reading (Asimov's Dec)

I skipped the October/November double issue of Asimov's for a while and read the December issue. I probably picked up the issue first because it was shorter and because James Patrick Kelly featured on the cover. I don't think Kelly's story was the strongest of the issue, but the competition was pretty good this month. Tom Prudom's "Warfriends" was based on a complicated society structure and made interesting use of the social dynamics. I liked the fact that it didn't end easily or straightforwardly. "Freia in the Sunlight" is a good contemplation on human nature. In a short space it combines sensual imagery with psychology study. I could never be like the character in "The Prize Beyond Gold", but I think the end shows a consistency is right and true. I had a hard time suspending disbelief sufficiently to imagine the gen-engineering necessary to make the runner a flier, but technology does more impossible things everyday, so I really shouldn't let it bother me. Overall, the actual writing in this issue didn't capture me as much as September's offering, but I really like the worlds that were drawn. I'm a sucker for a complicated society or intricate history.

Of note, I was amazed to find glaring proofing errors in the last two issues I have read. In the September issue one of the poems was wrongly title in the table of contents. In this issue, Carol Emshwiller's "Uncle E" was omitted entirely from the table of contents! We all make mistakes, but those are biggies.

27. Asimov's December 2010

in just seven days

We went out to Rocky Horror Picture Show at the State Theatre last night. It was quite a fun time. It had been many years since we'd been. For about six months, back in the dark ages, I went to the midnight show every Friday night with a rotating group of lunatics and sexual wound up teenagers. I learned all the lines back then. Much to my surprise, I have retained many of them, despite the vodka, and was able to deliver quite a few at the appropriate time last night. The crowd was great: a mixture of people who hadn't seen the show in years and teens and twenties who'd probably never gotten to see it properly before. A good percentage of the audience dressed and everyone seemed to be there to just have a fun time. It was a great time! I'll have the songs as well as the call and response running through my head for the next three days. The burlesque troupe who did the opening bit didn't try to hard to stay on script with the original, but did their own thing as a warmup. I like how they mashed it up generally and they were all quite lovely to watch in their own right.

In front of us was a middle aged woman and her teenage son. He spent much of the evening doubled over laughing at my lines. When the show was over she turned around and said she was glad they sat near us because she had forgotten so many of the lines. I was glad I could provide them some additional entertainment.