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tpietila's review
3.0
The Quest for the Great Gray Mossy • novelette by Harry Turtledove
Mieville’s Moby Dick told as a dinosaur story. Mammals are only disgusting small critters (how irritating and disgusting they are is mentioned a few too many times). There are whale-like creatures, though. They are not mentioned to be mammals, but they behave just like whales. They produce oil, ambra, and meat, just like whales. If the mammals didn’t evolve to large creatures on dry land, where did the whales come? Other than the protagonists being lizards, there were no fantasy or SF elements at all. As I haven’t read the original, I most likely missed most of the references and found the story to be pretty boring. ***
Wheel of Echoes • short story by Sean McMullen
After some farfetched circumstances, a recording of Shakespeare acting as Hamlet is recovered. A smoothly moving nice story, but the effects of the find on Shakespearean studies is extremely hard to believe. Why would anyone really care if Shakespeare was a mediocre actor? ***+
Hive • short story by Jay Werkheiser
Humans and insectoid aliens whose entire communication and even intelligence is based on pheromones encountering each others. Both think that the other is a mindless animal. A pretty good story about a truly alien intelligence. ****-
The Greatest Day • short story by Eric Choi
An alternative history of the disaster of spaceship Columbia, where the damage was noticed midflight and an attempt was made to salvage the crew. Things don’t end as badly as in our reality. An OK story, well written, and even partly moving, but not entirely plausible at all places. ***+
Welcome to the New You: Terms and Conditions for the iCRISPR Gene-Editing Kit • short story by Douglas F. Dluzen
An advert on the home kits for crisper DNA modification. An amusing story which isn’t very far on the future (if you don’t consider the fact that changing autosomal DNA doesn’t usually cause phenotypical changes). ***+
The Grass Bows Down, the Pilgrims Walk Lightly • short story by Izzy Wasserstein
Aliens give humanity technological and scientific secrets if humans are able to solve puzzles. The protagonist tries to find out why grass “bows” on a planet and reminisces her life. A bit of a short story with a scant background. ***
All the Turns of the Earth • short story by Matthew Claxton
A youth falls to the past without an explanation and makes friends with a pterosaur. Then he falls back and always partly misses his former life. A fantasy story, not sf. Nice writing and mood, but there is not much of an actual plot. ***-
One Lost Space Suit Way • short story by A. J. Ward
An old, intelligent, and self-aware space suit runs away and has many adventures. A short story that aims for a sad, bittersweet mood and pretty much succeeds. The plot itself is partly implausible, but the story works fairly well nevertheless. ***+
Around the World in Ninety-Six Hours • short story by Wendy Nikel
A sister of two siblings is on a Venus expedition while the brother is on a Mars expedition. The Venus group is using Morse code to communicate with the ground robot vessel for some contrived reason. The siblings bicker like ten-year-olds. The brother gets into trouble on Mars. The solution to how he is rescued is pretty obvious after reading the first two pages or so. A pretty unsurprising, standard “in peril” story. ***-
Birds of a Feather • short story by Gregor Hartmann
A scientist has developed an easy way to create radio telescopes which function at space. His approach uses tiny metallic shards, millions of them, and their reflections are analyzed by a sophisticated computer program. But he doesn’t get funding. His twin brother helps him to test his idea in reality (and most likely to prevent any low orbit space flight for centuries...but that wasn’t mentioned in the story). ***
Guns Don't Kill • short story by Richard A. Lovett
Hunter tries to shoot a deer after hunting season. Game warden gets an automatic message about poaching about to happen. What happens when guns get very automatic and autonomous? A very good story, Hopefully, things go in this direction. ***½
Q-ship Militant • short story by Joel Richards
A spaceship which is a disguised warship is chasing a “slaver” ship - that is, pirates who have stolen AI cores from other ships. Just a fragment that tells the story of one such chase and battle. There was little background and little reason to care about characters or events. **½
The Shocking Truth About the Scientific Method that Privatized Schools Don't Want You to Know • novelette by Sarina Dorie
A teacher teaches in a school where the curriculum is dictated by private contributions. When the contributor supports creationism, the teaching of science is hard and frustrating. A teacher starts an extracurricular course, but the school isn’t happy about it. A pretty good and sadly plausible (at least in the US where schools seem to be in a sorry state) story. ***+
Hubble Rising • novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
A recovery attempt of Hubble space telescope ends in an accident. Everything looks bad, but a resourceful crewmember manages to save the day. Nothing which hasn’t been seen on a hundred Analog stories before. ***
Mieville’s Moby Dick told as a dinosaur story. Mammals are only disgusting small critters (how irritating and disgusting they are is mentioned a few too many times). There are whale-like creatures, though. They are not mentioned to be mammals, but they behave just like whales. They produce oil, ambra, and meat, just like whales. If the mammals didn’t evolve to large creatures on dry land, where did the whales come? Other than the protagonists being lizards, there were no fantasy or SF elements at all. As I haven’t read the original, I most likely missed most of the references and found the story to be pretty boring. ***
Wheel of Echoes • short story by Sean McMullen
After some farfetched circumstances, a recording of Shakespeare acting as Hamlet is recovered. A smoothly moving nice story, but the effects of the find on Shakespearean studies is extremely hard to believe. Why would anyone really care if Shakespeare was a mediocre actor? ***+
Hive • short story by Jay Werkheiser
Humans and insectoid aliens whose entire communication and even intelligence is based on pheromones encountering each others. Both think that the other is a mindless animal. A pretty good story about a truly alien intelligence. ****-
The Greatest Day • short story by Eric Choi
An alternative history of the disaster of spaceship Columbia, where the damage was noticed midflight and an attempt was made to salvage the crew. Things don’t end as badly as in our reality. An OK story, well written, and even partly moving, but not entirely plausible at all places. ***+
Welcome to the New You: Terms and Conditions for the iCRISPR Gene-Editing Kit • short story by Douglas F. Dluzen
An advert on the home kits for crisper DNA modification. An amusing story which isn’t very far on the future (if you don’t consider the fact that changing autosomal DNA doesn’t usually cause phenotypical changes). ***+
The Grass Bows Down, the Pilgrims Walk Lightly • short story by Izzy Wasserstein
Aliens give humanity technological and scientific secrets if humans are able to solve puzzles. The protagonist tries to find out why grass “bows” on a planet and reminisces her life. A bit of a short story with a scant background. ***
All the Turns of the Earth • short story by Matthew Claxton
A youth falls to the past without an explanation and makes friends with a pterosaur. Then he falls back and always partly misses his former life. A fantasy story, not sf. Nice writing and mood, but there is not much of an actual plot. ***-
One Lost Space Suit Way • short story by A. J. Ward
An old, intelligent, and self-aware space suit runs away and has many adventures. A short story that aims for a sad, bittersweet mood and pretty much succeeds. The plot itself is partly implausible, but the story works fairly well nevertheless. ***+
Around the World in Ninety-Six Hours • short story by Wendy Nikel
A sister of two siblings is on a Venus expedition while the brother is on a Mars expedition. The Venus group is using Morse code to communicate with the ground robot vessel for some contrived reason. The siblings bicker like ten-year-olds. The brother gets into trouble on Mars. The solution to how he is rescued is pretty obvious after reading the first two pages or so. A pretty unsurprising, standard “in peril” story. ***-
Birds of a Feather • short story by Gregor Hartmann
A scientist has developed an easy way to create radio telescopes which function at space. His approach uses tiny metallic shards, millions of them, and their reflections are analyzed by a sophisticated computer program. But he doesn’t get funding. His twin brother helps him to test his idea in reality (and most likely to prevent any low orbit space flight for centuries...but that wasn’t mentioned in the story). ***
Guns Don't Kill • short story by Richard A. Lovett
Hunter tries to shoot a deer after hunting season. Game warden gets an automatic message about poaching about to happen. What happens when guns get very automatic and autonomous? A very good story, Hopefully, things go in this direction. ***½
Q-ship Militant • short story by Joel Richards
A spaceship which is a disguised warship is chasing a “slaver” ship - that is, pirates who have stolen AI cores from other ships. Just a fragment that tells the story of one such chase and battle. There was little background and little reason to care about characters or events. **½
The Shocking Truth About the Scientific Method that Privatized Schools Don't Want You to Know • novelette by Sarina Dorie
A teacher teaches in a school where the curriculum is dictated by private contributions. When the contributor supports creationism, the teaching of science is hard and frustrating. A teacher starts an extracurricular course, but the school isn’t happy about it. A pretty good and sadly plausible (at least in the US where schools seem to be in a sorry state) story. ***+
Hubble Rising • novelette by C. Stuart Hardwick
A recovery attempt of Hubble space telescope ends in an accident. Everything looks bad, but a resourceful crewmember manages to save the day. Nothing which hasn’t been seen on a hundred Analog stories before. ***
oleksandr's review
3.0
This is the first 2020 issue of the SF magazine with the highest subscription. I never before have read any of the issues, and it was quite a surprise for me, for the works, while not always great, are much closer to the old style SF with which I grew up than the modern stuff, which more often than not re-imagines one or another hot topic of the US socio-political activism. These in no way means that these themes aren’t important, just that the sense of wander, learning-by-reading and such are often absent.
So, without further ado here is a detailed breakdown of the works, as they are set in the table contents:
90TH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE REPRINT: THE ASTRONAUT FROM WYOMING, Adam-Troy Castro & Jerry Oltion To celebrate its 90th anniversary, the magazine will publish 6 stories, one per decade from 1940s to 1990s. as expected, such selection is very high quality, the best piece for a decade usually means an award nominated/winning work. This one was nominated for Hugo for the Best Novella and rightly so. In Wyoming a child is born, which looks like a poster alien – big head, thin long fingers, holes instead of a nose, eyes w/o whites. And this is the near future (think our present), when
It was an age when the Universe had been opened for us. We knew how to look at objects a thousand light-years away and map the molecules that gave them form; we knew how things were put together and how they could be taken apart; we knew how the Universe began and how it was likely to end. We knew how to reason, and how to discover, and how to add new pages to our increasing store of information.
It was also an age when ignorance was enshrined over knowledge. Every local newspaper contained a horoscope. World leaders consulted astrologers; psychic hotlines made millions; and a United States Senator gained ten points in the polls by claiming to have been in contact with Ancient Aztecs. We knew what comets were, where they came from, and what they didn't foretell.. . but in a compound in San Diego, thirty-seven intelligent, college-educated people took poison because they believed that a comet called Hale-Bopp would take them to heaven if they did.
A great story about this boy with a genetic abnormality growing up, while there are so many quacks around.
5*
NOVELETTES:
THE QUEST FOR THE GREAT GRAY MOSSY, Harry Turtledove a version of [b:Moby-Dick or, the Whale|153747|Moby-Dick or, the Whale|Herman Melville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327940656l/153747._SY75_.jpg|2409320], set in alt-history where humanity is replaced by sentient anthropomorphic descendants of dinosaurs and mammals are just little pets. Nothing original that I can see… 1*
THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD THAT PRIVATIZED SCHOOLS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW, Sarina Dorie a science teacher that has to teach biology is a school, where her class is sponsored by creationists, while other teachers face similar problems, e.g. in arts the teacher is barred to show any religious art (this one is sponsored by atheists) or health class sponsored by tobacco company. The protagonist makes everything to still teach pupils. A very nice piece, can be viewed as a satire. 4*
HUBBLE RISING, C. Stuart Hardwick the famous Hubble satellite should be shifted to a higher orbit, but something got wrong. A heroine with a psychological issue has to overcome her fears to save herself. Quite tech-detailed but weak as a story. 2*
SHORT STORIES:
WHEEL OF ECHOES, Sean McMullen a version of clockwork recording device akin to a Bell’s dictation machine made in 1599 and having a voice of [a:William Shakespeare|947|William Shakespeare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1586700347p2/947.jpg]. How will it change the views on the author, on which so many careers in English lit are made? 2.5*
HIVE, Jay Werkheiser a first contact story, where aliens communicate by pheromones and face a wall while trying to understand humans. 3*
THE GREATEST DAY, Eric Choi an alt-history, where there is an attempt to prevent the 2003 catastrophe of the Space Shuttle Columbia, based on true documents from NASA – a fictionized version of what could have been done, great in details about how little we can do if something goes wrong on the orbit, even 50 years after a man stepped on the Moon. Mind-sobering, but weak as a story. 2*
BULKHEADS MAKE THE BEST NEIGHBORS, Ian Randal Strock a short piece about rebels from Earth orbit fighting for independence with methods similar to classic [b:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|16690|The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|Robert A. Heinlein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348768309l/16690._SY75_.jpg|1048525]. 2.5*
WELCOME TO THE NEW YOU: TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE ICRISPR GENE-EDITING KIT, Douglas F. Dluzen a fictional advertisement for improving your genes. 3.5*
THE GRASS BOWS DOWN, THE PILGRIMS WALK LIGHTLY, Izzy Wasserstein a planet where grass bows before pilgrims and an Earth scientist find why this happens. 2.5*
ALL THE TURNS OF THE EARTH, Matthew Claxton a boy drops in the pat to dinos, befriends a flyer to escape. 2*
ONE LOST SPACE SUIT WAY, A.J. Ward an AI-controlled space suit runs away on a colony planet after finding out that it will be sold. It wanders around for many years. A nice ide and execution. 3.5*
AROUND A WORLD IN NINETY-SIX HOURS, Wendy Nikel Siblings on Mars and Venus decide to test, who can circumvent their globe faster; one of them after a rush mistake is stranded beyond help. A tad predictable solution. 2.5*
BIRDS OF A FEATHER, Gregor Hartmann an alternative to a space telescope – a cloud of dust, which forms picture like water drops in the air form rainbow. A scientist tried to launch it, an official bureaucracy prevents him, but his nerd friends help him. 2*
GUNS DON’T KILL, Richard A. Lovett guns with AI that ought to help aiming actually stop owners from criminal acts. 3*
Q-SHIP MILITANT, Joel Richards sentiment ship with a human team helps to liberate other ships from slavers, who think that AIs should serve humans. A nice idea. 3*
PROBABILITY ZERO: THE EVOLUTIONARY ALICE, Rachel Rodman [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|24213|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|Lewis Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872220l/24213._SY75_.jpg|2375385] with pieces of evolutionary biology, like “As Alice left off, coughing, the Caterpillar launched haughtily into a new subject: embryonic development. And he maintained that, as an arthropod-and, more particularly, as protostome-he was fundamentally superior, since the first opening to his digestive tract, as an embryo, had been his mouth.” Fun. 3*
SCIENCE FACT: MAKING WAVES: THE INVENTIONS OF JOHN W. CAMPBELL, Alec Nevala-Lee & Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. a patent by Campbell to create a wave as it was drawn – oscilloscope in reverse
SAVING COLUMBIA: AN IN-FLIGHT OPTIONS ASSESSMENT, Eric Choi add on to the story The Greatest Day
So, without further ado here is a detailed breakdown of the works, as they are set in the table contents:
90TH ANNIVERSARY RETROSPECTIVE REPRINT: THE ASTRONAUT FROM WYOMING, Adam-Troy Castro & Jerry Oltion To celebrate its 90th anniversary, the magazine will publish 6 stories, one per decade from 1940s to 1990s. as expected, such selection is very high quality, the best piece for a decade usually means an award nominated/winning work. This one was nominated for Hugo for the Best Novella and rightly so. In Wyoming a child is born, which looks like a poster alien – big head, thin long fingers, holes instead of a nose, eyes w/o whites. And this is the near future (think our present), when
It was an age when the Universe had been opened for us. We knew how to look at objects a thousand light-years away and map the molecules that gave them form; we knew how things were put together and how they could be taken apart; we knew how the Universe began and how it was likely to end. We knew how to reason, and how to discover, and how to add new pages to our increasing store of information.
It was also an age when ignorance was enshrined over knowledge. Every local newspaper contained a horoscope. World leaders consulted astrologers; psychic hotlines made millions; and a United States Senator gained ten points in the polls by claiming to have been in contact with Ancient Aztecs. We knew what comets were, where they came from, and what they didn't foretell.. . but in a compound in San Diego, thirty-seven intelligent, college-educated people took poison because they believed that a comet called Hale-Bopp would take them to heaven if they did.
A great story about this boy with a genetic abnormality growing up, while there are so many quacks around.
5*
NOVELETTES:
THE QUEST FOR THE GREAT GRAY MOSSY, Harry Turtledove a version of [b:Moby-Dick or, the Whale|153747|Moby-Dick or, the Whale|Herman Melville|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327940656l/153747._SY75_.jpg|2409320], set in alt-history where humanity is replaced by sentient anthropomorphic descendants of dinosaurs and mammals are just little pets. Nothing original that I can see… 1*
THE SHOCKING TRUTH ABOUT THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD THAT PRIVATIZED SCHOOLS DON’T WANT YOU TO KNOW, Sarina Dorie a science teacher that has to teach biology is a school, where her class is sponsored by creationists, while other teachers face similar problems, e.g. in arts the teacher is barred to show any religious art (this one is sponsored by atheists) or health class sponsored by tobacco company. The protagonist makes everything to still teach pupils. A very nice piece, can be viewed as a satire. 4*
HUBBLE RISING, C. Stuart Hardwick the famous Hubble satellite should be shifted to a higher orbit, but something got wrong. A heroine with a psychological issue has to overcome her fears to save herself. Quite tech-detailed but weak as a story. 2*
SHORT STORIES:
WHEEL OF ECHOES, Sean McMullen a version of clockwork recording device akin to a Bell’s dictation machine made in 1599 and having a voice of [a:William Shakespeare|947|William Shakespeare|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1586700347p2/947.jpg]. How will it change the views on the author, on which so many careers in English lit are made? 2.5*
HIVE, Jay Werkheiser a first contact story, where aliens communicate by pheromones and face a wall while trying to understand humans. 3*
THE GREATEST DAY, Eric Choi an alt-history, where there is an attempt to prevent the 2003 catastrophe of the Space Shuttle Columbia, based on true documents from NASA – a fictionized version of what could have been done, great in details about how little we can do if something goes wrong on the orbit, even 50 years after a man stepped on the Moon. Mind-sobering, but weak as a story. 2*
BULKHEADS MAKE THE BEST NEIGHBORS, Ian Randal Strock a short piece about rebels from Earth orbit fighting for independence with methods similar to classic [b:The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|16690|The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress|Robert A. Heinlein|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1348768309l/16690._SY75_.jpg|1048525]. 2.5*
WELCOME TO THE NEW YOU: TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR THE ICRISPR GENE-EDITING KIT, Douglas F. Dluzen a fictional advertisement for improving your genes. 3.5*
THE GRASS BOWS DOWN, THE PILGRIMS WALK LIGHTLY, Izzy Wasserstein a planet where grass bows before pilgrims and an Earth scientist find why this happens. 2.5*
ALL THE TURNS OF THE EARTH, Matthew Claxton a boy drops in the pat to dinos, befriends a flyer to escape. 2*
ONE LOST SPACE SUIT WAY, A.J. Ward an AI-controlled space suit runs away on a colony planet after finding out that it will be sold. It wanders around for many years. A nice ide and execution. 3.5*
AROUND A WORLD IN NINETY-SIX HOURS, Wendy Nikel Siblings on Mars and Venus decide to test, who can circumvent their globe faster; one of them after a rush mistake is stranded beyond help. A tad predictable solution. 2.5*
BIRDS OF A FEATHER, Gregor Hartmann an alternative to a space telescope – a cloud of dust, which forms picture like water drops in the air form rainbow. A scientist tried to launch it, an official bureaucracy prevents him, but his nerd friends help him. 2*
GUNS DON’T KILL, Richard A. Lovett guns with AI that ought to help aiming actually stop owners from criminal acts. 3*
Q-SHIP MILITANT, Joel Richards sentiment ship with a human team helps to liberate other ships from slavers, who think that AIs should serve humans. A nice idea. 3*
PROBABILITY ZERO: THE EVOLUTIONARY ALICE, Rachel Rodman [b:Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|24213|Alice's Adventures in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass|Lewis Carroll|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327872220l/24213._SY75_.jpg|2375385] with pieces of evolutionary biology, like “As Alice left off, coughing, the Caterpillar launched haughtily into a new subject: embryonic development. And he maintained that, as an arthropod-and, more particularly, as protostome-he was fundamentally superior, since the first opening to his digestive tract, as an embryo, had been his mouth.” Fun. 3*
SCIENCE FACT: MAKING WAVES: THE INVENTIONS OF JOHN W. CAMPBELL, Alec Nevala-Lee & Edward M. Wysocki, Jr. a patent by Campbell to create a wave as it was drawn – oscilloscope in reverse
SAVING COLUMBIA: AN IN-FLIGHT OPTIONS ASSESSMENT, Eric Choi add on to the story The Greatest Day
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