reading (Asimov's Sept)

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I finished this month's Asimov's in no time at all. Well, actually two days, perhaps. I think my favorite this month was R. Neube's "Grandma Said". It has a dark, dark humor with ripples of silliness. Various viewpoints were represented among the short stories this month. Carol Emshwiller's "Danilo", Ian Creasey's "The Odor of Sanctity", Neal Barrett, Jr's "D.O.C.S.", and Robert Reed's "Stalker" all came from divergent corners of the character spectrum. I thought "D.O.C.S" a bit heavy handed in its politics. "Stalker" is not for the faint of heart, or those triggered by sexual violence (I was rather surprised there wasn't a warning at the beginning of the story, there often are). It had the classic short story last line hook, which put perspective and meaning to the story. The longer fiction this month was a Goldilocks set: Erick Melton's "Shadow Angel" was mind twisting, Allen M. Steele's "The Observation Post" felt plodding, and Alan Wall's "Burning Bibles" somehow felt just right. Perhaps it was because "Burning Bibles," once again, stepped into characters with different perception and perspectives, without going so far as to get lost along the way.

So, perhaps in this time when you might not really want to be in your own normally functioning mind - I mean look at the news (or don't) - fiction is best when it deals with enough of a difference to get us away from ourselves, but not so much that we can't make the journey.

31. Asimov's Sept 2011