"England Underway" by Terry Bisson

The idea of the story is astonishing. The whole Britain Island sets sail westward with the south side as bow and the Scotland side as stern. Ireland does not follow the main island, but remains.

BBC announces that Britain is underway. The destination turns out to be New York, where the protagonist, Mr. Fox meets his niece, Emily. Then, the island resumes sailing, this time, to south by southwest, meaning it is not bound for the original place.

The story does not tell scientifically why and how the island comes to move. Komatsu Sakyo’s “Nihon Chinbotsu” (Sinking Japan) explains how and why Japan sinks with a lot of scientific supporting materials (seismology and geophysics). Since it is a fiction, it is nonsense to demand the scientific theories. The reader should just enjoy the story.

The interesting scenes are: people in the small islands (British territory) in the Atlantic Ocean line on the beach and salute the moving England; when England reaches New York, it brings fog and rain to the big city; and the letter from Emily reaches one day and then two days earlier than usual, because the distance from the sailing England and New York is constantly shrinking.

However, I am disappointed because nothing special happens except that England sails to New York so that Mr. Fox meets Emily. And that is all about the story. You can sail to New York by boat. The whole England Island doesn’t have to move so that Mr. Fox meets Emily. The plot itself is unbelievable, but something more, something unexpected should happen during the voyage. The ending is suggestive, for it does not hint where it is heading for.