The July Ward

Last updated
The July Ward
Author S. N. Dyer
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Genre Ghost story, Fantasy
PublishedApril, 1991 (Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine)

The July Ward is a ghost story written by the physician S. N. Dyer and first published in the April 1991 issue of Asimov's Science Fiction . The story was nominated for the 1992 Nebula Award for Best Novella. [1] It has since been reprinted in various anthologies.

Contents

Synopsis

The story follows Dr. Watson, a female hospitalist, over a day in an urban medical center. John Doe #3, an unnamed victim of drug violence, arrives brain dead where Watson, Tom, her medical student, and the rest of her medical team inspect the comatose body. The team determines that the body must be kept on a ventilator until the next of kin can be contacted. In the meantime a transplant surgeon suggests that they should harvest the body's organs before contacting the family.

Soon, another patient arrives, left paraplegic from another incident of gang violence. The patient warns that the opposing gang will be coming into the hospital to get him. A family member of John Doe #3 has been contacted and they refuse to allow the organs to be donated. Soon after, John Doe #3 dies from complications and the surgeon berates Tom. The situation overwhelms Tom causing him to feel guilty for the patient's death.

Dr. Watson realizes Tom is about to make a foolish decision and follows him down into the depths of the hospital cellars to stop him from entering a door labelled “The July Ward.” She insists John Doe #3's death was not his fault and that the surgeon was overly accusatory. Watson tells Tom about her own mistake and the patient who died because she failed to recognize a case of rhabdomyolysis. Tom and Dr. Watson return to the hospital floors.

Two gunmen soon arrive to assassinate the paraplegic patient and throw the hospital into havoc. Dr. Watson escapes the ward and the two men follow her back into the hospital's underground floors. They chase her through rooms with preserved body parts and specimens until she turns and enters the door labelled “The July Ward.”

In this ghostly ward, orderlies attend to neat and clean rows of patients in beds. Dr. Watson stops to visit the first patient she killed, apologizes once more, then compliments healthcare workers. The two gunmen are apprehended by the ghost staff and Dr. Watson recalls that “only two kinds of people may enter the July Ward— doctors, and the dead. And only the doctors may leave.” [2]

Themes

“The July Ward” draws on traditional Gothic imagery that "mixes medical technology with the classic ghost story." [3]

The title is a reference to the July effect, a controversial observation that most hospital observe a spike in patient deaths when newly graduated physicians begin their residency.

Reception

Mark Pitcavage at The Washington Post wrote: "S.N. Dyer's "The July Ward" is a moving account of the guilt physicians feel over preventable deaths." [4] The story, "deals poignantly and chillingly with the issue of doctors' fallibility." wrote James Morrow in the introduction to Nebula Awards 28 . [5] The editors of Isaac Asimov's Ghosts , Gardner Dozois and Sheila Williams, describe the story as "harrowing and profoundly disturbing." [6]

Reprint

The story appeared in several subsequent anthologies including the Isaac Asimov's Ghosts in 1995 and A Women's Liberation , edited by Sheila Williams and Connie Willis, in 2001.

Translations

The story was translated in Polish in 1997 under the title "Oddział lipcowy" [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frederik Pohl</span> American science fiction writer and editor

Frederik George Pohl Jr. was an American science-fiction writer, editor, and fan, with a career spanning nearly 75 years—from his first published work, the 1937 poem "Elegy to a Dead Satellite: Luna", to the 2011 novel All the Lives He Led.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gardner Dozois</span> American science fiction author and editor (1947–2018)

Gardner Raymond Dozois was an American science fiction author and editor. He was the founding editor of The Year's Best Science Fiction anthologies (1984–2018) and was editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine (1986–2004), garnering multiple Hugo and Locus Awards for those works almost every year. He also won the Nebula Award for Best Short Story twice. He was inducted to the Science Fiction Hall of Fame on June 25, 2011.

<i>Asimovs Science Fiction</i> American science fiction magazine

Asimov's Science Fiction is an American science fiction magazine published by Penny Press and edited by Sheila Williams. It was launched as a quarterly by Davis Publications in 1977, after obtaining Isaac Asimov's consent for the use of his name. It was originally titled Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and was quickly successful, reaching a circulation of over 100,000 within a year, and switching to monthly publication within a couple of years. George H. Scithers, the first editor, published many new writers who went on to be successful in the genre. Scithers favored traditional stories without sex or obscenity; along with frequent humorous stories this gave Asimov's a reputation for printing juvenile fiction, despite its success. Asimov was not part of the editorial team, but wrote editorials for the magazine.

George H. Scithers was an American science fiction fan, author and editor.

Shawna Lee McCarthy is an American science fiction and fantasy editor and literary agent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Science fiction magazine</span> Publication that offers primarily science fiction

A science fiction magazine is a publication that offers primarily science fiction, either in a hard-copy periodical format or on the Internet. Science fiction magazines traditionally featured speculative fiction in short story, novelette, novella or novel form, a format that continues into the present day. Many also contain editorials, book reviews or articles, and some also include stories in the fantasy and horror genres.

Martin Harry Greenberg was an American academic and anthologist in many genres, including mysteries and horror, but especially in speculative fiction. In all, he compiled 1,298 anthologies and commissioned over 8,200 original short stories. He founded Tekno Books, a packager of more than 2000 published books. He was also a co-founder of the Sci-Fi Channel. Greenberg was also an expert in terrorism and the Middle East. He was a longtime friend, colleague and business partner of Isaac Asimov.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sheila Williams</span>

Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kevin O'Donnell Jr.</span> American novelist

Kevin O'Donnell Jr. was an American science fiction author. He was the son of Kevin O'Donnell, who served as director of Peace Corps in 1971–72.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Steven Utley</span> American novelist

Steven Utley was an American writer. He wrote poems, humorous essays and other non-fiction, and worked on comic books and cartoons, but was best known for his science fiction stories.

"Getting to Know You" is a science fiction short story by American writer David Marusek, published in the March 1998 issue of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, after appearing in a privately circulated anthology prepared by Nokia in 1997. This story is also included in Marusek's 2007 short story collection Getting To Know You.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nisi Shawl</span> African-American writer, editor, and journalist

Nisi Shawl is an African-American writer, editor, and journalist. They are best known as an author of science fiction and fantasy short stories who writes and teaches about how fantastic fiction might reflect real-world diversity of gender, sexual orientation, race, colonialism, physical ability, age, and other sociocultural factors.

<i>A Womans Liberation</i>

A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures By and About Women is a collection of science fiction stories edited by the author Connie Willis and Sheila Williams. Each story was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction and/or Analog Science Fiction and Fact magazines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cat Rambo</span> Science fiction writer and editor from the United States

Cat Rambo is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and editor. Rambo uses they/them pronouns. Rambo was co-editor of Fantasy Magazine from 2007 to 2011, which earned them a 2012 World Fantasy Special Award: Non-Professional nomination. They collaborated with Jeff VanderMeer on The Surgeon's Tale and Other Stories, published in 2007.

<i>The 1986 Annual Worlds Best SF</i>

The 1986 Annual World's Best SF is an anthology of science fiction short stories edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Arthur W. Saha, the fourteenth volume in a series of nineteen. It was first published in paperback by DAW Books in June 1986, followed by a hardcover edition issued in August of the same year by the same publisher as a selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. For the hardcover edition the original cover art by Vincent Di Fate was replaced by a new cover painting by Ron Walotsky.

Rachel Swirsky is an American literary, speculative fiction and fantasy writer, poet, and editor living in Oregon. She was the founding editor of the PodCastle podcast and served as editor from 2008 to 2010. She served as vice president of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America in 2013.

<i>Nebula Awards Showcase</i> Series of annual science fiction and fantasy anthologies

Nebula Award Showcase is a series of annual science fiction and fantasy anthologies collecting stories that have won or been nominated for the Nebula Award, awarded by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA), a nonprofit association of professional science fiction and fantasy writers founded in 1965 by Damon Knight as the Science Fiction Writers of America.

<i>Nebula Award Stories 7</i>

Nebula Award Stories 7 is an anthology of award-winning science fiction short works edited by Lloyd Biggle, Jr. It was first published in the United Kingdom in hardcover by Gollancz in November 1972. The first American edition was published by Harper & Row in January 1973; a Science Fiction Book Club edition, also in hardcover, followed in March of the same year. Paperback editions followed from Harrow Books in the U.S. in 1973, and Panther in the U.K. in December 1974. The American editions bore the variant title Nebula Award Stories Seven. The book has also been published in German.

<i>The Nebula Awards 19</i> 1984 science fiction anthology

The Nebula Awards #19 is an anthology of award winning science fiction short works edited by Marta Randall. It was first published in hardcover by Arbor House in December 1984.

Sarah Pinsker is an American science fiction and fantasy author. She is a nine-time finalist for the Nebula Award, and her debut novel A Song for a New Day won the 2019 Nebula for Best Novel while her story Our Lady of the Open Road won 2016 award for Best Novelette. Her novelette "Two Truths and a Lie" received both the Nebula Award and the Hugo Award. Her fiction has also won the Philip K. Dick Award, the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award and been a finalist for the Hugo, World Fantasy, and Tiptree Awards.

References

  1. ↑ "The July Ward". Nebula Awards. SFWA. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  2. ↑ Dyer, S. N. (1991). The July Ward. Asimov's Science Fiction.
  3. ↑ Willis, Connie; Williams, Sheila, eds. (2001). A Woman's Liberation (First ed.). New York: Penny Publications. p. xiv. ISBN   0-446-67742-6.
  4. ↑ Pitcavage, Mark (May 29, 1994). "Master of the Universe". The Washington Post. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  5. ↑ Morrow, James (1994). Nebula Awards 28: SFWA's Choices for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year. San Diego, CA: Harcourt Brace & Co. p. xii. ISBN   0151000824.
  6. ↑ Dozois, Gardner; Williams, Sheila, eds. (1995). Isaac Asimov's Ghosts (First ed.). New York, NY: Ace Book. p. 103. ISBN   0-441-00254-4.
  7. ↑ "Oddział lipcowy". The Internet Speculative Fiction Database. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.