I read The Greatest, the second tale in Walter Mosley's 2001 short story collection Futureland, on busy Sunday afternoon.
The Greatest kicks off with a Universal Boxing authority (UBA) fight in Manhattan. The fight is between a 260-pound, 6-foot 9-inch female boxer named Fera Jones and an almost 380-pound showman/boxer named Jellyroll Gregory. There is some quick background about suspicions that Fera is the product of an outlawed genetics program called SepFem-G.
Fera was trained to fight by her father, Leon Jones, who was a history professor at the University of Massachusetts at one time. His paternity has been questioned because Leon is described as "medium brown with thick, kinky hair" while Fera is a dirty blond with "skin too dark to be Caucasian but not exactly the right coloring for Negro." The physical differences between father and daughter have added to speculation that Fera is genetically altered. Fera doesn't know anything about her mother who passed away shortly after she was born.
Fera has been through all the contenders in the Women's UBA (WUBA) and is now fighting men of the UBA in a future Battle of the Sexes. However, the main reason Fera fights is to sustain her father's Pulse habit and fund research for a cure to Pulse addiction.
Pulse is a drug that's been legalized by the government, and pulsars are people that are addicted to Pulse. The drug alters the pulsar's mind enough to allow them to take some conscious control of their dreams. They're able to build elaborate fantasy worlds where they'd rather be, and they often shut out the real world for days at a time. That's one problem with it. The more serious problem is that after 4-5 uses, the drug destroys the pulsar's brain if they don't keep getting a regular dose every 3 days. Death is currently the only cure for Pulse addiction.
Another plotline tied to the boxing is the desire of feminist organizations to have Fera help them. Because she's beating men in a man's sport, her help is sought after by the FemLeague which is a political party and Randac Corporation which has some political clout. They want her to be their poster-girl, but Fera isn't too sure about doing it. The FemLeague tries to bribe her with information about her mother but she tells them she needs time to consider it while she takes care of her father who is having a medical issue related to his Pulse addiction.
When I sat down to read this one, I was just trying to make sure I got my reading done for the day to keep my 100+ day kindle streak alive. Those of you that do this know it doesn't take too much to maintain the streak - maybe a screen or two of text depending on the font sized you're using. Despite getting interrupted for minor family things like letting the dogs outside or helping my kids with something real quick, I basically read the 32-page story in one sitting.
Mosley packs a lot of good stuff in here with several interrelated threads. While I’m I'm not a boxing fan, Mosley built a great science fiction story around boxing. Several scenes with the boxing announcers are used perfectly for giving bits of info needed to understand Fera and Leon's backstory. I appreciated that Mosley didn't get overly descriptive of the fights but did get the action across really well. The genetic engineering angle is explored a little, and the feminist faction's reactions to Fera's actions are shown but not dwelt on.
Overall, The Greatest is one of my favorite short stories that I've read in a while. I’d give it a solid 4.5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend it for a read.