Helping Them Take the Old Man Down

Novelette by William Preston

I've said before that it seems like every other Asimov's/Analog story lately is a tribute to the pulps. It frequently bugs me, but this particular tribute is a thoughtful, interesting tribute, where it doesn't matter at all if you know who it is referencing or anything about him. Either you get the reference or you don't and the difference is a small bit of "oh-I-get-your-reference" enjoyment, but trivial as compared to enjoyment of the story.

So Lanny is a college professor who used to help a pulp-style hero, now referred to as "The Old Man" in various fantastic plots. They had a whole secret organization helping to foil supervillians, back in the day. But Lanny has been retired from the business for years. After the 9/11 attack, the NSA comes to Lanny looking to hunt down The Old Man, as he vacated his offices in the World Trade Center just a month before, seeming to know about the attack, but neither attempted to foil it, nor alerted anyone.

Lots of hemming and hawing and reminiscing about past adventures, but Lanny eventually betrays his old boss/friend. I'm not sure I completely buy Lanny's betrayal. I don't really see the motive for it, especially as he is supposed to be fairly tough and adventurous, despite the rampant self-doubt. The Old Man certainly knew Lanny would be the one to betray him, and planned for that eventuality, but I saw little reason for it, or foreshadowing of it.

Anyway, Lanny betrays his friend, helps the government hunt him down and discovers that they want to use this elderly hero as a scapegoat for 9/11. It is a somewhat surprising, and definitely moving ending and the end implies that maybe Lanny will try to take up some of those duties, to the best of his ability.

A thoughtful story, not only about how the best hero is always 10 steps ahead, but about the nobility of personal sacrifice for the common good, even when no one else knows about it, or even if they think the worst of you. And that sometimes we can't see all the deaths averted because of the much more obvious immediate cost to human life.

A novelette that could only be written after too many lives have been lost in Afghanistan and Iraq. Without the knowledge of the more long-term costs of our response to 9/11, this story wouldn't be nearly as moving or the Old Man's logic sufficiently obvious. It probably won't be so obvious 50 years from now, but in 2011 this is worth 4 fortresses of solitude out of 5.

Blind Cat Dance

Novelette by Alexander Jablokov

A really interesting world, where modern humanity have learned to make ourselves invisible to animals. We have built cities and restaurants around little bits of city being reclaimed by nature. On one hand, wild animals are now allowed more habitat than they currently have, but on the other, sustainable ecosystems can't be set up, and everything has to be managed by human animal trainers. And at the same time, we grow giant "tubes" of pork in lightless factories, in one of the grossest, coolest scenes I've read in a while.

In this world, we get to see an animal trainer observe a group of friends at several restaurants, at the direction of his boss, the former husband of one of the friends, who wants to win her back. Our animal trainer slowly falls in love with her as she takes classes to become an animal trainer herself. But eventually going back to her old husband disappointing him. We get to see a very interesting world, and explore many levels of metaphorical and literal not-seeing things.

The examination of sight and blindness and ignorance is thought-provoking, if a bit dull, and the world-building is amazing. But the plot is basically pointless and doesn't entirely make sense. Particularly the big confrontation at the climax strikes me as odd and unclear. And then the story goes on a lot longer without really accomplishing anything. I love the images and commentary and the world itself, and the ending scenes would be great on their own, but this story drags something awful. It is overly long, with no real resolution to a plot that doesn't matter. And I get what Jablokov is getting at with the woman feeling more powerful and therefore less threatened by her former husband, but she goes back to him very easily. All the characters come across rather flat and poorly motivated, including our lovestruck protagonist, who doesn't make much effort for, or comment on, the plans he apparently has.

Pretty scenes, thoughtful theme, and no story to speak of. Still, have to give props for the neatness of ideas, the quality of the world, and the images themselves. 3 unseeing cougars out of 5.

The Speed of Dreams

Short Story by Will Ludwigsen

Paige is a pre-teen girl taking the easiest science class. The entire story is told through a rambling lab report she writes about her experiments on how fast her dog runs in its sleep, and the time dilation in sleep as compared to real life. But it is really a story about her difficulty talking to Austin, the boy she likes, and dealing with the long downward spiral and impending death of her grandmother.

I like fiction literally about science as a definition of "science fiction", so that made me happy. And Ludwigsen captured the tone and concern of a little girl very well. This is a well written story in an interesting form. Kind of funny, but ends surprisingly tragically. Lots of emotion here, and a neat concept with good writing, but little depth beyond that concept.

4 greyhounds out of 5 always win their dream races, duh.

Poetry Roundup: Asimov's March 2010

Marble People by Bruce Boston

Three types of marble that fantasy people could be, generically described. Meh.

Crazy Man by Mark Rich

A time traveler from the past comes to the future. He can't go back, and is crazy for ending up in our shitty time and leaving his. Again, Rich has a good flow and some internal rhymes and wordplay.

Our Canine Defense Team by Vincent Miskell

Cute little story where all animals were uplifted, and now dogs defend us against charges of genocide. Better than the touchy-feely ending I was expecting, still not much of a poem though, but worth reading.