Asimovs Science Fiction June 2009 Reviewed
Volume 33 Issue 6, Whole Number 401 From Dell Magazines
Apr 9, 2009
The June Asimov's marks a truly astonishing 25th anniversary, and a less astonishing first one.
James Patrick Kelly
A young writer called James Patrick Kelly appeared in the June 1984 issue of Asimovs with the novelette 'St Theresa and the Aliens.' It went on to appear on the final ballot of the Nebula Award, and since then Kelly has appeared in every June Asimovs issue, racking up six more such nominations, and winning two Hugo Awards. Editor Sheila Williams gives a glowing account of the significance of Kelly's contribution in her editorial. Sadly, 'Going Deep' is one of the lesser entries in the series, featuring a teenage clone who has the ability to deliberately enter a state of suspended animation while awaiting the return of her original from an interstellar voyage, but the conclusion is weakened by a passive resolution.
Tom Purdom
Better is Tom Purdom's 'Controlled Experiment,' which though it suffers from the now almost default Asimovs opening paragraph (activity + exotic quasi-Campbellian technology = hook) morphs into a stunning extrapolation of current trends. A prisoner released under license becomes the target of mischiefs, the sociological equivalent of hackers. In a society in which only five per cent of the population actually make things, mischiefs are often employed by political lobbyists and special interest groups to further their principals' interests. The cold dispassionate narration is perfectly matched to a story in which people are viewed solely as experimental subjects. Highly Recommended.
John Alfred Taylor's 'Bare, Forked Animal' marks a distinct change of tone, from the sociological to the literary, in which an actor suffers from a catastrophic system failure involving his locator chip; without it he becomes invisible to every device underpinning the future society which he inhabits. Recommended.
Eric Brown
'Cold Testing' by Eric Brown marks a long overdue debut by a veteran British writer. On a remote planet a spaceship puts in for repairs and in the process exposes the flaws within their relationships. Brown shows that in the right hands, even the most tired of plots --the robot/android developing human emotions- can be imbued with new life. Recommended.
Sandra McDonald's 'The Monsters of Morgan Island' is -like the Taylor- a literary view of a fantastic theme. On the eponymous island the inhabitants must battle the monsters that infest the island, knowing that each summer will bring a fresh supply of monsters aboard the ferries coming from the mainland. For McDonald's descriptions of the monsters are sufficiently unspecified to make it paradoxically clear that the monsters are people.
Chris Willrich
'Sails the Morne' by F&SF regular contributor Chris Willrich fuses perfectly the two strands running throughout the issue; the traditional SF of Kelly and Brown and the literary fiction typified by McDonald. The title is taken from a traditional ballad, but the plot is pure SF; mankind has had to cede part of the solar system to more advanced aliens, which has caused enormous resentment among humans. One such man is Captain 'Brick' Chin, who must transport part of the Book of Kells to an interstellar gathering, despite the predations of space pirates, devious alien diplomats among the passengers and a traitor among the crew. It's almost too densely plotted at times, but it comes together well in the end.
The June issue is an interesting mix, completed by poetry from (among others) Robert Frazier and contributions from Robert Silverberg and Kelly. The significance of the first anniversary is that Suite101 have been reviewing the magazine for a year. It's been a pleasure.
