Novelette by Dave Creek
Zheng He, a 15th century Chinese admiral sees a spaceship crash into the ocean and proceeds to "capture" a "dragon" which curiously enough wears boots and clothing. A nice historical first-contact, both the alien and Zheng He are well fleshed out and their interactions are great, which is good since that is the whole point of the story. The ending is particularly nice in that the scribe writing this all down after-the-fact takes entirely the wrong lesson from Zheng He's tale. Or perhaps the right one, in the eyes of the Chinese admiral. 4 out of 5 water dragons wish they had boots as sweet as Merabor's.
Showing posts with label Analog January/February 2009. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analog January/February 2009. Show all posts
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Rocks
Short Story by John G. Hemry
A series of disjointed scenes about rocks, and their utility in killing people through the ages. Starting with the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and ending with rail guns and bits of metal dropped from orbit. The changes in voice between scenes are neat, but some of them feel a bit off and most of them are distracting. This is the first Analog short story I've read that I wanted to stop reading part way through. The punchline is good but doesn't really make up for the suffering I went through to get to it. This one hit rock bottom for me: 1 out of 5
A series of disjointed scenes about rocks, and their utility in killing people through the ages. Starting with the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs and ending with rail guns and bits of metal dropped from orbit. The changes in voice between scenes are neat, but some of them feel a bit off and most of them are distracting. This is the first Analog short story I've read that I wanted to stop reading part way through. The punchline is good but doesn't really make up for the suffering I went through to get to it. This one hit rock bottom for me: 1 out of 5
Monday, December 21, 2009
Excellence
Short Story by Richard A. Lovett
A middle-aged runner trades his long term health for one last chance at athletic glory with an illegal muscle treatment. Not about cheating-and-getting-caught or the Dangers Of Steroids, this story is actually just a bittersweet last-chance-at-being-young tale. It falls short of excellence, but isn't bad; 3 out of 5
A middle-aged runner trades his long term health for one last chance at athletic glory with an illegal muscle treatment. Not about cheating-and-getting-caught or the Dangers Of Steroids, this story is actually just a bittersweet last-chance-at-being-young tale. It falls short of excellence, but isn't bad; 3 out of 5
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Doctor Alien
Novella by Rajnar Vajra
A comedic SF novella about a human psychiatrist that aliens bring up to their spaceship to diagnose other aliens that they have been unable to understand. The biggest issue anyone can have with this story is that our protagonist solves all his cases with dumb luck and lucky guesses rather than brilliant psychiatric insight; but I'm willing to forgive this because a) he is very aware of it, and paranoid he won't be so lucky in the future, and b) that isn't even remotely the point. Comedic heroes are exempt from the normal superhuman competency requirement of protagonists.
Anyway, I love the main Tsf alien traders, they have a delightful sarcasm and the based-on-old-tv/radio translations are pure gold. Several laugh-out-loud moments. Take 3.5 asprin and call me in the morning.
A comedic SF novella about a human psychiatrist that aliens bring up to their spaceship to diagnose other aliens that they have been unable to understand. The biggest issue anyone can have with this story is that our protagonist solves all his cases with dumb luck and lucky guesses rather than brilliant psychiatric insight; but I'm willing to forgive this because a) he is very aware of it, and paranoid he won't be so lucky in the future, and b) that isn't even remotely the point. Comedic heroes are exempt from the normal superhuman competency requirement of protagonists.
Anyway, I love the main Tsf alien traders, they have a delightful sarcasm and the based-on-old-tv/radio translations are pure gold. Several laugh-out-loud moments. Take 3.5 asprin and call me in the morning.
The Recovery Man's Bargain
Novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
This was a 42 page novella that at the same time flew by, and felt like it had the content and development of a full novel. I stayed up late to finish it, and yet this was my least favorite Analog novella of the year. Imagine that at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is trying out his new robo-hand when 2 dozen storm troopers show up out of nowhere, gun down the medical droid, and then are defeated by the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sort of ruins the whole movie doesn't it?
The illegal flower retrieval mission that got me interested in the first few pages ended abruptly, having served only to have the titular Recovery Man's employer act over-the-top irrationally in order to plot-shoehorn him into a mission many reasonable people would have taken just for the money. Oh, and to give him a CHEKOV'S GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD, guaranteed to be used by the end of the story or your money back.
So we drop one mission, and are given another, the plot progresses well enough, and it makes a pretty decent story. But then we're supposed to be feeling sorry for the victim of all this, who I can only describe as a complete monster. She has 0 empathy of her own, is guilty of genocide and a gristly murder by her own hands, and show 0 remorse. Yeah, I pity her having been taken from her cushy job to answer for her crimes. Now things do go a bit wrong for everyone towards the last 1/3 of the story, but I really have trouble buying the epiphany our anti-hero is supposed to be having here.
And then, out of fucking nowhere in the denouement, we have a big pointless conflict, that get's resolved by that foreshadowed deus ex machina. I guess when you write yourself an out that good, you can't not use it. Here's an idea: DON'T WRITE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Despite the rant, the middle of the story was okay, so 2 out of 5.
This was a 42 page novella that at the same time flew by, and felt like it had the content and development of a full novel. I stayed up late to finish it, and yet this was my least favorite Analog novella of the year. Imagine that at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, Luke is trying out his new robo-hand when 2 dozen storm troopers show up out of nowhere, gun down the medical droid, and then are defeated by the ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Sort of ruins the whole movie doesn't it?
The illegal flower retrieval mission that got me interested in the first few pages ended abruptly, having served only to have the titular Recovery Man's employer act over-the-top irrationally in order to plot-shoehorn him into a mission many reasonable people would have taken just for the money. Oh, and to give him a CHEKOV'S GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE CARD, guaranteed to be used by the end of the story or your money back.
So we drop one mission, and are given another, the plot progresses well enough, and it makes a pretty decent story. But then we're supposed to be feeling sorry for the victim of all this, who I can only describe as a complete monster. She has 0 empathy of her own, is guilty of genocide and a gristly murder by her own hands, and show 0 remorse. Yeah, I pity her having been taken from her cushy job to answer for her crimes. Now things do go a bit wrong for everyone towards the last 1/3 of the story, but I really have trouble buying the epiphany our anti-hero is supposed to be having here.
And then, out of fucking nowhere in the denouement, we have a big pointless conflict, that get's resolved by that foreshadowed deus ex machina. I guess when you write yourself an out that good, you can't not use it. Here's an idea: DON'T WRITE IT IN THE FIRST PLACE.
Despite the rant, the middle of the story was okay, so 2 out of 5.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)