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Sep. 29th, 2005 07:14 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
eorToday was a wonderful windy, rainy day. The wind shook the building at work and caused the walls to creak and flex. When that happens I always get a happy feeling just because I'm inside and dry.
In the last few weeks I caught up on the last two Asimov's magazines.
I felt the September issue was fairly flat. The short story "Finished" has a nice cynical idea, but I think it could have been done a bit better. Pohl's novelette "Generations" sucked me in at the beginning and left me disappointed. The novelette "Second Person, Present Tense" was the shining light of the issue. The idea was great and the execution was pretty good. The remaining 2 novelettes and 2 short stories didn't impress, covering ground I'd seen covered before in a samish way.
The October/November double issue was full: a novella, 5 novelettes, and 5 short stories. Notable impressions: "Dark Flowers, Inverse Moon" actually had magic that worked with the story. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough for "Back to Moab". Looking at it as a Edgar Rice Burroughs tribute might show it in a kinder light. Otherwise I can only say, "Don't quit your insurance job Mary Sue." Tom Purdom's "Bank Run" was a pleasant romp in future technology and economy. In Geoffry A. Landis' "Betting on Eureka" everyone has an angle to survive on the asteroid belt, a bit of a twist on the same old story. Overall the quality in the double issue was stronger than the September issue.
Neither of these issues lived up to what I remember as the heyday of Asimov's. Perhaps the quality of the writing isn't quite there. Perhaps I'm jaded.
Finished the last story today. In the post today what showed up? Another Asimov's. I think I'll put it aside and read something else.
Something I haven't done is write to any of you. I'm not sure what to write. Maybe I'll figure it out at some point.
On the good days I'm overcome with love and a happiness that is complex and buoyant. On the other days I realize I'm dreaming an absurd dream, it's all in my head, the alarm will ring, I'll be dragged unwillingly from sleep, and the dream will slip through my hands like fine beach sand.
"See those trees, bend in the wind,
I feel they have a lot more sense than me.
You see I try to resist." --- Kate Bush "Rubberband Girl"
In the last few weeks I caught up on the last two Asimov's magazines.
I felt the September issue was fairly flat. The short story "Finished" has a nice cynical idea, but I think it could have been done a bit better. Pohl's novelette "Generations" sucked me in at the beginning and left me disappointed. The novelette "Second Person, Present Tense" was the shining light of the issue. The idea was great and the execution was pretty good. The remaining 2 novelettes and 2 short stories didn't impress, covering ground I'd seen covered before in a samish way.
The October/November double issue was full: a novella, 5 novelettes, and 5 short stories. Notable impressions: "Dark Flowers, Inverse Moon" actually had magic that worked with the story. I couldn't suspend my disbelief enough for "Back to Moab". Looking at it as a Edgar Rice Burroughs tribute might show it in a kinder light. Otherwise I can only say, "Don't quit your insurance job Mary Sue." Tom Purdom's "Bank Run" was a pleasant romp in future technology and economy. In Geoffry A. Landis' "Betting on Eureka" everyone has an angle to survive on the asteroid belt, a bit of a twist on the same old story. Overall the quality in the double issue was stronger than the September issue.
Neither of these issues lived up to what I remember as the heyday of Asimov's. Perhaps the quality of the writing isn't quite there. Perhaps I'm jaded.
Finished the last story today. In the post today what showed up? Another Asimov's. I think I'll put it aside and read something else.
Something I haven't done is write to any of you. I'm not sure what to write. Maybe I'll figure it out at some point.
On the good days I'm overcome with love and a happiness that is complex and buoyant. On the other days I realize I'm dreaming an absurd dream, it's all in my head, the alarm will ring, I'll be dragged unwillingly from sleep, and the dream will slip through my hands like fine beach sand.
"See those trees, bend in the wind,
I feel they have a lot more sense than me.
You see I try to resist." --- Kate Bush "Rubberband Girl"
