Analog SFF, May 2010
Page 22
Another author that springs to mind is W.R. Thompson and his various stories, such as those about the “Kya.” He also wrote a number one “cute robot” story back in about 1993 that I lent to a friend. His story about fooling cryogenic space-faring bandits into thinking that the human Solar System was an industrialized area before turning the Sun back on and vaporizing them was also memorable. As I said to that same friend, “There haven't been any W.R. Thompson stories in a while. I should write in and complain."
James Wiebe
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Dear Dr. Schmidt,
After years as a fan of science fiction novels, and years of half-hearted attempts to write one of my own, I decided to switch gears early this year and start composing shorter works. This effort plunged me into the world of science fiction short stories, and I am delighted, impressed, and a tiny bit dismayed to find that it is vast and full of incredible variety, to the point where I find it impossible to read everything being published. But in my effort to get my mind around some of what's going on, I subscribed to Analog.
I can't say I knew what to expect. I had read very little short fiction before subscribing—some old Asimov and Bradbury stories, a collection edited by L. Ron Hubbard of new writers from 1998, and a couple stories of what I'm pretty sure was Gardner Dozois’ 16th annual collection. I had also read a few Phillip K. Dick stories. Little did I suspect to be headed to the moons of Neptune with a laid-back prospector and a hyper-intelligent collection of microchips carrying the personality of a smarmy college girl. I enjoyed “Neptune's Treasure.” It surprised and challenged me, although the generally engaging work was occasionally bogged down by Floyd and Brittney's discussions of the various maths of orbits and trajectories.
I was fascinated and left unsettled by the description of the bizarre intrauterine happenings detailed in Dr. Raggio's fact article; the occasional occurrence of fetus in fetu especially challenged my notions of exactly what constitutes viability and, indeed, human life, before birth. Could it be possible that tiny fetuses embedded on fully developed ones could be detected and brought to term with the aid of intrauterine surgery?
I found Richard Lovett's article on making unreality ring true useful, and do plan on spending some time inside an empty swimming pool; and “Shame” was a highly accessible story, which I enjoyed very much. “On Rickety Thistlewaite” got bogged down with the Donovan character's multiple personalities and the sumptuary proceedings, but once it got going I did enjoy seeing Jimmy Barcelona's personality emerge from the court figure of the One Man. The Kooistra piece was quite worthwhile to me because I find myself resembling an Asperger's case from time to time!
And then, “Rejiggering the Thingamajig.” I didn't expect much, given the title, but I wanted to read through the magazine and, with a tackle-the-chore attitude, I began. For the rest of my days, though, I will consider “The teleport terminal had not been built with Tyrannosaurus sapiens in mind” to be one of the best short story opening sentences I wish I had thought of. I fondly refer to it as “the Tyrannosaurus story” in my inner monologue. Next, I found myself wondering if “A War of Stars” was a good title, given the ubiquity of Star Wars paraphernalia today, but I was favorably impressed, and (spoiler alert) saw Baker's final act as a near self-deification. (All clear.)
On “Simple Gifts": I wrote this story! Not exactly, but I did write a 2,000 word short story about humans looking for valuable minerals on an alien planet inhabited by less-advanced sapient beings, mere weeks before getting this issue in the mail! Credit to Maya Kaathryn Bonhoff for both beating me to the punch and having very nice plot elements involving linguistics and anthropology, all within a plausible hard-SF framework. Kicking myself? Not too much.
And as an aspiring author I found Ben Bova's perspective and industry tales valuable, an aid to my understanding of How Stuff Works in the SF publishing world.
"Undocumented Alien” just about said it all about the way our government is mired in incompetence and inertia, although the poet's departures from the rhyme and meter scheme made it a rough read. I told my son about the proverbial gorillas in Stephen R. Balzac's fact article, and catch myself pondering them whenever I do something like stopping at a red light when I think there are no police around.
It was hard for me to get into “Thus Spake the Aliens.” When Stratmann started with a Nietzsche quote, I was immediately reminded of other Nietzsche quotes, like “What if truth is a woman” and “the minority is always right.” Well, what if truth is an ice cream sundae, but only the minority can recognize that fact? I scanned the story and could tell Stratmann had a very valuable point to make, but he and I just have different paradigms for what makes a story work. Roughly the same experience for “The Possession of Paavo Deshin,” although I feel kinship with Kristine Kathryn Rusch, as we were both the kid haunting the library in a small Midwestern town, looking for something extraordinary.
I enjoyed your editorial a lot, and I share your concern that we, as a species, may paint ourselves into a corner, and place the stars off limits. The piece got my metacognitive churn going, which is one reason that, as a new reader, at least, I would save the editorial for later in the work, perhaps about two-thirds of the way through. Just going on intuition, I would also have put at least one of the short stories—I have a personal fondness for “Rejiggering . . .” so why not that one—before the first fact article and Lovett's advice for writers.
On a strictly practical note, I found myself Xeroxing the order coupon for back issues of Asimov's so as not to disturb Mr. Stratmann's aforementioned Nietzsche quote; you never know.
What I think I enjoy most is the community I find here, the discussion, the continuity, the online forum (my handle is PrecinctDelegate) and the chance to share views on life, writing, and just whatever, with the 20,000 and change people who have the gumption to stick with a classic hard-SF mag in the Great Recession. I appreciate the hard work done by you and your staff in producing the magazine and (probably) chopping this monster down to size, if it makes the Brass Tacks cut.
Ben Phenicie
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Reader's Department: UPCOMING EVENTS by Anthony Lewis
4-6 June 2010
CONCAROLINAS 2010/DEEPSOUTHCON 48 (Deep South area SF conference) at Hilton University Place, Charlotte, NC. Writer Guest of Honor: Jerry Pournelle; Artist Guest of Honor: Ed Beard Jr.; Music Guests of Honor: Bill & Brenda Sutton. Membership: $35 until 17 May 2010, $40 at the door. Info: www.concarolinas.org, concarolinas@concarolinas.org, (704) 547-7444, PO Box 26336, Charlotte, NC 28221.
18-20 June 2010
DUCKON 19 (Illinois SF conference) at Holiday Inn Select, Naperville, IL. Literary Guests of Honor: Sharon Lee & Steve Miller; Filk Guest of Honor: Talis Kimberley; Fan Guest of Honor: Scott Raun. Membership: $40 until 1 May 2010, $50 thereafter. Info: www.duckon.org; PO box 4843, Wheaton, IL 60189-4843.
25-27 June 2010
APOLLOCON 2010 (Houston SF/Fantasy/Horror conference) at Doubletree Hotel Houston Intercontinental Airport, Houston, TX. Guest of Honor: Catherine Asaro; Artist Guest of Honor: Keith Thompson; Fan Guest of Honor: Pat Virzi. Membership: 2010 rates not announced as of our publication date. Info: www.apollocon.org; info.2010@apollocon.org; PO Box 541822, Houston, TX 77254.
25-27 June 2010
CONTERPOINT 2010 (20th Northeast Filk Convention) at Chase Suite Hotel, Rockville, MD. Guests of Honor: Ed Stauff & Mary Ellen Wessels; TM: Juanita Coulson; Interfilk Guest: Char MacKay; Listener Guests of Honor: Jonathan & Debbie Baker. Membership: $50 until 31 May 2010, $60 at the door (supporting $15). Info: www.conterpoint.org; sbrinich @speakeasy.net; 5911 Veranda Drive, Springfield, VA 22152.
27-29 August 2010
AU CONTRAIRE (31st New Zealand national SF conference) at Quality Hotel, Wellington, New Zealand (stop in on the way to Aussiecon). Guest of Honor: Sean Williams; Fan Guest of Honor: Paul Mannering. Membership: NZ$60; Supporting: NZ$15; Friday only: NZ$20; Saturday only: NZ$40; Sunday only:
NZ$40. Info: www.aucontraire.org.nz/; info@aucontraire.org.nz; PO Box 10104, Wellington 6143, New Zealand.
2-6 September 2010
AUSSIECON FOUR (68th World Science Fiction Convention) at Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Guest of Honor: Kim Stanley Robinson; Artist Guest of Honor: Shaun Tan; Fan Guest of Honor: Robin Johnson. Membership from 1 September 2009 until some later date (see website for latest details): AUD 275, USD 225, CAD 255, GBP 140, EUR 1165, JPY 22,500; supporting membership AUD 70, USD 50, CAD 50, GBP 25, EUR 35, JPY 4900. This is the SF universe's annual get-together. Professionals and readers from all over the world will be in attendance. Talks, panels, films, fancy dress competition—the works. Nominate and vote for the Hugos. Info: aussiecon4.org.au/, info@aussiecon4.org.au, GPO Box 1212, Melbourne, Victoria, AUSTRALIA 3001
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