Asimov's - March 2006
Novelettes
“The Gabble” – Neal Asher
My Grade: B
Summary: Two researchers studying the gabbleduck and other creatures on the gabbleduck’s world go into the wild to get closer to a dead creature. They have a relationship, end up in some danger, and learn a great deal about all the creatures of this world.
Comment: The information about the gabbleduck and other creatures was very interesting, and the two characters well-drawn and interesting. I found the switching back and forth between the two characters’s points of view distracting, and the story went into expository mode more often that I would have liked.
“Dark Eden” – Chris Beckett
My Grade: B-
Summary: Three space explorers continue a cancelled mission, and manage to drag a police ship along in their wake. The characters end up at a dark world which still manages to support life and have to make a decision about who stays and who tries to get back to Earth.
Comment: The story continually switches between the points of view of the two characters who end up staying (this must be “switching point of view” month at Asimov’s), and I’m not too sure how well that worked versus being distracting. The author tried to link the two points of view on each side of the switches, and I’m not too sure how well that worked versus being a gimmick. The end was rather uncertain, and I don’t think I agree with the decision of two people to stay behind on the planet and try to start a new “race of humans”.
“Dead Man Walking” – Paul J. McAuley
My Grade: B-
Summary: A prison guard on another world, with a past as a deadly extra-human para-military assassin, tries to find the person who is murdering prisoners (and who he suspects is another creature like himself). The guard fights with the killer and manages to win, but at the cost of his own life.
Comment: The main character was interesting in terms of his history (and thus the history of the killer), but I felt that there wasn’t a lot of depth in either character and that the story became more about the concept than about the examination of how a manufactured killer changes to become something more human.
“The Kewlest Thing of All” – David Ira Cleary
My Grade: B+
Summary: A teenage girl with technological implants works to convince a woman to get implants like her own, as they also strike up a friendship and travel through their advertising-soaked and technologically advanced Earth.
Comment: I felt that the world of the story was just intricate and amazing, but it also felt very plausible and realistic. I liked the character of the girl and her struggle to both “do her job” and find something in her world that could have more meaning. The story got a little tech-heavy at times, but the meta-human aspects of this future were very enjoyable yet also completely believable. For me, the best story of the issue.
Short Stories
“46 Directions, None of them North” – Deborah Coates
My Grade: B
Summary: A teenage girl tries to convince her divorced parents that she should be allowed to go to Fairbanks, Alaska because aliens will be landing there (as they have been telling her via email and her cell phone).
Comment: I thought this was a nice story from the point of view of an everyday teen that happens to be getting messages from aliens. It covered the difficulties of her life and of her interactions with her parents. I found it cute, though the teen herself didn’t go through any real character changes – it would have been interesting to see the story from the point of the view of the mom.
“Rwanda” – Robert Reed
My Grade: B
Summary: A father tells a boy the story of an alien invasion of earth involving the taking over of human bodies. The human reaction is intense and brutal, and the relationship of the father and boy changes as a result of the facts of the story.
Comment: I certainly thought this was an interesting take on alien invasion and the havoc it wreaks on Earth. I wasn’t too sure why the father told the boy this story or what was supposed to be the end result of the action. I’ve long liked Robert Reed’s stories, and the subject and style was something I liked, but the story itself left me uncertain as to any higher meaning associated with it.
“Companion To Owls” – Chris Robertson
My Grade: B –
Summary: A man who works in the heights of a giant cathedral that virtually covers a continent hires a necromancer to help remove spirits from parts of the cathedral roof. The roofman and the necromancer plan to also get a stone from the brain of a dragon, and one of the spirits affects the outcome of their effort.
Comment: The concept was truly intriguing, but the plotline felt very standard to me, including the resolution. The character of the roofman had some interesting aspects, but overall I didn’t think the story amounted up to much.
Poetry
“O the Angels and Demons” – Laurel Winter
My Grade: B
Summary: Impressions of the effect a bottle containing “magic” (myths?) has on a woman
Comment: I liked the style and imagery, and the effect on the woman was clear, but I wasn’t sure about any larger result that was supposed to have happened.
“Aliens Captured Me” – Leslie What
My Grade: B-
Summary: A man who has been kidnapped by aliens and experimented upon sits on his porch in an effort to save his wife from the same fate.
Comment: I certainly found it funny in a creepy sort of way (I won’t let the aliens do to you what they did to me, honey), but I found the poem a little jumbled in terms of what I was supposed to think about the narrator.
“Demon Armies of the Night” – William John Watkins
My Grade: C+
Summary: A spirit/demon in the war between good and evil reflects on the battle.
Comment: I’m not really too sure what was going on in this poem and felt that things were rather muddled, while also not advancing much beyond a stock “good and evil” theme.
“The Gabble” – Neal Asher
My Grade: B
Summary: Two researchers studying the gabbleduck and other creatures on the gabbleduck’s world go into the wild to get closer to a dead creature. They have a relationship, end up in some danger, and learn a great deal about all the creatures of this world.
Comment: The information about the gabbleduck and other creatures was very interesting, and the two characters well-drawn and interesting. I found the switching back and forth between the two characters’s points of view distracting, and the story went into expository mode more often that I would have liked.
“Dark Eden” – Chris Beckett
My Grade: B-
Summary: Three space explorers continue a cancelled mission, and manage to drag a police ship along in their wake. The characters end up at a dark world which still manages to support life and have to make a decision about who stays and who tries to get back to Earth.
Comment: The story continually switches between the points of view of the two characters who end up staying (this must be “switching point of view” month at Asimov’s), and I’m not too sure how well that worked versus being distracting. The author tried to link the two points of view on each side of the switches, and I’m not too sure how well that worked versus being a gimmick. The end was rather uncertain, and I don’t think I agree with the decision of two people to stay behind on the planet and try to start a new “race of humans”.
“Dead Man Walking” – Paul J. McAuley
My Grade: B-
Summary: A prison guard on another world, with a past as a deadly extra-human para-military assassin, tries to find the person who is murdering prisoners (and who he suspects is another creature like himself). The guard fights with the killer and manages to win, but at the cost of his own life.
Comment: The main character was interesting in terms of his history (and thus the history of the killer), but I felt that there wasn’t a lot of depth in either character and that the story became more about the concept than about the examination of how a manufactured killer changes to become something more human.
“The Kewlest Thing of All” – David Ira Cleary
My Grade: B+
Summary: A teenage girl with technological implants works to convince a woman to get implants like her own, as they also strike up a friendship and travel through their advertising-soaked and technologically advanced Earth.
Comment: I felt that the world of the story was just intricate and amazing, but it also felt very plausible and realistic. I liked the character of the girl and her struggle to both “do her job” and find something in her world that could have more meaning. The story got a little tech-heavy at times, but the meta-human aspects of this future were very enjoyable yet also completely believable. For me, the best story of the issue.
Short Stories
“46 Directions, None of them North” – Deborah Coates
My Grade: B
Summary: A teenage girl tries to convince her divorced parents that she should be allowed to go to Fairbanks, Alaska because aliens will be landing there (as they have been telling her via email and her cell phone).
Comment: I thought this was a nice story from the point of view of an everyday teen that happens to be getting messages from aliens. It covered the difficulties of her life and of her interactions with her parents. I found it cute, though the teen herself didn’t go through any real character changes – it would have been interesting to see the story from the point of the view of the mom.
“Rwanda” – Robert Reed
My Grade: B
Summary: A father tells a boy the story of an alien invasion of earth involving the taking over of human bodies. The human reaction is intense and brutal, and the relationship of the father and boy changes as a result of the facts of the story.
Comment: I certainly thought this was an interesting take on alien invasion and the havoc it wreaks on Earth. I wasn’t too sure why the father told the boy this story or what was supposed to be the end result of the action. I’ve long liked Robert Reed’s stories, and the subject and style was something I liked, but the story itself left me uncertain as to any higher meaning associated with it.
“Companion To Owls” – Chris Robertson
My Grade: B –
Summary: A man who works in the heights of a giant cathedral that virtually covers a continent hires a necromancer to help remove spirits from parts of the cathedral roof. The roofman and the necromancer plan to also get a stone from the brain of a dragon, and one of the spirits affects the outcome of their effort.
Comment: The concept was truly intriguing, but the plotline felt very standard to me, including the resolution. The character of the roofman had some interesting aspects, but overall I didn’t think the story amounted up to much.
Poetry
“O the Angels and Demons” – Laurel Winter
My Grade: B
Summary: Impressions of the effect a bottle containing “magic” (myths?) has on a woman
Comment: I liked the style and imagery, and the effect on the woman was clear, but I wasn’t sure about any larger result that was supposed to have happened.
“Aliens Captured Me” – Leslie What
My Grade: B-
Summary: A man who has been kidnapped by aliens and experimented upon sits on his porch in an effort to save his wife from the same fate.
Comment: I certainly found it funny in a creepy sort of way (I won’t let the aliens do to you what they did to me, honey), but I found the poem a little jumbled in terms of what I was supposed to think about the narrator.
“Demon Armies of the Night” – William John Watkins
My Grade: C+
Summary: A spirit/demon in the war between good and evil reflects on the battle.
Comment: I’m not really too sure what was going on in this poem and felt that things were rather muddled, while also not advancing much beyond a stock “good and evil” theme.
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