Fantasy & Science Fiction: February 2008
March 28, 2008 by Andy
The February issue falls short of spectacular, but boasts one great story and several that are more than serviceable.
“Balancing Accounts” by James L. Cambias
This is a brilliant story. Depicting the AI of a space tug falling into a moral quandary, Cambias writes with humor and insight. The first person protagonist has an excellent voice and may be the most sympathetic AI I’ve encountered.
This is largely due to the moral system it has developed, which, compared to the logic of Asimov’s 3 Laws, feels downright organic (perhaps Objectivist). Cambias makes it plausible for an AI while keeping it familiar enough to humans that we recognize the protagonist as the “good guy” who’s trying to do the right thing.
I love the personalities, I love their culture/setting, I love the action, and I love the dilemma. I want to marry this story and have its babies.
“Petri Parousia” by Matthew Hughes
And then I might have a brief affair with this story from Matthew Hughes. Irreverent but not irreligious, it reunites a worldly orthopedic surgeon with his annoying med school roommate, a genius who preferred research over practice.
Now Wally has found a way to reconstruct a person’s ancestors’ DNA and he comes to Jim for venture capital. When Jim meets Wally’s principal investors he has second thoughts, but Wally can’t leave well enough alone. This may be a gimmick story, but I’m sold on it.
“Philologos: or, A Murder in Bistrita” by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald
I also find Doyle and Macdonald’s story alluring. The bookish protagonist falls into a net of supernatural horror-adventure, with the gothic textures of nineteenth century Romania evoked more by language than description. As an academic the hero seems to follow the Indiana Jones school. He’s far less surprised by his situation and much more prepared for it than I was as a reader.
While I resent protagonists who make me feel like the Watson to their Sherlock, I do like this story.
“If Angels Fight” by Richard Bowes
This story takes a bit more digesting and indulges in a more leisurely, roundabout pace. The Bannons, part of the Boston political aristocracy, rely on the protagonist to keep tabs on his childhood friend, the wayward Mark Bannon, who at times seems developmentally challenged, at times animated by an irresistible charisma. The search has as much to do with tracking this animus as it does with Mark himself.
An ambitious story. While the whole didn’t completely coalesce for me, I enjoyed the concept, mood and characters.
“Memoirs of the Witch Queen” by Ron Goulart
Goulart’s humor dominates this wry story of a man who’s ghostwriting a witch’s memoirs. She becomes rather fond of him, and he can’t quite keep the job from interfering with his personal life. Good fun.
“Retrospect” by Ann Miller
Miller’s debut (she has my congratulations and courteous envy) begins with a very well-written portrait of a rare book-buying agent whose world reminds me of Wall Street, with its high profile and pressure. He falls from the pinnacle of success and lands in, of all places, a book club where eccentrics debate things like, if you could send a book back in time which would you send and how would it change the world?
An interesting question. The story left me at the curb when it transitioned to the fantastical elements at the close, but I’ll be rooting for Miller’s future success.
