Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Oct/Nov 2005
Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Oct/Nov 2005
The funny thing about this issue is that I actually read a handful of the stories when I got it. Course, I'm re-reading them for review's sake, cause I don't trust my fuzzy memories from a year ago.
"The Calorie Man"
by Paolo Bacigalupi
Funny how when I got this issue last year, I never gave the writer’s name a second glance. Now when I saw it, I nearly jumped with joy, and began reading this Hugo-nominated novelette as soon as I could.
I liked it, a lot. Not as much as “Pop Squad”, but this world, too, is a dystopia (this time, third-person past), where the writer examines our food supply and capitalism and where exactly we’re headed as a world. It’s a chilling future, but an unsurprising one. The beginning of the story is a bit abstract, with all this talk of calories, but it doesn’t take long to get settled in this world and learn what’s at stake. Bacigalupi’s setting feels just right, and of course, the characters in this piece are excellent. Definitely well-worth the read.
"Helen Remembers the Stork Club"
by Esther M. Friesner
This is one of those stories I read when I got the magazine, but I forget about the wonderful wit and humor in this piece. The sarcasm and cynicism is right up my alley, and the voice is very strong. The story's in present tense, too, which always amuses the hell out of me.
I can't say it has the strongest title in the world, but reflecting on the meaning in reference to the story, especially the end, it does make sense. Maybe I just don't like the name "Stork Club", cause I keep picturing storks delivering little babies. Yeah, I think that's it. Other than that, this is a great story.
"Foreclosure"
by Joe Haldeman
This is another story that I'd forgotten I'd read, but it's a lot of fun. Unfortunately, I'm no where near versed enough to understand and get the significance of SHE IS A THETAN, so it made me feel I missed some key part of the story, because it's not explained outside Hubbard and Scientology. Oh well. The ending was cute and clever, though the last line, while a bit of a truth, kind of threw me. I also wondered, randomly, the importance of the narrator being female. This was one of those cases that while I didn't think the gender of the narrator should matter, I also didn't see any difference in the story had the narrator been male. Maybe I'd know if I understood the THETAN bit?
"Spells for Halloween: An Acrostic"
by Dale Bailey
Now this was just plain fun, but while it was fun, there was some real poetry in these vignettes. My particular faves were "W is for Wendigo" and "N is for Necronomicon".
"Help Wonted"
by Matthew Hughes
This is the second story I’ve read by Hughes, and it’s the second story that takes place in an existing universe with previous stories. And, I should mention, this story does not exist in the same universe as the story I’ve previously read by him. Alas.
There’s some interesting bits in this: the scientific explanation of dreams, the realization that the dream world, while contained, mapped, and thoroughly examined in this story, cannot be contained at all and has a master of the realm (not quite as poetic as Sandman; more like a God). It’s a long piece, one that at least has a motivated character in it, and a good end at that: the character learns his lesson even though he resisted learning it all along. But to what end, I don’t know. I suspect this character continues in other stories (not just published previous to this issue, but afterwards as well), and we may learn what’s really going on in those.
My biggest complaint is Hughes’ use of elegant variation. It’s a distancing technique, and not one I imagine the reader applies consciously to actually distance readers from the characters. Here? When not referred as his name or as “he”, Bander is referred to as “the noönaut”. This got a bit annoying, especially towards the end of the story, because we know what he is. We don’t have to be reminded every other paragraph.
"Ode to Multiple Universes"
by Terry Pratchett
I don’t read much poetry, so my critiquing skills for it completely lack. And besides, how can you critique this? My responses to poetry are summed up in a word, and the word for this is: cute.
That is all.
"Billy and the Ants"
by Terry Bisson
Another story I read when it came out, but it’s cute, and I like it far better than his “Billy and the Unicorn” piece I read a couple months ago. At least here, there’s a great battle with ants (which is a battle close to my heart: last summer we were swarmed with them), and I actually could focus on Bisson’s ability to capture the child’s mind, logic, and dialogue, which is well done. The story in itself is kind of nonsensical, and the end is interesting, because I like that Billy wouldn’t like the ant farm because all the ants are dead-the implication is he won’t like them dead because that means he can’t kill the ants himself.
"The Gunner's Mate"
by Gene Wolfe
I’d forgotten that I’d read this, until I started reading it again. I’m still struck how wonderfully Wolfe does the separation of voice: maybe the voice of a pirate isn’t all that hard to imitate, but he does it well, and the fact this is a love story and ghost story all rolled into one is delicious. And, I’d forgotten the ending, which made the ending that more wonderfully chilling. I think my only complaint of the story was Rick-was he compelled via haunting to go out on the beach that night, or was he just being depressed? If it was the latter, I question the hot/cold moods. I question regardless that Muriel would let him go without question, but then again, she may not have thought he wouldn’t be gone long. So a good story with a small question that didn’t pull me out too much.
"Fallen Idols"
by Jaye Lawrence
You know, I keep forgetting this story is written by a woman, and that’s important only because when I finished, I thought that if I had critiqued this story, I would’ve suggested telling it from Caroline’s perspective, because there would be far more meat for character. Then I thought, “Oh, well, a guy writer may not feel comfortable exploring the depths of a woman’s sexuality in this regard.” And then, right before I wrote this, I remembered: the writer is a woman!
So my critique stands. I enjoyed the story as it was, but characters who observe can be kind of boring and unnecessary. This case in particular. I mean, you have Zeus show up at a sex-addicts meeting, of all things, and we get the POV of a character who isn’t directly affected by it in the end. Sure, we get the whole, “I can relate to a god” thing, but frankly, I think Caroline’s psychology would’ve been far more interesting to explore. We’re told she doesn’t understand attraction and impulse and desire, which clearly changes when she meets Zeus and the fact she has a child with him at the end is not too much a surprise. I would’ve much rather been in her head for this piece rather than Mr. Anonymous Sex Addict. But oh well. Still an enjoyable story, just a wasted opportunity.
"Silv'ry Moon"
by Steven Utley
The logic beneath the Canepi’s reason for traveling back to the Paleozoic makes sense, in a way. If there truly were intelligent life in the universe, it’d make sense to send signals from a prehistoric time, so that maybe, just maybe, you’d hear something in your own era. So I liked the logic, but having not read the other stories in this setting, I felt a little lost as to the reasons the scientific expedition was there to begin with, which made me unsure as to whether I should sympathize with the tourists (the Canepi’s) or the expedition itself. And the ending, while making me think that Mrs. Canepi is just as devoted to her husband to the cause (which borders on lunacy if they truly believe the “star people” will whisk them away from Earth), made me wonder if these characters don’t appear in later stories in this same setting.
The story was all right. It was written with a loose omniscience, which made it a bit hard for me to hold on to, and then there’s the whole premise of going-back-in-time-and-setting-up-bases kind of thing that I’ve yet to enjoy, because I’m too wrapped up in the change-one-tiny-thing-in-the-past-and-the-future-will-change-dramatically trope. Don’t blame me, blame Bradbury. :)
"Echo"
by Elizabeth Hand
This modern fantasy is interesting in that it both combines Greek and Norse mythology (the narrator-Echo-has a wolfhound named Finn), and it also speaks to the end of times. I read this story when I first got this issue, but reading it again, I’m struck by how much time passes, and while the narrator notes the changes in her setting, the lack of planes, the dying of towers, etc, it seems as though the narrator herself is immortal. Indeed, that’s the assumption, thanks to the story’s title, but there’s also the interesting note that the narrator is fascinated with the Greeks and the mythology, as if she herself is not one of them. She reveals the myth of Echo, of Medea.
The letter to “you”, a lost lover who eventually stops communicating all together (hello, end of the world!), is a little off-putting. I keep turning this story over in my head, how nothing seems to effect the narrator, except the eventual death of Finn, and how she’s truly stuck in her loneliness. Like an echo, the narrator forever exists despite change, and that truly is a sad ending. The symbolism in this piece, then, is solid. Just tragic.
"Boatman's Holiday"
by Jeffrey Ford
Now here's an example of a story that's heavy on the setting, heavy on the exposition, but I love it. Why? For one, the setting is detailed with a wonderful poetic hand, and furthermore, the setting is actually INTERESTING. Ford pulls you in with the first paragraph, and then you learn rather quickly that you're in hell, and the effect is marvelous. Why else does this story work? The situation is interesting, the philosophy (yes, there's philosophy) is interesting, and of course, the protagonist is someone you can identify with. If you're heavy into setting and exposition, this is how to do it, and I'm not joking. You tell only what's absolutely necessary, and you let the point of the story stand on its own two legs without beating your reader over the head with it. This is a wonderful tale, full of heart.
And the ending is absolutely excellent.
"Two Hearts"
by Peter S. Beagle
I'd read this story first thing when I got this issue, but I loved it then, and didn't mind reading it again. It still makes me tear up. And I still love Beagle's use of language and the magical way he taps into his nine-year-old (almost ten) narrator. It's a truly beautiful story, and I'm glad it won the Hugo. I've never read The Last Unicorn, though I saw the animated film version millions of times when I was little. I plan to get and read the book one day, and I definitely plan on getting and reading the sequel.
What else is there to say? The story is wonderful, with a little humor, a little magic, wonderful, real characters, and a helluva lot of heart. Read it.
So, I'd read a lot more of this than I'd originally thought. 10/13 pieces I read. It's amazing how I didn't even remember most of them until I started, which makes me glad I'm reviewing them one at a time. It forces me to consider the stories, to remember them.
Of these pieces, I really liked 10/13 of the pieces. I absolutely LOVED Beagle's "Two Hearts", but Ford's "Boatman's Holiday" was a jewel, and I was thrilled to read another piece by Bacigalupi. It's a really good issue to get your hands on, if you can. :)