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reading (Asimov's April/May)
Mar. 15th, 2011 07:26 pmI finished up this month's Asimov's last night. It was a double issue, so there were a lot of stories in it. I think the plot of "Becalmed", Kristine Kathryn Rusch's latest installment of Fleet life, fit well with her writing style. Sometimes her stories feel stiff and stilted, but conditions in this one are twisted enough that the twists turn stiff into stacato. Tom Purdom's "A Response From EST17" makes an interesting play with first contact. William Preston's "Clockworks" is the second in the pulp hero series which I've read. It didn't really do it for me, straddles the world of real and the world of pulp without feeling at home in either one. Alexander Jablokov's "The Day the Wires Came Down" paints a pretty steampunk world with a bit of mystery, a bit of history, and a bit of romatic fantasy. Michael Swanwick's "An Empty House with Many Doors" shakes the dust off parallel universes in his bittersweet short. "The Fnoor Hen" offered a lighthearted lesson on why you don't take a knife to a gunfight, with the humor of Rudy Rucker.
"The Homecoming" by Mike Resnick provided this month's obligatory dementia story. That's not to say it doesn't have its own twists and turns, it's sweet and interesting. I do wish the baby boomers would learn to stop worrying and love the brain. Yes, many of them will suffer from dementia before they die. More of their children and grandchildren will suffer from economic and environmental side effects of the boomer's self interest, but that's someone else's problem isn't it.
10. Asimov's April/May 2011
ETA: I wrote most of this before work, but unfortunately couldn't get it posted before I had to run. Mike Resnick's comment is first in the thread, I encourage you to read it for context. I'm including the second part my response because his comment made me realize that my criticism wasn't clear. I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that those comments were directed at Mr. Resnick or any of the other authors. It was intended as a comment on editorial choice of overall content over the course of years, but obviously wasn't effectively delivered.
"Based on your other two points, it's obvious I missed making my point. I wasn't talking about authorship, I was talking about editorial choices. I don't believe you, as an author, have one out of every 9 stories touch on the same theme, but Asimov's has had one or two a month that have a central character suffer dementia for a while. Aren't authors writing excellent stories on other themes that don't make it into print? I believe they are and I would like see those stories."
"The Homecoming" by Mike Resnick provided this month's obligatory dementia story. That's not to say it doesn't have its own twists and turns, it's sweet and interesting. I do wish the baby boomers would learn to stop worrying and love the brain. Yes, many of them will suffer from dementia before they die. More of their children and grandchildren will suffer from economic and environmental side effects of the boomer's self interest, but that's someone else's problem isn't it.
10. Asimov's April/May 2011
ETA: I wrote most of this before work, but unfortunately couldn't get it posted before I had to run. Mike Resnick's comment is first in the thread, I encourage you to read it for context. I'm including the second part my response because his comment made me realize that my criticism wasn't clear. I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that those comments were directed at Mr. Resnick or any of the other authors. It was intended as a comment on editorial choice of overall content over the course of years, but obviously wasn't effectively delivered.
"Based on your other two points, it's obvious I missed making my point. I wasn't talking about authorship, I was talking about editorial choices. I don't believe you, as an author, have one out of every 9 stories touch on the same theme, but Asimov's has had one or two a month that have a central character suffer dementia for a while. Aren't authors writing excellent stories on other themes that don't make it into print? I believe they are and I would like see those stories."
