordinary people. It also gives a glimpse into what the world is like politically, as it is united under the umbrella of the A.B.C., and even the last bastions of so-called “democratic” rule have decided to throw in the towel, as can be seen in a short news piece after the story itself.
I initially didn’t like this story. I was trying to read it in bits and pieces on my iPod Touch Kindle app, and this did not make for good reading. The language is very similar to that used on old sailing vessels, and not being a sailor I was not always clear on what was going on. Many of the “new” terms were just made up by Kipling, and were sometimes difficult to understand. After switching over to reading it in a printed format I was able to more clearly understand the story, and came to genuinely enjoy it. It is by turns fascinating and exciting. It reminded me stylistically a lot of Captain’s Courageous.
Another thing I really enjoyed about the book was its somewhat Steam Punk quality . The dirigibles, the mechanisms that move them and the near magical quality of the electrical currents affecting them all add to this feeling of old and new interwoven.
Whether or not you have previously been a fan of Kipling’s writing, this is a great story to read. It is not too long or complicated, and once you get used to the cadence and the language it is fairly simple to understand. Hard-core Sci-Fi readers may already be aware of what a terrific choice Kipling is if you’re interested in some great short stories of the genre, but I’d bet many others are not, and this is a great place to discover it.