reading (Asimov's July)

I finished the July issue of Asimov's last Monday or thereabouts. This month seemed to be a month of understated conclusions. The main character in Chris Beckett's "Day 29" finds out what horrors roam in his deepest id, or not. Bruce McAllister's "The Messenger" was thoughtfully understated, the antithesis of angst fic. I liked the style. I thought Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Dunyon" fit her writing style well and it examined a pleasantly mundane aspect of dramatic events. "Twelvers" by Leah Cypess also had a fun little twist at the end. Cypress obviously understands the psychology of teenagers and what's important to them.

Paul Cornell's "The Copenhagen Interpretation" was a Victo-punk romp. I didn't buy the conclusion: with all that was planned and executed so smoothly, why the blunder at the critical moment. The bad guys should have been given at least as much brains as it took to engineer getting you to that end point.

Josh Roseman's "Bring on the Rain" fell the flatest for me. It had all the realism of Barsoom, but with seriousness getting in the way everywhere. I'd like to see the story rewritten using the same world, but a more thorough examination of how mankind would be forced to adapt to the inevitable changes in technology, terrain, temperature, and society. There is some great base material here.

18. Asimov's July 2011

reading (Glapagos)

I finished Kurt Vonnegut's "Galapagos" this evening. I enjoyed the book and found myself sucked into it pretty thoroughly. Part of that is because I really enjoy reading about the strange animals that inhabit the Galapagos islands. I did find the foretelling a bit tiresome. At first I thought it was a bit clever and oh, so artsy, and I thoroughly understood the device. But it was just too much and for me lessened the enjoyment of the book. I did like how Vonnegut played the evolution model for all it was worth in choosing the setting and drawing the result. But he did go a long way to get there.

19. Kurt Vonnegut "Galapagos"