These are my final thoughts on the December 2009 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction.
Nancy Springer’s story Iris reminds me somewhat of an old movie from the seventies starring Jimmy Stewart called Mr. Krueger’s Christmas. The lonely old lady in the story fashions a memorable Christmas for herself after all. It’s an okay Christmas story, but I certainly wouldn’t put it in the Connie Willis or John Mortimer classification (but then who can match their yuletide delights?). And this brings to mind something totally different from this issue, but speaking of Christmas stories, one of my all-time favorites was in a different magazine (the recently resurrected Realms of Fantasy). The title of the story was Walter’s Christmas Night Music. I can’t recall who wrote it, and don’t know if he ever wrote another thing, but this was a masterpiece that could easily be turned into a nice made-for-TV holiday movie. Wish I could give you more info, but right now I’m about 800 miles away from my copy of the magazine.
Herel Jablov, the protagonist of Tim Sullivan’s Inside Time finds himself in a strange predicament, being caught up in a space prison of sorts, but doesn’t mind so much as he is falling for the only other occupant there. Her name is Mae, and while she is a prisoner for political reasons, she explains to Herel, he is only there as a temporary measure. I won’t go into all the whys of it (read it yourself…it’s a good story), but things turn sour for Herel when another prisoner, Conway, arrives. Do things ever turn out well when there is one girl and two guys? I think not (especially when you consider that Clint Eastwood sang “I talk to the trees” in Paint Your Wagon when he and Lee Marvin shared a girl). Anyway, this is another one of those stories that makes the purchase price worth it.
The Man Who Did Something About It by Harvey Jacobs brings two things to mind. The Twilight Zone and The Simpsons. Read it and see if you agree with me. While the story was somewhat entertaining, I could have lived without it. Yet it is easy to read and better than most things on television, so who’s complaining?
I Needs Must Part, the Policeman Said by Richard Bowes started off as one that I really wish I wasn’t reading, but about midway through I found myself fascinated by what he was telling me. There are layers here, much deeper than the surface, and though I would have been loath to admit it when I first started reading, I may find myself reading the book that this is going to be a part of. So if you start reading this and just can’t get into it, I ask you to keep going. It’s the last story in the issue, so why not finish it? You may find yourself actually liking it, the way I did. If not, no harm no foul. You are pretty much finished with December 2009. And I’m looking forward for what’s in store for 2010.
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