I have laying around a few older fiction magazines that I’ve never read. So I figured I would knock some of them off over the next month or two. I can’t even remember why I bought this one eight years ago.
As normal, I’m only reviewing the fiction.
Lifeline
by Eleanor Arnason- I think Mark Watson states my thoughts best in his review:
The story ends with a lengthy dialog between Duluth and an AI concerning destiny and other matters – which comes across as being what Arnason is really wanting to talk about, with the preceding story the means to get her there.
Duluth is our main character, a former revolutionary who is being studied by the ruling AIs by having an AI implanted in her head. The plot has her getting kidnapped by alien revolutionaries. The Gods Abandon Alcibiades
by Joel Richards- Aliens experience human life by inhabiting ancient Greek personages? And then some of them get too close to the experience and don’t want to go back? And have to be forced? Something like that. Except it’s all talky-talk.
Day’s Heat
by James Sallis- Siblings abused by dad somehow. Something or the other about letting dad or another sibling live vicariously, literally, through what they do. And now he’s dying and sister has come home after resenting him for years. I think.
Romance with Phobic Variations
by Tom Purdom- Future Casanova Joe Baske discovers that he’s actually a mark for con-women who have genetically modified one of themselves to fit his well-known tendencies. I’m not really sure if I should view it as saying something about the nature of love or if I should just view it as a science fiction caper. It could be viewed both ways. The latter a bit better, but even then it still falls a a bit short.
Exclusion
by Daniel Abraham- Have you ever just dropped someone from your list of friends? Completely cut them off as if they didn’t exist any more? Sometimes that can be an easy way of avoiding dealing with problems. Abraham imagines a world where you can do that totally, with technology. Tell your computer to completely edit a person out of your life. Can’t see ‘em. They can’t see you. Take the social phenomenon to it’s extreme.
User-Centric
by Bruce Sterling- The story starts off as a series of messages between members of a product development team. Having participated in a bunch of these sorts of things, it felt very familiar. Then the narrative transitions into a story about the subjects of the story developed by the product development team. Cute, but I’m not sure what the point is. We are manipulated by marketers? We aren’t the sum of the stories told about us? Eh.
Ice and Mirrors
by Brenda Cooper and Larry Niven- Very Niven-esque story. No big dumb object though, and a little contrived. A race wants to colonize a planet. Galactic law requires that a neutral race okay planet colonization to make sure no indigenous races are displaced. This is the story of two human verifiers who play the role for a proposed Thray colonization of an ice planet. It’s the first time the pair have done this, and indeed the first time humans have. The contrived part is that only the team lead can okay it. The team can only be two people. They can only send one message (no consultation). And no one else but the Thray are there with them. Given the unlikely setup, it’s a good story. But that setup just doesn’t make sense other than to inject some danger into the story.
Title: Asimov’s Science Fiction
Issue: February 2001 (301)
Cover creator: Michael Carroll
Length: 144 p.
Publication date: December 2000
