F&SF - February 2006
F&SF – February 2006
Novellas
“Planet of Mystery” (Part 2) – Terry Bisson
My Grade: B- (second half); B- (overall)
Summary: The second half of the story from the January edition. The commander of the module that landed on Venus helps the Amazon queen escape from the advances of the Centaur king by finding a saucer, going to their lander, and then taking the saucer back towards Earth. On the way, they meet up with another Earth spaceship and decide to rescue the third member of their mission. They also stop an alien force that is apparently eating parts of the universe and is on its way to Earth, and the commander and a member of the crew sacrifice their lives in doing so. In the end, there is an epilogue with the commander and the robot that takes place in some sort of location.
Comment: As tight as the first half of the story was (arrive on Venus, find strange things, try to get away from Venus), I felt like the second half really wandered a lot and made a lot less sense (as you can tell from my summary above). I guess this was supposed to have the Golden Age feel to it, but I thought it got too muddled, thus my lower grade for the second half and the overall story.
Novelettes
“The Cathedral of Universal Biodiversity” – Gary W. Shockley
My Grade: B-
Summary: Theo, the head of a galactic church, uses space probes and mediation to help understand the possibilities of life in the universe. His church building is bought by a rich woman who takes over most of the building and uses it for her own hedonistic pleasures. As the story and their interaction progresses, we learn more about the priest’s past. Eventually, there is a resolution involving (apparently) both the woman’s lifestyle and Theo’s mission
Comment: I certainly found this an interesting world for a story, but I never found myself connecting with the characters especially Theo. I think that his self-denial makes him distant, and it doesn’t appear that he is evolving as a character until the very end and the meaning of that moment was unsure to me.
“The Long and the Short and the Tall” – John Morressy
My Grade: B-
Summary: A new story involving Kedrigern the wizard, wherein Kedrigern takes a contract from a dwarf king to find a magical belt. Kedrigern easily finds the belt and returns it to the king.
Comment: I think this is certainly a charming story, with an appealing main character and several enjoyable characters. My main problem with the story is that the task (finding the belt) felt much too easy to me. If the task wasn’t supposed to be a challenge, then what was the story about? I didn’t feel like I got an answer to that question.
“Thirteen O’Clock” – David Gerrold
My Grade: B
Summary: A gay biker with military experience is traveling through a town, and picks up a young frat boy. In the desert, he tells the frat boy a story about his life including the strange unearthly experiences (“blinks”) he has had in critical moments in his life that feel like he is being connected to humanity around the world.
Comment: The stream-of-consciousness writing style was difficult to get into at first, and this is definitely an adult story in terms of language and subject matter. But once I got into it, I found it an interesting story with an appealing narrator. The meaning of the “blinks” was uncertain and I felt that parts of the story were rough and unclear, but I still enjoyed reading it.
“Boon” – Madeline E. Robins
My Grade: B+
Summary: In an Earth inhabited by various magical creatures (elfs, dwarves, etc), a woman struggling to raise a child single handed while working at a diner gets a gift from some elves whose table she waited upon. When the woman taking care of her child gets ill, two gnomes in her apartment building volunteer as caretakers. The gnomes help the woman gets her life in order and also save her child from a threatening elf. The gnomes’ actions put them in trouble with the elven law, but the woman figures out how to gain their freedom and friendship.
Comment: While the ending can be seen a mile away, I felt this was a very nice story with its story of a woman who is trying to make the best of her life and her very human interactions with magical creates that live on Earth. The woman was a very complete and human character, with flaws and failings, and the different types of magical being distinct. About the only flaw I could find in the story is that the actions of the gnomes aren’t completely explained, but besides that I rather liked this story and felt it was the best in this issue.
Short Stories
“Farsifal (Prix Five)” – James L Cambas
My Grade: C+
Summary: A group of travelers in France stop for a fantastic meal at an out of the way restaurant and discuss the history and meaning of the Holy Grail.
Comment: The story is built around a hook (could the Holy Grail be in the restaurant) and while the hook was cute, the expository nature of the dialogue meant there was no real character growth or inner monologue. Overall, I didn’t feel there was much to this story beyond the history and the hook.
Novellas
“Planet of Mystery” (Part 2) – Terry Bisson
My Grade: B- (second half); B- (overall)
Summary: The second half of the story from the January edition. The commander of the module that landed on Venus helps the Amazon queen escape from the advances of the Centaur king by finding a saucer, going to their lander, and then taking the saucer back towards Earth. On the way, they meet up with another Earth spaceship and decide to rescue the third member of their mission. They also stop an alien force that is apparently eating parts of the universe and is on its way to Earth, and the commander and a member of the crew sacrifice their lives in doing so. In the end, there is an epilogue with the commander and the robot that takes place in some sort of location.
Comment: As tight as the first half of the story was (arrive on Venus, find strange things, try to get away from Venus), I felt like the second half really wandered a lot and made a lot less sense (as you can tell from my summary above). I guess this was supposed to have the Golden Age feel to it, but I thought it got too muddled, thus my lower grade for the second half and the overall story.
Novelettes
“The Cathedral of Universal Biodiversity” – Gary W. Shockley
My Grade: B-
Summary: Theo, the head of a galactic church, uses space probes and mediation to help understand the possibilities of life in the universe. His church building is bought by a rich woman who takes over most of the building and uses it for her own hedonistic pleasures. As the story and their interaction progresses, we learn more about the priest’s past. Eventually, there is a resolution involving (apparently) both the woman’s lifestyle and Theo’s mission
Comment: I certainly found this an interesting world for a story, but I never found myself connecting with the characters especially Theo. I think that his self-denial makes him distant, and it doesn’t appear that he is evolving as a character until the very end and the meaning of that moment was unsure to me.
“The Long and the Short and the Tall” – John Morressy
My Grade: B-
Summary: A new story involving Kedrigern the wizard, wherein Kedrigern takes a contract from a dwarf king to find a magical belt. Kedrigern easily finds the belt and returns it to the king.
Comment: I think this is certainly a charming story, with an appealing main character and several enjoyable characters. My main problem with the story is that the task (finding the belt) felt much too easy to me. If the task wasn’t supposed to be a challenge, then what was the story about? I didn’t feel like I got an answer to that question.
“Thirteen O’Clock” – David Gerrold
My Grade: B
Summary: A gay biker with military experience is traveling through a town, and picks up a young frat boy. In the desert, he tells the frat boy a story about his life including the strange unearthly experiences (“blinks”) he has had in critical moments in his life that feel like he is being connected to humanity around the world.
Comment: The stream-of-consciousness writing style was difficult to get into at first, and this is definitely an adult story in terms of language and subject matter. But once I got into it, I found it an interesting story with an appealing narrator. The meaning of the “blinks” was uncertain and I felt that parts of the story were rough and unclear, but I still enjoyed reading it.
“Boon” – Madeline E. Robins
My Grade: B+
Summary: In an Earth inhabited by various magical creatures (elfs, dwarves, etc), a woman struggling to raise a child single handed while working at a diner gets a gift from some elves whose table she waited upon. When the woman taking care of her child gets ill, two gnomes in her apartment building volunteer as caretakers. The gnomes help the woman gets her life in order and also save her child from a threatening elf. The gnomes’ actions put them in trouble with the elven law, but the woman figures out how to gain their freedom and friendship.
Comment: While the ending can be seen a mile away, I felt this was a very nice story with its story of a woman who is trying to make the best of her life and her very human interactions with magical creates that live on Earth. The woman was a very complete and human character, with flaws and failings, and the different types of magical being distinct. About the only flaw I could find in the story is that the actions of the gnomes aren’t completely explained, but besides that I rather liked this story and felt it was the best in this issue.
Short Stories
“Farsifal (Prix Five)” – James L Cambas
My Grade: C+
Summary: A group of travelers in France stop for a fantastic meal at an out of the way restaurant and discuss the history and meaning of the Holy Grail.
Comment: The story is built around a hook (could the Holy Grail be in the restaurant) and while the hook was cute, the expository nature of the dialogue meant there was no real character growth or inner monologue. Overall, I didn’t feel there was much to this story beyond the history and the hook.
posted by yeff at 4:34 PM
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