REVIEW: “Around a World in Ninety-Six Hours” by Wendy Nikel

Review of Wendy Nikel, “Around a World in Ninety-Six Hours”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 145–151 (print) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

Polly Wynne is on a scientific mission on Venus, while her brother, Casper Wynne, is on a similar mission millions of miles away on Mars. Fueled by a healthy dose of sibling rivalry, the two place a friendly wager: whoever can complete a full revolution around their respective planets the fastest wins a free dinner. While the first 24 hours look very promising for both parties, the excitement does not last long. A violent wind storm knocks Casper’s communications out and leaves Polly uncertain of his fate. Polly must now use every tool in her arsenal to figure out a way to help her brother.

The story was more or less a middle-of-the-road piece for me: an interesting premise (e.g. flying airship on Venus) brought down by a not so interesting execution. The author structures the plot cleverly enough to maintain a well-balanced thread of suspense throughout the story, keeping the stakes high until the very end. On the other hand, I found the prose clunky and filled with unnecessary exposition. I can’t help but think that another round of editing would have benefited this story greatly.

Lastly, I’ve never been one to nitpick the science in science fiction, but there are a few things here that might make the reader raise an eyebrow or two. For instance, why did the Mars rover have to resort to Morse code to send its distress signal? If the mic was broken, couldn’t they have send a written message? Or shouldn’t the rover have a dedicated — and separately powered  — SOS system? The use of Morse code instead does not seem sufficiently justified.

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REVIEW: “One Lost Space Suit Way” by A. J. Ward

Review of A. J. Ward, “One Lost Space Suit Way”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 138–144 (print) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

This is the story of a self-aware space suits that journeys through a strange and surreal future for over one-hundred years. It goes on to witness the worst of history as humanity tries to make a life in a hostile new world. More than a hundred years later, with what is left of its energy and working parts, the space suit returns to the farm it escaped from and writes down its life’s story.

I really liked the premise of a self-aware “smart” space-suit along with the author’s surreal — almost like a fable — tone of the story, but unfortunately not much else appealed to me. For the most part, the story consisted of large chunks of dispassionate prose describing a rather vague and generic dystopia. I did appreciate some of the quirks the author imbued on the space suit — like the hoarding of forest animals — but at the same time it felt as though it was only a small part of a larger, incomplete metaphor that went nowhere.

Overall, I found it a dull read. However, the premise is original enough that I look forward to reading the author’s future publications.

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REVIEW: “All the Turns of the Earth” by Matthew Claxton

Review of Matthew Claxton, “All the Turns of the Earth”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 132–137 (print) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

Narrated in the second person, this story features a  young child mysteriously catapulted into prehistoric times.  There, the child finds the abandoned egg of pterosaur and raises it into adulthood. The two forge a strong relationship with each other, but before long, the child falls back into the present day. She grows up grows up wondering if she’ll ever see the pterosaur again.

First, I must confess a personal bias: I don’t really like stories told in the second person. More than often I find second person stories contrived and gimmicky, adding little or nothing to the core of the narrative. That said, Claxton manages to avoid the usual distractions of second person, creating a rather engaging little yarn. The prose is elegant and poetic, and even though at times it verges on the “purple,” it goes a long way at making the scenery come alive. I particularly enjoyed the description of the transition from the past, back to the present:

You stumble, and skin your soft hands on the asphalt.

The story might feel a bit out-of-place to regular readers of Analog, as it belongs more in the realm of fantasy or magical realism than anything remotely resembling hard SF (Analog’s usual cup of tea), but I nevertheless enjoyed it while it was there.

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REVIEW: “The Grass Bows Down, The Pilgrims Walk Lightly” by Izzy Wasserstein

Review of Izzy Wasserstein, “The Grass Bows Down, The Pilgrims Walk Lightly”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 125–131 (Print) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

The Klevish are an alien civilization who despite their advanced technological status, appear to lead a rather mystic lifestyle. They agree to share some of their knowledge with Earth, provided a human representative can overcome one of their challenges. This time they’ve chosen Erika, a biologist, as Earth’s negotiator for a genetic reclamation technology. The puzzle she must solve is simple: why does a particular species of a tall grass bend as the Klevish pass by it?

This is an excellent example of concise storytelling, covering a lot of ground in only a few paragraphs. There’s a simple, yet powerful poignancy about the world and characters that Wasserstein unfolds throughout her non-linear narrative, adding to a pleasant feeling of melancholy. Erika’s struggle, despite its science fictional backbone, is immensely relatable to anyone who’s had to choose between more than one path in their lives. The sadness that such a choice entails comes through clearly in the story.

Unfortunately, the ending does not quite hold up to the excellent build up, as the Erika’s solution to the Klevish puzzle seems like a hand-wavy attempt to bring the story to a hasty close. It works, but I can’t help but think that cleverer solution exists somewhere out there, one that does try to force the metaphor quite so much.

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REVIEW: “Hive” by Jay Werkheiser

Review of Jay Werkheiser, “Hive”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 82–92 – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

A group of space travelers encounter a planet where the predominant form of intelligent life – The Hive – communicates by chemical signaling rather than speech. Neither species can quite figure out the other as communication between the two is all but impossible. Hive has to worry not only about the Humans, but also their ongoing conflict with another species, Methyl, while the Humans remain entirely clueless of the whole affair.

“Hive” is a solid hard SF story. The narration alternates between the human and alien points of view, presenting two vastly different and incompatible worlds to the reader. Though a bit dense to start with (the alien POV segments can seem intentionally cryptic), it flows seamlessly once you understand what it is about. No doubt, this is a story intended for those who are willing to be patient with their SF. The underlying concept seems plausible enough provided one doesn’t dig to deep into the ideas presented. For instance, while complex communication through chemical signaling is not that far of a stretch, any intelligence arising from such a system requires further consideration. The author still needs to use language to convey the aliens’ thoughts to the readers.

Overall, I strongly recommend this story.

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REVIEW: “Bulkheads Make the Best Neighbors” by Ian Randal Strock

Review of Ian Randal Strock, “Bulkheads Make the Best Neighbors”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 116–117 (print) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Permanent inhabitants in Earth’s orbit (possibly asteroid miners) have grown tired and resentful of the planet’s interference in their affairs. They have long yearned for independence but lack the necessary firepower to directly confront Earth. During a council session, a spacer named Maggie comes up with a clever plan: what if they smashed asteroids into tiny pieces to create a permanent “wall of junk” around earth? That will block off the planet and “keep the groundhogs [Earthers] down where they belong.”

There’s not much I can say about this story other than it is incredibly short, so short as to appear incomplete. It gives the impression that it is merely a scene from a larger story, the rest of which got mistakenly left out. For one thing, blocking off the entire planet seems like a massive overreaction to the simple burden of extra paperwork. A little more elaboration on behalf of the author would have helped put the story in proper perspective. Moreover, the author has decided to spell out the uncharacteristically “southern” dialects of the spacers, something that I always find a bit of a nuisance (let alone offensive), although here it is not so bad as to make the story unreadable. Overall, the story feels much more like a quick writing exercise than a complete piece of flash fiction.

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REVIEW: “Welcome to the New You: Terms and Conditions for the iCRISPR Gene-Editing Kit” by Douglas F. Dluzen

Review of Douglas F. Dluzen, “Welcome to the New You: Terms and Conditions for the iCRISPR Gene-Editing Kit”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 121–123 – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

This was a fun little short short (or flash fiction, if you will), structured in the form of an ad email to a hypothetical customer who began the online purchase of a gene-editing kit but never finished it. The contents of the email outline the benefits of the company’s various gene-editing kits in an attempt to encourage the customer to complete their purchase. The terms and conditions of the product are also included in the email.

I enjoyed the humor and wit of the story, even though most of it was quite on the nose. A nice touch was the company’s name, uGENIX (like eugenics), which unfortunately, does not sound all that implausible. Most poignantly, the included “Terms and Conditions” were just more thinly veiled advertisements of the product, including an obvious plea for the user to petition their representative about governmental regulations against gene editing.

But here at uGENIX, we believe you should have access to your own genome in its entirety.

Overall, a rather well done and humorous story that should take about a minute or two to read.

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REVIEW: “Wheel of Echoes” by Sean McMullen

Review of Sean McMullen, “Wheel of Echoes”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact January/February (2020): 72–81 – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

A producer in a recording studio comes across an old, 17th century recording device that contains the voice of Shakespeare performing Hamlet. A young voice actress, Kirsty, and an esteemed scholar of Shakespearean literature, Prof. Wilson, are invited to examine it. While Kirsty can appreciate the recording for what it is, the professor goes bonkers on account that the discovery will invalidate his work, as well as the work of countless other Shakespearean scholars. According to Professor Wilson, that is simply unacceptable.

“Wheel of Echoes” is one of those stories that has a great premise but a rather disappointing execution. An archaic recording of Shakespeare – and the fact that he may have been a lousy actor – is a genuinely neat idea. For about a third of the story, McMullen weaves an engaging mystery that culminates in the exciting revelation of the recording device. But as soon as that is done, the plot slips rapidly into implausibility. The characters are largely relegated into stereotypes whose actions are difficult to justify – or even understand. Prof. Wilson, especially, is depicted as an outright caricature of the “stuck-up academic,” unrealistic to the point of malintent. The story feels more like an expression of the author’s personal biases against academics than a serious examination of what would happen had such a device been discovered. The finale was a major letdown.

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REVIEW: “The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid” by Mazen Maarouf

Review of Mazen Maarouf, Jonathan Wright (trans.), “The Curse of the Mud Ball Kid”, in Basma Ghalayini, ed., Palestine+100, (Comma Press, 2019): 171-214 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Oh, my. Just…oh my. This was by far the strangest, most bizarre (and longest!) of the entire collection. One part science fiction, two parts surrealism, with a blithe disregard for anything so basic as laws of nature. It was unapologetic in its oddness, and every page was a turner. I can’t even begin to summarise the plot, only say that this story hooked me in a way that none other in the anthology did, and it was an excellent way to close the collection out.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “Final Warning” by Talal Abu Shawish

Review of Talal Abu Shawish, Mohamed Ghalaieny (trans.), “Final Warning”, in Basma Ghalayini, ed., Palestine+100, (Comma Press, 2019): 161-169 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Every morning the citizens of Ramallah bathe their eyes in the rising sunlight. No one expects a morning to come when the sun doesn’t rise. There is no light, there is no power, electronics do not work, engines do not work, everything in the city has come to a standstill. Apocalypse has come.

But only to Palestine. A message comes to the region: “Cut it out” (p. 168). The earth’s rotation will be restored, the power of electron-based energy will be restored — but only when the borders are redrawn and everyone commits to justice. This isn’t just about Palestine, though: This is the only way to prevent the entire galaxy from succombing to nihilism.

Ramallah is a multi-faith city, filled with Muslims, Christians, and Jews, as well as athiests, and Abu Shawish explores the ways in which the end of the world is interpreted through each of the three lenses.

Two footnotes explain to the non-Arabic-speaking reader some terminology left untranslated.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment