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triscuit807's review
4.0
Janet Kagan died too soon and underappreciated. I love her novels "Uhura's Song" (the best Star Trek novel ever, and it stars Uhura!) and "Hellspark", and the linked story novel "Mirabile". This collection of short stories and novelettes is just that...an anthology and as such it is a bit uneven and lacking in theme. Kagan is best known for her her sense of humor combined with her exploration of alien cultures (like her novel Mirabile), and I think those stories are among the best in the collection (Winging It, Fighting Words, The Nutcracker Coup, Face Time). Also very enjoyable are the ones with her wry sense of humor (the Xmas ones, e.g. Christmas Winding and Standing in the Spirit, The Last of a Vintage Year, Standing in the Spirit, and The Stubbornest Broad on Earth). I'm still not sure what to make of Naked Wish Fulfillment (unicorns at a porn filming), but it was amusing if startling. And then there is the harshness of No Known Cure, censorship, AIDS and public gay trial complete with stonings - that was the most atypical story in the book. The other stories are good too, but less remarkable. I would have read this anyway, but it fits in my 2016 Reading Challenge "read a collection of stories by one person" (Read Harder 2015).
tyrshand's review
5.0
It's such a bittersweet feeling to finish all of an author's published works after they've passed away. I'm not quite there, as I have Uhura's Song to go (and I wonder if it will sit on my shelf unread with my last Octavia Butler books...), but I'm nearing that feeling, you know? Just one step more before I have no more Kagan to read...
So I get the impression that this collection is just what was out there to be published. Maybe there are stories that didn't make the cut, but I'd be surprised if that were the case. See, this isn't a unified collection either in style or tone. My favorites are the ones that lie somewhere between her Miracle and Hellspark novels in type. These are the fascinating explorations of alien cultures and have varying levels of humor. She does tend towards joy and humor, however, even when satirizing the politics of the day (not that all those political issues and prejudices have vanished today). In fact, that level of joy is so prevalent that the a story near the end left the "clean" nature of the others and explored a porn set, I quickly stopped being surprised and began waiting for the twist of joy that would enter the plot (and it did). A few of the stories are darker because of their subject matter, but these typically made me feel that Kagan is someone I would have liked to know. And then there was one political one that didn't resonate with me at all -- it centered on a politician from my childhood, so I did not really have more than vague context for him. However, with recent news stories, that particular story resonates better because I could easily sort in some current politicians and it would work perfectly.
I guess other than the very few stories that didn't pull me in completely, my only real critique is that I wouldn't have chosen to order the stories in the same way. The beginning had more of the stories that didn't wow me, so I'd have sprinkled them throughout a bit more (they're still worth reading, for sure!) and maybe moved a couple of the amazing alien tales up more.
So I get the impression that this collection is just what was out there to be published. Maybe there are stories that didn't make the cut, but I'd be surprised if that were the case. See, this isn't a unified collection either in style or tone. My favorites are the ones that lie somewhere between her Miracle and Hellspark novels in type. These are the fascinating explorations of alien cultures and have varying levels of humor. She does tend towards joy and humor, however, even when satirizing the politics of the day (not that all those political issues and prejudices have vanished today). In fact, that level of joy is so prevalent that the a story near the end left the "clean" nature of the others and explored a porn set, I quickly stopped being surprised and began waiting for the twist of joy that would enter the plot (and it did). A few of the stories are darker because of their subject matter, but these typically made me feel that Kagan is someone I would have liked to know. And then there was one political one that didn't resonate with me at all -- it centered on a politician from my childhood, so I did not really have more than vague context for him. However, with recent news stories, that particular story resonates better because I could easily sort in some current politicians and it would work perfectly.
I guess other than the very few stories that didn't pull me in completely, my only real critique is that I wouldn't have chosen to order the stories in the same way. The beginning had more of the stories that didn't wow me, so I'd have sprinkled them throughout a bit more (they're still worth reading, for sure!) and maybe moved a couple of the amazing alien tales up more.
kake's review
funny
fast-paced
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
I found this collection of short stories a bit disappointing after reading the author’s excellent novel Hellspark. They’re fairly standard “classic” SF, with the main exception being that they have a reasonable proportion of female characters instead of the usual bunch of men plus occasionally one (1) woman.
I found one of the stories (“Love Our Lockwood”) completely incomprehensible, as it seems to be a satire on something to do with voting in America, but I couldn’t work out what the something was. And several of the others focus on overly simplistic solutions to complex political problems, which isn’t really my thing.
I found one of the stories (“Love Our Lockwood”) completely incomprehensible, as it seems to be a satire on something to do with voting in America, but I couldn’t work out what the something was. And several of the others focus on overly simplistic solutions to complex political problems, which isn’t really my thing.
ajaylis's review
4.0
Stories in this collection: all great Kagan, but some a little greater.
1. No known cure - unsettling re homophobia
2. Love our Lockwood
3. Space cadet
4. How first women stole language from Tuli-Tuli the beast
5. The last of the vintage year
6. Out on Front street
7. From the dead letter office
8. Mischief in the spaceways - forward to James H Schmitz writing ++
9. Faith-of-the-month club
10. Winging it (ala Hellspark) +++
11. Fighting words (ala Hellspark) +++
12. She was blonde, she was dead - and only Jimmilick Opstromommo could find out why!!!
13. Face time
14. Christmas wingding ++
15. The nutcracker coup ++
16. Standing in the spirit
17. What a wizard does +++ thinking outside the box
18. Naked wish fulfillment
19. Fermat's best theorem ++
20 The stubbornest broad on earth. +++ Again, thinking outside the box, and wanting a moon
1. No known cure - unsettling re homophobia
2. Love our Lockwood
3. Space cadet
4. How first women stole language from Tuli-Tuli the beast
5. The last of the vintage year
6. Out on Front street
7. From the dead letter office
8. Mischief in the spaceways - forward to James H Schmitz writing ++
9. Faith-of-the-month club
10. Winging it (ala Hellspark) +++
11. Fighting words (ala Hellspark) +++
12. She was blonde, she was dead - and only Jimmilick Opstromommo could find out why!!!
13. Face time
14. Christmas wingding ++
15. The nutcracker coup ++
16. Standing in the spirit
17. What a wizard does +++ thinking outside the box
18. Naked wish fulfillment
19. Fermat's best theorem ++
20 The stubbornest broad on earth. +++ Again, thinking outside the box, and wanting a moon
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