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Fantasy & Science Fiction - May 2006May 04 '06 Write an essay on this topic.
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The Bottom Line Some extremely agenda-driven articles and comments add up to an issue that ticked me off even as I reveled in some great stories.
Fantasy & Science Fiction - May 2006 The Stories "A Herd of Opportunity" - by Matthew Hughes (novelet) 35 pages "Bea and her Bird Brother" - by Gene Wolfe (short story) 8 pages "Passing Through" - by Charles Patrick Finlay (short story) 15 pages "Show Me Yours" - by Robert Reed (short story) 8 pages "Diluvium" - by Steven Utley (novelet) 12 pages "Billy and the Fairy" - by Terry Bisson (short story) 6 pages "Imitation of Life" - by Albert E. Cowdrey (short story) 21 pages "Journey into the Kingdom" - by M. Rickert (novelet) 27 pages The May issue really struck a wrong chord with me, though perhaps for some of you it wouldn't. Of course, I've often seen a stray comment or two insulting or mocking various right-wing issues, but the avalanche of them in this particular edition, plus one story that seems to only exist to attack another point, really stuck in my craw. I buy this magazine for entertainment and to think, and I don't like agendas being driven down my throat. Intelligent Design seems to be the main subject, with two "stories" written just to make fun of it or attack it. Now, I don't believe in Intelligent Design, so it's not that the issue is attacking my beliefs. But Steven Utley's story, "Diluvium" is nothing but an attack, not even having any interesting characters or plots for those of us who really don't care about ID (more in my review of the actual story). This month's "Plumes From Pegasus" is nothing but a satire on the whole thing, and it's not a very funny one. Di Filippo can be forgiven slightly, as this particular column is designed to take a light-hearted look at this stuff, and they aren't generally stories to begin with, at least not in the way the rest of the fiction is. They're more like vignettes. It's just too bad this one took an easy target and went over the top. Finally, there are a couple of anti-Bush comments from Elizabeth Hand in her book review column. Taken by themselves, these would have just been more "roll the eyes" passages, but combined with the rest of the problems with this issue, it just seemed too much. This issue just seemed too agenda-driven for my taste. Which is too bad, because with the exception of the Utley story, there was some great fiction in here. The stories "A Herd of Opportunity" - by Matthew Hughes Another in Hughes' line of Guth Bandar stories, this one takes place in his early days at the Academy. He is an explorer of "The Commons," the vast domain of the collective human consciousness. But what if there are other Commons out there, one for each species in the galaxy? And what if suddenly, one could pass from one species' Commons to another? That's the concept which arises when Guth accompanies one of his professors, Preceptor Huffley, on a mission that appears to be out of his purview. It seems that Huffley has agreed to come to a planet where a strange monastery is having its rituals disrupted by the extreme noise of the slum that's gathered around it. But Huffley has something else in mind, the possibility of adding a new datum to the collective consciousness, the first in many years. But will it be too much for Huffley to handle, and will Guth have to save both of their psyches from being absorbed into the Commons? Once again, Hughes gives us a tale that is humorous yet not laugh out loud funny, with Guth Bandar having to save his soul yet again. The Commons has to be one of Hughes' most interesting creations, as we meet all of the archetypes of human creativity, and we get to see how Bandar navigates through the whole thing. It's a dangerous place, and we're never sure whether or not he'll get sucked in, absorbed by the very archetypes he's studying (other than the fact that he's the hero of the stories, of course). Once again, the language Hughes uses is wonderful, sounding almost formal yet giving rise to some very funny ideas. Another winner, though I hope next time Hughes continues with Bandar where he left off in the October/November issue. "Bea and her Bird Brother" - by Gene Wolfe A surprisingly straight-forward tale from Wolfe, this is the story of a man dying, and his desperate attempt to tell his daughter the old family secret of her origins. Bea has always known that she was adopted, and that she didn't care for her mother, but she never realized, until now, that she actually was her father's daughter. Her father, lying on his death bed, tells the seemingly delusional tale of his encounter, love affair, and care-giving to what can only be described as a bird-woman, and how they eventually had twins before the mother died. Bea's true brother has wings while Bea does not, and they've always kept the secret from her. Is this just the fantasy of a dying man? Or is there some truth to it? And what did the nurse mean when she told Bea that her brother stopped by, when everyone knows that her adopted brother would never set foot here? As I said, this is a very clear story, which seems unusual for Wolfe, but there is some added depth to the whole thing. Wolfe slowly weaves Bea's history to the reader as Bea's father tells his story. Slowly, we find out that she's adopted and of the bitter relationship between her and the woman she's always known as Mom. This is a touching story, though the ending does go a bit over the top. "Passing Through" - by Charles Patrick Finlay Roberta Bumgardner is a woman with a past she doesn't want to deal with. She lives on a small island on Lake Erie, and she's grown very reserved in her old age. A young inter-racial couple shows up at the Sullivan House Museum where she volunteers, and she doesn't like the look of them. The woman is too cheerful, and so is the man. They are on the island for a couple days, "just passing through" despite the fact that the island is remote enough that it's really impossible to just pass through. They seem interested in ghost stories, and while she refuses to tell them anything, she has a doozy. But maybe it's time that her secret came out? The real reason for her marriage, and what she's hidden for almost her entire life? I loved this story, especially its strong characterization. Roberta is not really likeable, but the reader discovers why as the story unfolds, and we begin to feel a little sympathy for her. The ghost is the only thing "fantastic" about the story, but it doesn't matter. Finlay captures the essence of this remote island perfectly as well. This may not be a standout story objectively, but I really liked it. "Show Me Yours" - by Robert Reed An extremely dark, and short, story by Reed. A woman meets her roommate's new lover as he leaves the room and looks for the bathroom. They engage in a game of "Show Me Yours" that ends up having horrible consequences, as the story expands to showcase a sexual predator getting his comeuppance. None of the characters are what they seem, and the story takes on a surreal tinge at the end when the woman shows that the game has much more of a point than it seems at the beginning. The twist is typical of Reed, and the strong storytelling, minimalist at times but always effective, just makes the story even better. "Diluvium" - by Steven Utley And then we get to this one. This is another of Utley's tales of the Paleozoic age, with archeologists and other scientists taking advantage of the time conduit that takes them back to this age, where they can study it. Jack and Sarah are a married couple who are also studying the past, and they're camped out at the top of a slope going down to a streambed. A flash flood is coming, and they see a camp in the distance, across the bed. There isn't any scheduled expedition in this area, so Jack goes to investigate and warn them if necessary. He stumbles up on an injured James Farlough, head of Advocates for Biblical Creation. He's injured his ankle, and the storm is coming, so Jack takes care of him, engaging him in an intellectual debate as they hide from the storm. I really disliked this story (as you can see above in my rant). Utley sets up the Intellectual Design advocate just so Jack can shoot him down, and then at the end, he and Sarah can make some snide comments about the whole thing. I didn't find Jack or Sarah interesting in the slightest, and the whole point of the story seems to be to knock ID down. That wouldn't be so bad if the story was interesting in the slightest, but it's not. An intellectual exercise with no fictional value as far as I'm concerned. It might as well have been an essay. "Billy and the Fairy" - by Terry Bisson Billy returns, obviously having overcome what happened to him in "Billy & the Ants" (Oct/Nov 2005). Billy has a fairy in his room, but his parents don't believe him. They say that fairies are make believe, and the fairy agrees, saying real fairies are, but that he's not. Billy is a racing enthusiast, even having a bed in the shape of a race car. Billy gets annoyed at his parents, and asks the fairy to do something about them, so he does. Which just might make things worse. I'm a big fan of Bisson's little "Billy" stories, told in a quick, matter-of-fact way. He gets a lot of characterization in short sentences and short little paragraphs, using repetition and a childish tone to get his point across. And the stories themselves are so outlandish that they're quite funny. "Imitation of Life" - by Albert E. Cowdrey "Jane Austen meets the future" is how this story can be summarized. It's a story of upper crust manners and romance. In a future where cities have become obsolete because of smaller weapons giving bigger yields, life is separated into a lot of Edwardian-era towns. Milly is a woman with a lot of lovers, though she is very discrete. She thinks that Emma could use a dose of that herself, but Emma is very reserved. She doesn't even want to indulge in a love bot from the town down the road. But when the police crack down harshly on an organization that wants to drive the rest of civilization out of the towns (pubs, theaters, etc), the leader finds refuge with Emma. He has to assume the identity of a bot that Emma has bought, and must maintain that façade as the search heats up. Their relationship grows, and things go from there. This story isn't that bad, though it's not that interesting. Cowdrey does give good characterization to all the leads, so it's definitely not a chore to read, but I'm not a big fan of Edwardian romance, so it didn't resonate with me as much as it might have otherwise. "Journey into the Kingdom" - by M. Rickert M. Rickert has a way with telling the horrifying in an extremely interesting way, and this one is no different. It's a story within a story, but perhaps the internal story is actually true? A man at a coffee house picks up a story sitting on a table, about the dead coming back to life and romancing the living, and how they can remain alive by stealing the breath of those not yet dead. A young girl falls in love with the ghost of a sailor, against her mother's wishes, refusing to believe that the ghost could just be using her to stay solid. She ignores these warnings until it's too late. Now she may be suffering from the same horrible existence. The young man meets the writer of the story, a waitress at the coffee shop who seems impressed that he's the only one who seems to get the story. The man is convinced that the story is actually about the waitress, and he becomes obsessed with her. Things spiral downward from there, especially as he might be wrong and it isn't about her. This story is an effective way to end the issue, with a lot of weirdness, interesting characters, and wonderful prose. The man's obsession is clearly understandable, even as we are horrified at the lengths he will go to in order to prove his theories about her. And when it turns out that he might be wrong about her, it's even more disturbing. This is great stuff, as Rickert's stories usually are. The Articles: "Books to Look For" - by Charles de Lint The Three Incestuous Sisters - by Audrey Niffenegger Plucker - by Brom The Coming of Conan the Cimmerian - by Robert E. Howard The Conquering Sword of Conan - by Robert E. Howard Forever Odd by Dean Koontz "Books" - by Elizabeth Hand Counting Heads - by David Merusek The Brief & Frightening Reign of Phil - by George Saunders The Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana - by Jess Nevins Supernatural Literature of the World: An Encyclopedia - edited by S.T. Joshi and Stefan Dziemianowicz (in 3 volumes) "Films" - by Kathi Maio A disappointed look at Serenity, the movie from the Firefly television series "Plumes From Pegasus" - by Paul Di Filippo A rather unfunny blasting of Intelligent Design, using a classroom setting where students of ID are coached in how to use SF concepts to obscure any debate about the subject. “Curiosities” – by Gregory J. Koster Lazy Bear Lane by Thorne Smith (1931). Smith's only children's novel.  |
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