"Flow" by Arlan Andrews, Sr.

[secritcrush]

TL;DR Boy rides an iceberg south and discovers boobies. And the sun. But his heart is with the boobies.

"Flow" by Arlan Andrews, Sr. is basically a travelogue and feels like it is probably part of a larger bildunsgroman. (There has been at least one previous story published in Analog

Comments

[jamoche]

And yet, for someone whose mind is repeatedly blown, he comes across as remarkably affectless. I was promised good old-fashioned sensawunda! here, and all I got was a cipher who keeps thinking "yeah, I should write that down". Well, carve it down - all that talk about how he can't carry much, and yet he's constantly carving notes to himself. He should be rattling like a wooden windchime.

Wow

[ext_2025386]

I tried to read it, since it was linked.

Pages and pages and pages, in which absolutely nothing at all is happening.

I'm honestly asking -- this is what the Puppies like in their SF? Can someone tell me why?

What, here, did they find enjoyable? It can't be the language. It can't be the characterization. It can't be the plot. It's obviously not the worldbuilding. What, then?

Is it just the ideas? "Oh, cool, mutant future-kid rides an iceberg downriver to sell, and look, weird gods?"

[redheadedfemme]

I didn't care about any of these people in the least. It would have made a better story, as far as I'm concerned, if in the very last paragraph Rist's "monomolecular" wire had broken and he had gone splat.

I'm voting No Award in this category, and I don't feel the least bit guilty about it.