Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: January 2007
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: January 2007
The cover art of this issue fascinated me. I think it's the mixed media look, which always manages to catch my attention. :)
"The Darkness Between"
by Jeremy Minton
This story perplexes me. Certainly, there’s wonderful details and world-building, but as the story went on, the more it spiraled out of control. The main points sort of make sense, but there’s still so many questions I have: hadn’t Merrison eaten the fruit? What about Brand? Granted, they probably didn’t eat as much, especially as much as the father, but still, I have to wonder. If the fruit stops getting eaten, that halts the change?
So many questions. The elements of the story were fascinating, but still, it doesn’t quite add up for me. Aside from the fruit and change bit, I don’t think Merrison adequately explained why his people lured the natives into mountains, nor the whole Forizael rush. Did that really exist, and people were going down there anyway, and Merrison’s people capitalized on it? Is the planet gearing towards war now, thanks to the dusters below? Oy, my head hurts thinking about it, not in a bad way.
It’s a cool concept. I would’ve rather seen the story told in chronological order, though, and the dialogue was too info-dumpy for my tastes, even though the explanations were needed.
"The Strange Disappearance of David Gerrold"
by David Gerrold
I’m still trying to figure out what to think of this piece. I mean, it’s obvious this guy’s got a sense of humor and jokes around. All you have to do is take a look at his website to figure that out. So this “letter” to Gordon most likely should be read as a grand joke. It’s really a story, using real life as a conceit. Well, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it, until someone can prove otherwise. As a tale, it’s cute: lovely details about traveling off the main drag and the joys you encounter, and the whole green boy episode was interesting, though realistically speaking, I’m not sure how the kid was able to breathe in that thing. But alas, it’s a story. Cute, with a horribly cliff-hanger of an ending that compelled me to check out his website and figure out when last he posted. I’m such a sucker.
"Kiosk"
by Bruce Sterling
This must be the issue where I puzzle over stories. This one would make more sense to me if I sat down and read it again. There were certainly interesting elements to it all, and some interesting commentary, but overall, I had a hard time putting the pieces together. What I thought would be a rather cute story turned into something very large and very serious. Like I said, to really I appreciate it, I think I’d have to read it again. I’m not up for that any time soon. There was a rather preachy part at the end, and the character motivations really didn’t make much sense to me, especially why Boots’ original merchandise was bought up to begin with.
"The Dark Boy"
by Marta Randall
There’s a deep symbolism here, something I’m missing, but I recognize it’s there. Perhaps it’s partly due to my lack of Spanish, so I feel like I’m missing something, no matter how small. But there are details in the story, too, that I don’t know why they’re there. Like Scott breaking up the fighting kids on the other boat, and actually GOING to the other boat. I like that the dark boy came back, and while I understand Nancy’s fear of him, I don’t understand what it was about her interactions with the boy and the whales that made her decide to help the other kids. It’s about the symbol I feel I’m missing. I keep visualizing the image, thinking about the motions, characters, and what they represent, and while I think I’ve got a symbolic translation in mind for it, it’s all rather loose and unsettled. It’s another story I feel I’d have to read again, if I ever felt like going back to it.
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties"
by Neil Gaiman
While I enjoy his comics and the books I’ve read, there’s very, very few short stories of his that I like. This is not one of those few. Not only should the story have been from Vic’s point of view, but I’m still piecing together what actually happened. Granted, what the girls were jabbering about was certainly a clue, and I can imagine the boys were getting somehow assimilated into the girls, or the girls into them, but I’m just not certain, and I don’t get why. The protagonist just floats along, things happen to him, and he’s no different at the end of the story than he was at the beginning. And frankly, shouldn’t he have clued in, just a bit, to the weirdness these girls were talking about? Whether you get women or not at that age, hair and makeup is a far cry from the stuff mentioned here.
I wasn’t planning on getting this particular collection from Gaiman, and I think I’ll stick with that decision. His books and comics, however, are another story.
"X-Country"
by Robert Reed
Definitely liked this one. While I didn’t get Kip, I’m with the narrator that getting this character isn’t the point. The point is the unknown, and it’s about persistence. I loved the cross-country element, and I loved the symbolism of the X. You simply don’t know what you’re going to get, or what’s going to happen. There’s a wonderful eerie feel to this story, but I hope, for the sake of the narrator, that there were some pop-sickle sticks still lying around to mark the way.
This was a miss issue for me, as I only liked 1/6 stories, and that one was Robert Reed's. The others had enjoyable elements, and definitely were written well enough, but nothing glued together enough to make me go, "Oooh..." Certainly, I think others will enjoy the stories I didn't, since I have very specific tastes. It was just a miss for me.