Welcome back to anyone who actually read my last posting. How could you contain yourself in the meantime, waiting (probably impatiently) to find out more awesome things about the December issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction?
I’ve read most of the remainder of the magazine since last Friday, so I’ll cover some of that today, and the rest the next time I post.
Farewell Atlantis by Terry Bisson was an odd story, and if you like your science fiction with a comedic bent, especially one that calls purposefully on the trappings of cliché, then this is right up your alley. It starts off with a man and woman being the only survivors on a spaceship, and they immediately fancy themselves as Adam and Eve, off to repopulate the human race. But the clichés don’t end there. It’s goofy, funny, and readable. Not my favorite story in the magazine by far, by quite entertaining.
This was followed up by Hell of a Fix by Matthew Hughes, and this indeed (if you read the previous post) seems to be the story behind the cover art. I really enjoyed the first half of this tale much more than the second half, but it was easy to read and Hughes’ prose seemed to flow well. Fans of the oh-so-popular urban fantasy craze should appreciate this story.
This issue contained two stories based on the moon. The first one, Illusions of Tranquillity by Brendan DuBois, was just okay. The plot contained nothing original and the pace moved along fine. I’m not sorry I read it, but it really did nothing for me.
Kit Reed’s The Blight Family Singers was an odd spoof of sorts of the Von Trapp Family Singers (of The Sound of Music fame). Another story I could have lived without, this wasn’t my cup of tea. It combined the Do Re Mi group with oddball cults and resulted in me flipping pages to see how much further I had to go until it was over. My apologies to Reed or anyone else who likes it. It’s not that it was bad or poorly written. It just didn’t move me or entertain me much.
Juxtaposed to The Blight Family Singers, I completely loved The Economy of Vacuum by Sarah Thomas, a young writer in Boston University’s graduate journalism program. I can only hope that she produces more works of fiction. While there were a couple things that put this story in the PG-13 realm, it produced in me the sense of wonder that I wanted to feel with the first moon story in this issue. So yes, this one takes place on the moon. But when you are the only one there, things aren’t quite so hunky-dory. The latter half of the story had some characters that made me think of The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell (what? you haven’t read it? get thee to a bookstore!). This story made the magazine worth it.
That’s all for tonight. Join me again soon for my last part of my thoughts on F&SF December 2009.
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