Asimovs SF January 2009 Reviewed
Volume 33 issue 1, Whole Number 396 from Dell Magazines
Dec 7, 2008
Editor Sheila Williams gives Asimovs Science Fiction magazine a solid start to 2009 with another consistent issue leavened with several outstanding stories, as well as non-fiction from regular columnists Robert Silverberg, James Patrick Kelly and book reviews from Paul di Filippo, all wrapped in a fine Michael Whelan cover.
Mary Rosenblum
In Mary Rosenblum's "Lion Walk" the central USA has been turned into a giant wildlife park filled with previously extinct animals genetically modified from their modern descendants. But the Americans are unhappy at having the UN running the operation, and when a woman is killed by one of the lions, pressure mounts to hand the enclave over. Sharing concerns about marginalized societies with Mike Resnick's 'Kirinyaga' series, Rosenblum's work is competent without being especially memorable.
Larry Niven
"Passing Perry Crater Base, Time Uncertain" is a short-short story of an alien spacecraft looking for evidence of civilization on the Moon. It's an unsubtle piece of propaganda that will leave the reader who doesn't share Larry Niven's Manifest Destiny political views uninterested and unmoved.
Far better --an early contender for the best story of 2009-- is "Bridesicle" by Will McIntosh. In a future where cryogenic storage is common-place, McIntosh poses the question of why tomorrow's world would want the frozen to be revived. The answer may seem at first ludicrous, but reviving the dead for dating is little more bizarre than internet dating would have seemed a decade ago. With personality downloads 'hitching' a ride with the living as well, what sets McIntosh's above most Sleeper-type stories is the sheer messiness and complexity of his emotional relationships.
The introduction to Robert R. Chase's "Five Thousand Light-Years from Birdland" name-checks Poul Anderson, and the story at first reads like a composite of After Doomsday and some of his wing-men stories, but toward its conclusion finally attains an identity of its own. Humanity's first contact with avian aliens leads to a sole human representative seeking answers from their texts in a life or death mystery. Recommended.
E. Salih's "Messien Excelsa" is a debut story of a time-travelling thief obsessed by violin-maker Antonio Stradivari and his famous creations. It's an interesting story made so by the complexity of and richness the narrative, as spiced with Italianisms as the soft poached quail's eggs the narrator breakfasts upon: Highly recommended.
Nancy Kress
"Unintended Behavious" by Nancy Kress is almost a trademark Kress story, of a woman oppressed by her own character and the circumstances her choices place her in. In this instance Annie Skepford (rhymes with Stepford) learns after thirty-six years that her husband has been unfaithful. The twist in this tale is that Annie is bullied not only by her husband, but by the household gadgets he's installed, until she finally rebels. It's a story too short to allow any but the most simplistic characterization.
Damien Broderick
Veteran Australian author Damien Broderick gives the reader "Uncle Bones," a story set in a near-future Texas. Teenager Jim lives with his mother Elaine and her brother, the eponymous Uncle Bonaparte, a revivified war veteran. What Broderick gives the reader with his 'stinkys' as they are known due to their bodily odours is a scientific rationale for zombies, narrated by a somewhat more streetwise Heinlein juvenile. It's a mix that works well for the most part, especially in the sparing but entirely realistic way Jim drip-feeds the reader with information, and contrasts nicely with the John Langan story in F&SF. If there is a weakness it's in the abrupt dislocation between the climax and the resolution, but that apart it's an excellent story.
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