Scan barcode
A review by standback
Asimov's Science Fiction, March/April 2017 by Gregory Frost, Suzanne Palmer, Ian Creasey, Sarah Pinsker, Gregory Norman Bossert, Sheila Williams, Andrea M. Pawley, Terry Bisson, Will McIntosh, Dale Bailey, Ian R. McLeod, Rich Larson, Alan Smale, Damien Broderick, Bill Johnson
2.0
New reader and, alas, disappointed by this issue. Some good stories -- but a lot of stories that left me cold, or worse, frustrated and disappointed.
Standout stories:
"Kitty Hawk," by Alan Smale. Uses alternate history to craft a firm, understated character piece.
When Wilbur Wright dies testing the famous flying apparatus, his sister Katherine finds herself stepping into his shoes -- including taking to the skies. The character dynamics are terrific. Fair warning -- this story has little that's SFnal, beyond using familiar historical characters for its premise. But then, that's hardly a flaw.
"After the Atrocity," by Ian Creasy. The inventor of cloning technology is uneasy about the uses to which it's put.
A crunchy SF story which makes very good use of its tropes, playing with several different angles of cloning, swiftly and effectively.
I also enjoyed:
"Number Thirty-Nine Skink," by Suzanne Palmer. Kadey, an abandoned bio-seeding robot, trundles across the planet it was supposed to be exploring and terraforming. I often feel stranded-alone stories can be a little dull, because there's no potential for interacting with anybody. But in this story, Kadey's relationships with those who have abandoned it are so central and vivid, that's no obstacle at all.
(As an aside, the Earth corporation that abandoned Kadey is made out to be bad guys, buuut Kadey's behavior actually justifies 'em pretty well...)
"A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension," by Andrea M. Pawley. A sweet story with the strong voice. Olive is an adopted robot, rescued from junking, who's about to get a baby sister.
----
Of the remaining stories, some simply didn't grab me. But a lot of them were outright frustrating.
"Soulmates.com," Will McIntosh -- I feel like you shouldn't be able to get away with a story THIS Genre-Blind in a genre magazine. The protagonist is clueless and callous. I spent most of the story wanting to yell at him. Alas, "clueless guy fails to understand the obvious" is pretty much all the story has to offer.
(Also, the relationships here are AWFUL. This is kind of lampshaded and even made a plot point, so... slightly less awful?)
"Three Can Keep A Secret...", Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost -- An SF-nal caper story. These can be lighthearted fun, but this one really creaked for me. The selling points seem to be the protagonist's absolute, in-your-face chutzpah ("I am naked! Can you all see me? I am NAKED!", he yells, and shoves his behind in a security guard's face. This is his method for passing unscrutinized through a strip search), and an endless array of outright magical gadgets -- controllable clones; controlling people's behavior; teleportation -- that nobody else in the world has ever heard of. The result is much less a daring, ingenious heist, and much more a kind of self-congratulating story, with the cards all stacked in the scoundrel's favor.
"Tao Zero," Damien Broderick -- This is one of those stories that feels like it's throwing everything at the wall, hoping something will stick ("I realize that I have left any readers of this brief memoir dangling absurdly between my tesseract adventure, the fall of the Infinite Corridor, the tale of Bandaid my excellent robot dog, and my parents' passage into the Tao..."). Nothing really does.
It starts out promisingly, teasing us with an interesting family dynamic, a structure mirroring the Tao Te Ching, and attempts to tame the mysteries of the Tao.
But this story is long (at 40 pages), and though it insinuiates great mysteries, it's mostly got its protagonists running pointlessly to and fro. For all that the Ways of the Tao are Mysterious, every time it's actually used it seems as straightforward and firmly-controlled as a high-level D&D spell, and with no unexpected results. (Eventually, the Mysteriousness seems more and more like an excuse not to use those spells over and over.) It's also really choppy -- introducing a second protagonist halfway in (why?), a pointless villain in the last few pages. Not recommended.
"We Regret The Error," Terry Bisson -- Frustrating gimmick story. Did NOT work for me.
Written as a compilation of newspaper corrections, it forces you to decode what's going on, via opaque and tangential references. Not a bad thought, but here it's mostly frustrating, and just does a really poor job building up to its punchline.
"The Wisdom of the Group," Ian R. McLeod -- Starts out well, with a lot of intrigue and suspicion, and the compelling idea of using the wisdom of the crowds as a means of prediction.
But then ut slides into a pretty standard "here, have a prophecy" story. Like "Tao Zero," there's a lot of expectations built up for this kind of supernatural to be different in nature than typical uses of the trope -- but then, no, it's actually pretty bog-standard. I enjoyed, but the opening had me hoping for something more unique from the opening.
"Goner," Gregory Norman Bossert -- Iiiinteresting. I didn't really understand the premise of the "pilots" much at all. Strong visuals, though, and the heart of the story is clear even if the details aren't.
I particularly liked the "permission slip" in order to be able to go hear a pilot speak. Gives you a strong sense of how things stand.
"Cupido," Rich Larson -- The idea of this kind of pheromone-expert for hire is intriguing (and terrifying), and Larson gives it some very nice touches. I like that Marcel doesn't feel invulnerable -- the world's legitimately fighting back against the things he and his ilk do.
The actual plot that plays out is pretty meh. But it's serviceable, in order to get across the central idea and character.
"Invasion of the Saucer-Men," Dale Bailey -- An intensely dislikable main character. Turning this story over in my head trying to figure out how much I'm meant to dislike him (at least quite a bit; possibly with the heat of a thousand suns), because other than that, the story is good and engaging.
Maybe part of my problem with this one is how uneven it is. It starts out sounding like a parody -- "Now here's the thing: teenagers had been foiling alien invasions for months by then. There had been a real run on them lately, and who else was going to do it? Adults?" But by the end, it's the tragic story of some horny teenagers who discover what horrors they are capable off. It... doesn't match. At all. The protagonist of the first half might be a lovable goof, whereas the second half's protagonist is a monster.
The focus on sex and hormones is... realistic and almost lovable, in some ways. Kind of cheap, in others. The story is kind of mocking it, but also definitely using it to titillate the reader and draw them in.
"The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going," Sarah Pinsker -- A twist on Le Guin's classic "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," with the sacrificial boy as POV.
I'm a big fan of Pinsker's, but in this piece, I feel like she sidesteps most of what makes Omelas resonant, powerful, aching. Pinsker here presents something that feels like the opposite of the utilitarianism Omelas skewers -- putting on a pedestal the suffering of one individual; valorizing it, making it the most important thing in the world. To me, that seems just as warped as Omelas - but the story seems fully behind the premise.
I guess this piece feels to me more like a riff on Omelas, than actually being in any kind of dialogue with it. A reference, not a continuation. That's... not such a bad thing! But Omelas is a hell of a story, and I feel this piece demands a sort of comparison, which it doesn't stand very well.
---
Lastly, kudos to Peter Heck, whose book review column was very enticing! He really got right to the heart of each book right away -- succinctly describing what makes each book intriguing. My TBR list continues to grow...
Standout stories:
"Kitty Hawk," by Alan Smale. Uses alternate history to craft a firm, understated character piece.
When Wilbur Wright dies testing the famous flying apparatus, his sister Katherine finds herself stepping into his shoes -- including taking to the skies. The character dynamics are terrific. Fair warning -- this story has little that's SFnal, beyond using familiar historical characters for its premise. But then, that's hardly a flaw.
"After the Atrocity," by Ian Creasy. The inventor of cloning technology is uneasy about the uses to which it's put.
A crunchy SF story which makes very good use of its tropes, playing with several different angles of cloning, swiftly and effectively.
I also enjoyed:
"Number Thirty-Nine Skink," by Suzanne Palmer. Kadey, an abandoned bio-seeding robot, trundles across the planet it was supposed to be exploring and terraforming. I often feel stranded-alone stories can be a little dull, because there's no potential for interacting with anybody. But in this story, Kadey's relationships with those who have abandoned it are so central and vivid, that's no obstacle at all.
(As an aside, the Earth corporation that abandoned Kadey is made out to be bad guys, buuut Kadey's behavior actually justifies 'em pretty well...)
"A Singular Event in the Fourth Dimension," by Andrea M. Pawley. A sweet story with the strong voice. Olive is an adopted robot, rescued from junking, who's about to get a baby sister.
----
Of the remaining stories, some simply didn't grab me. But a lot of them were outright frustrating.
"Soulmates.com," Will McIntosh -- I feel like you shouldn't be able to get away with a story THIS Genre-Blind in a genre magazine. The protagonist is clueless and callous. I spent most of the story wanting to yell at him. Alas, "clueless guy fails to understand the obvious" is pretty much all the story has to offer.
(Also, the relationships here are AWFUL. This is kind of lampshaded and even made a plot point, so... slightly less awful?)
"Three Can Keep A Secret...", Bill Johnson & Gregory Frost -- An SF-nal caper story. These can be lighthearted fun, but this one really creaked for me. The selling points seem to be the protagonist's absolute, in-your-face chutzpah ("I am naked! Can you all see me? I am NAKED!", he yells, and shoves his behind in a security guard's face. This is his method for passing unscrutinized through a strip search), and an endless array of outright magical gadgets -- controllable clones; controlling people's behavior; teleportation -- that nobody else in the world has ever heard of. The result is much less a daring, ingenious heist, and much more a kind of self-congratulating story, with the cards all stacked in the scoundrel's favor.
"Tao Zero," Damien Broderick -- This is one of those stories that feels like it's throwing everything at the wall, hoping something will stick ("I realize that I have left any readers of this brief memoir dangling absurdly between my tesseract adventure, the fall of the Infinite Corridor, the tale of Bandaid my excellent robot dog, and my parents' passage into the Tao..."). Nothing really does.
It starts out promisingly, teasing us with an interesting family dynamic, a structure mirroring the Tao Te Ching, and attempts to tame the mysteries of the Tao.
But this story is long (at 40 pages), and though it insinuiates great mysteries, it's mostly got its protagonists running pointlessly to and fro. For all that the Ways of the Tao are Mysterious, every time it's actually used it seems as straightforward and firmly-controlled as a high-level D&D spell, and with no unexpected results. (Eventually, the Mysteriousness seems more and more like an excuse not to use those spells over and over.) It's also really choppy -- introducing a second protagonist halfway in (why?), a pointless villain in the last few pages. Not recommended.
"We Regret The Error," Terry Bisson -- Frustrating gimmick story. Did NOT work for me.
Written as a compilation of newspaper corrections, it forces you to decode what's going on, via opaque and tangential references. Not a bad thought, but here it's mostly frustrating, and just does a really poor job building up to its punchline.
"The Wisdom of the Group," Ian R. McLeod -- Starts out well, with a lot of intrigue and suspicion, and the compelling idea of using the wisdom of the crowds as a means of prediction.
But then ut slides into a pretty standard "here, have a prophecy" story. Like "Tao Zero," there's a lot of expectations built up for this kind of supernatural to be different in nature than typical uses of the trope -- but then, no, it's actually pretty bog-standard. I enjoyed, but the opening had me hoping for something more unique from the opening.
"Goner," Gregory Norman Bossert -- Iiiinteresting. I didn't really understand the premise of the "pilots" much at all. Strong visuals, though, and the heart of the story is clear even if the details aren't.
I particularly liked the "permission slip" in order to be able to go hear a pilot speak. Gives you a strong sense of how things stand.
"Cupido," Rich Larson -- The idea of this kind of pheromone-expert for hire is intriguing (and terrifying), and Larson gives it some very nice touches. I like that Marcel doesn't feel invulnerable -- the world's legitimately fighting back against the things he and his ilk do.
The actual plot that plays out is pretty meh. But it's serviceable, in order to get across the central idea and character.
"Invasion of the Saucer-Men," Dale Bailey -- An intensely dislikable main character. Turning this story over in my head trying to figure out how much I'm meant to dislike him (at least quite a bit; possibly with the heat of a thousand suns), because other than that, the story is good and engaging.
Maybe part of my problem with this one is how uneven it is. It starts out sounding like a parody -- "Now here's the thing: teenagers had been foiling alien invasions for months by then. There had been a real run on them lately, and who else was going to do it? Adults?" But by the end, it's the tragic story of some horny teenagers who discover what horrors they are capable off. It... doesn't match. At all. The protagonist of the first half might be a lovable goof, whereas the second half's protagonist is a monster.
The focus on sex and hormones is... realistic and almost lovable, in some ways. Kind of cheap, in others. The story is kind of mocking it, but also definitely using it to titillate the reader and draw them in.
"The Ones Who Know Where They Are Going," Sarah Pinsker -- A twist on Le Guin's classic "The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas," with the sacrificial boy as POV.
I'm a big fan of Pinsker's, but in this piece, I feel like she sidesteps most of what makes Omelas resonant, powerful, aching. Pinsker here presents something that feels like the opposite of the utilitarianism Omelas skewers -- putting on a pedestal the suffering of one individual; valorizing it, making it the most important thing in the world. To me, that seems just as warped as Omelas - but the story seems fully behind the premise.
I guess this piece feels to me more like a riff on Omelas, than actually being in any kind of dialogue with it. A reference, not a continuation. That's... not such a bad thing! But Omelas is a hell of a story, and I feel this piece demands a sort of comparison, which it doesn't stand very well.
---
Lastly, kudos to Peter Heck, whose book review column was very enticing! He really got right to the heart of each book right away -- succinctly describing what makes each book intriguing. My TBR list continues to grow...