F&SF April-May 2009 Reviewed
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction From Spirogale Inc
Mar 12, 2009
The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction for April / May 2009 is the first issue which sees the magazine move to a bi-monthly schedule. Editor Gordon van Gelder cites "Economic forces (particularly postal increases)" on the website as being responsible.
The April issue opens with Sean McMullen's "The Spiral Briar" a curious yet highly effective amalgam of fantasy and alternate history, just as the story itself depicts the conflict between fantasy and technology, albeit of the mediaeval variety. Highly recommended.
Thomas M. Disch
"The Brave Little Toaster" by Thomas M. Disch is the first of two classic reprints in this issue, a novella that was a finalist for both the 1980 Nebula and Hugo Awards. The sadly brief introduction (one of the pleasures of the reprints is the added perspective to be gained from their introductory notes) notes the story's charm. A great introduction to his work for those unfamiliar with this most controversial of SF writers.
Paul di Filippo's "Plumage from Pegasus" column is this month also dedicated to the memory of Disch, who might well have approved of this sardonic view of the post of Poet Laureate as designated by the state.
Jack Skillingstead's "The Avenger of Love" is dedicated to Harlan Ellison, and as well as being full of Ellisonian touches such as the inclusion of comic memorabilia from the 1940s, crackles with righteous anger. Recommended.
Ellen Kushner
“A Wild and a Wicked Youth” by Ellen Kushner is a prequel to her first novel Swordspoint: A Melodrama of Manners. It's atmospheric and the characters are well-drawn, but there's a sense that the experienced reader has been here before.
"Andreanna" by S.L. Gilbow is the story of an android designed to make presentations that's damaged before being shipped back to Earth for repair. It's competent enough, but never really ignites.
The same could be said for Henry Garfield's "Stratosphere" which will leave those uninterested in baseball unmoved, (as the bulk of F & SF's readers are [presumably] Americans, that will hopefully be a minority) and is basically a story built around a central conceit.
Classic Reprint
Edward Jesby's "Sea Wrack" is the other classic reprint, and this largely overlooked novellette from 1964 is probably the best story in the issue and one of the best of F&SF's retro offerings, together with the recent Jack Cady offering. It revolves around the then-fashionable idea of undersea cities, and the inevitable drifting apart of land and sea-based communities. The introduction of magic into what feels for most of its length like a thoroughly science-fictional piece shouldn't work, yet oddly enough does. Highly Recommended.
"The Price of Silence" by Deborah J. Ross is a close second for the best story in the issue. An Earth-like colony suddenly falls silent so an expedition is sent to check on the colony's status. The protagonist's back-story and relationship with two women is fascinating, while the plot --with it's mystery at the heart of the story-- is page-turning in its intensity. If it's the best story it's because the villain is so one-dimensional that he almost twirls an invisible mustache. Nonetheless, Highly Recommended.
John C. Wright's "One Bright Star To Guide Them" concludes the issue with a sadly derivative tale of a man called to save the world from the evil Knight of Shadows. It feels like the conclusion to a non-existent Narnia-like series built out of stock fantasy elements, with many "As You Know, Bob" conversations peppering the narrative, and a wholly unconvincing depiction of an England drawn from American TV.
This issue contains reviews by Charles de Lint and James Sallis, and film reviews by Lucius Shepard, but on the basis of the fiction, it's not a great issue.
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