Fantasy & Science Fiction, May 2008

I would have gotten this one read sooner, had I (a) more lunches during which to read (did a lot of flex time these past few weeks), (b) and not picked up The Merlin Trilogy from the library to read. The print is tiny, and the pages many!!!!

"Immortal Snake" by Rachel Pollack

This myth retold features a kingdom in which God's will is written in the sky, and the devout Readers dictate the will to the people. Their ruler, Immortal Snake, is a series of individuals, who, when the will of God is to replace the current Immortal Snake, the Readers feed him a poisonous stew comprised of his two companions in death, which causes him to "shed his skin." The current Immortal Snake, an immature ruler, selects his sister and a storyteller slave from a distant kingdom. The sister and the slave work together, one using subterfuge, the other, stories, to overthrow the Readers, and prevent their imminent demise. The prose was engaging and amusing, never losing my attention. 5/5.

"Circle" by George Tucker

A Seminole shaman who is also a construction worker helps his company rid their site of the pestering daimons that cause workers to become injured. Funny. 4/5.

"Reunion" by Robert Reed

After reading the last issue, I considered Reed's "Five Thrillers" the best story in the issue. Needless to say, this led me to expect a lot from "Reunion." It tells the story of a class reunion of a graduating class of 23. Twelve of them went on to be special, ten of them went on to be normal, and one of them died. The one-who-died's daughter infiltrates the reunion, trying to determine why more than fifty percent of a graduating class from the middle of nowhere could make such amazing advancements in the world, considering that it would be statistically impossible for this to happen to each of the Twelve individually without some sort of external influence. Turns out, dealings with black magic and quantum physics are to blame, and one of the roots of the cause is the main character's late father, whose death made the whole deal possible, in a quasi-christophanic sort of way. Did I get what I expected from "Reunion"? Not fully, but that doesn't mean it was bad. 4/5

"Rebecca's Locket" by S. L. Gilbow

This funny social commentary features a backwards little town that's the last to get all the technological advances, such as a locket with your deceased loved one's personality embedded on it. When Rebecca's late husband has this done, she finds that the locket doesn't act the same as her husband, and that the locket seems to like talking to the dog a bit more than her. 4/5.

"Firooz and His Brother" by Alex Jeffers

This was an interesting story, which could mean a lot of things. 3/5.

"Thrilling Wonder Stories" by Albert E. Cowdrey

A schizophrenic boy comes to grips with who his real dad is: not the man who raised him, or even his mother's secret lover. No, his real dad's an alien creature (a Martian) who's currently inhabiting a crocodile living in the drainpipes. It breaks the rules of writing in what you are and are not supposed to kill if you want your story to be family friendly and feel good-y. 4/5.

"Traitor" by M. Rickert

A logical extension of terrorism. Scary, true, and gripping. 4/5.

"Matchmaker, Matchmaker..." by Paul Di Filippo

Funny but kinda creepy. Di Filippo has a way with extending humerous concepts enacted in real life. This one involves a couple who met at a speed date sponsored by a romance publisher. They married, but their marriage is falling apart, as the foundation was weak, so they make a Faust(ina)ian bargain to get their marriage back. 3/5.

Best in Show: "Immortal Snake." I just like those stories with a mythological voice.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

Cool Actionfigures

In case you didn't know, I really find Steampunk to be interesting. It's more interesting to me than cyberpunk, or kyberpunk, monkpunk, biopunk, or even punkpunk.

And, I kinda like classic Star Wars, so when I saw this on Boing Boing and on Make, I just had to share it:

http://www.sillof.com/C-Steampunk-SW.htm

Awesome.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

I'm as cool as the next guy, but...

Does putting out the Olympic torch really do anything to help Tibet or human rights?

'Cause if it does... cool!

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

Fantasy & Science Fiction, April 2008

Finally. I finished it... Just in time for the next issue, eh?

"The First Editions" - James Stoddard

As a certifiable bibliomaniac (or was that bibliomancer?), I appreciated this story. It put Stoddard back in a favorable light to me after that dreadful feel-good story about NASA and enlightenment (insert gag here). A book collector chances to encounter a sorcerer, and the collector becomes the collected. That is, he is transformed into a self-aware book whose contents contain his entire life story, even including events happening after his transformation. There, he falls in love with another book, and helps incite a book riot against the sorcerer. Meanwhile, they live in fear of the Grey Book (or was it Gray?), which mutters to itself, and sucks the words out of any book that comes in contact with it. Just don't put 'em together? Not so easy: these self-aware books (including Grey Book) can shuffle across the shelf. I suppose a fear of books could be considered irrational, unless one is illiterate (Is that offensive to illiterate people? Also, does it matter, since they won't be reading this?), but were I a self-aware book, after reading this piece, I would have a newfound fear for mysterious old tomes that mutter to themselves and creep along the shelf. On second thought, I don't think I'd have to be a book to appreciate that fear. 4/5.

"Five Thrillers" - Robert Reed

What happens when you take someone with, I assume, a dissocial personality disorder and put him in five different situations in which he must help some at the expense of others? Well, he finds the best solution for getting things done. Here, the best solution is whatever keeps him from getting the short end. In a universe overrun by militant furries-plus (called 'Rebirths', essentially people altering their genetic structure to be closer to animals, or what-have-you, very similar to a concept introducted in Transmetropolitain), a man is found at the center of a struggle between sapiens and Rebirths. He does what pleases his best interests, and along the way, causes the death and destruction of millions of Rebirths. He starts small (only one entity) in part one, and grows to be more ruthless in his destruction, until the very end. In an interview with Reed, he mentions that 24 in part inspired him to write this story. Though I've not seen 24, I'd imagine that this story would read a lot like synopses of five seasons of 24, only in space, and with turbo-furries. Nevertheless, and interesting read. 4/5.

"The Nocturnal Adventures of Dr. O and Mr. D" - Tim Sullivan

This story focuses on two men, Dr. O and Mr. D. They're hanging out together one evening and decide to go on a walk in the fog, following the impulse of the cat, Vishnu. All the while, their dialogue is tedious, laborious, like two scholars trying unsuccessfully to be funny in that elitist and condescending sort of way that scholars who fancy themselves comedians do. Eventually, it is revealed that they are all dead, or on an alternate plane of existence. Was it supposed to be kafkaesque? I'm not sure. If this story was supposed to get anywhere other than Speculative Fiction: Slice of (after)Life, I must have missed that stop along the way. 3/5, because it wasn't horrid, just blah.

"The 400-Million Year Itch" - Steven Utley

Part of Utley's Silurian Age series. I really couldn't get into it. I'm sure it was good and all, but unless the last story in the magazine is amazing, I'm burnt out by the time I've read it. 3/5

"Render Unto Caesar" - Kevin N. Haw

Funny because it's true. The IRS pursues NPCs in MMORPGs, seeking unpaid taxes (after all, they're virtual Americans). It was enjoyable, though it seemed too much like the Paul Di Fillipo pieces (Plumage from the Pegasus), so I wasn't able to enjoy it as much as I should have. According to the notes, Haw turned down a job for Blizzard. I can't begin to express my level of envy for him. 4/5.

"The Fountain of Neptune" - Kate Wilhelm

A woman with an inoperable brain tumor leaves everything, moves to Italy and chronicles her descent. She starts hallucinating, seeing strange things in pictures of the Fountain of Neptune, and having to come to terms with what was there, and what she saw, and whether those aspects were one in the same. This one didn't catch my interest. 3/5.

"The Apocalyptus Blooms" - Lucius Shepard

After reading any movie review by Shepard, I contemplate two notions: (a) Shepard is a real wit when it comes to movie reviews. Granted I've never read one by FSF's Movie Editor, Harlan Ellison, I consider Shepard to be the best film reviewer for this Magazine (and maybe the best reviewer of all the film review venues I peruse). (b) I doubt that this man has ever seen a film he actually enjoyed 100%, but that would lead to boring movie reviews, as people are usually more interesting when complaining. Proof by me. 5/5.

Best in Show:

I would have to say the most striking story from this month's issue is "Five Thrillers" by Robert Reed, with "First Editions" as a close second.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

One #BADA55 Mo Fo...

I am seriously obsessed with #BADA55. It's so cool.

Also: I finished reading my LAST PIERS ANTHONY book. It is finished, and I no longer have to suffer through his prose.

Also, also: http://www.sixwordscifi.com pwns me (occasionally).

That is all, for now.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

The Casting Call

FSF had a contest recently to "cast" an FSF story.

http://www.sfsite.com/fsf/blog/2008/03/10/the-martian-child-dvd-giveaway-winner/

My entry won. Yay. Free copy of The Martian Child.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.

Attention all Houstonians

Dear Houston,

If on Tuesday, you help allow Barack Obama to become the Democratic candidate, you are an idiot.

Houston is one of the top four largest cities in the United States of America. This is thanks to a decision made by President Johnson to put base NASA here.

Now, NASA and its employees and contractors make up a good percentage of the residents of this large city, and thus, contribute mostly to the economy. In fact, whenever I work in a retail environment to make some more money (since NASA is grossly underfunded to begin with), roughly half of the debit cards used to make transactions are from JSC Federal Credit Union, a bank that has a very limited clientèle of US Government employees. Thus, if NASA has to tighten its belt, which Obama wants to see, the local economy of Houston goes down the tubes. Also, if NASA does have to cut back, they'll start with cleaning staff, who are, in my experience, mostly of a South American/Central American origin, which would greatly hurt the "Latino" community.

If you think NASA is overfunded, think again. It gets LESS THAN 1% of the national budget. If we ended NASA right now, we could fund the war for an additional three weeks per each year without NASA. Also, NASA does more than send monkeys and other less hairy primates into space: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasacity/index.htm.

So, this Tuesday, vote for someone who WON'T ruin our chances at advancing in Science and Technology. And since a vote for/against McCain is essentially worthless, I'd highly recommend Clinton. There.

Sources: NASA Watch, NASA.

Crossposted in The Eventide Knave and The Gangster of L'Oeuf.