New and Old Asimov Stories

The "new Asimov stories" are ones from Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.  So in one respect, I am reviewing new Asimov's stories.


Title:  Dolly
Author:  Elizabeth Bear
First Publication:  Asimov's Science Fiction, Jan. 2011
Cover:  Tomislav Tikulin

Elizabeth Bear must be a fan of Isaac Asimov’s robot stories.  “Dolly” seems like a modern version of the classic Asimov robot mystery.  Bear’s robots are not as advanced as Asimov’s.  The positronic brain has not been developed.  The main characters, two detectives, are called in to investigate a closed room murder.  Only the victim and his robot companion are in the room.  The robot obviously had to commit the murder.  The question becomes who hacked into the programming to orchestrate the deed.  Or is something else going on…  Bear has captured the spirit of classic science fiction short story telling and combined it with a modern writing style.  After reading this story, I will be looking for more of Bear’s work in the future.

Best SF of the Year, One That is Okay, & Some Old Favorites

Like many fans, I am torn over which “best science fiction of the year” collection(s) to read.  I find myself enjoying short stories more than the door-stopper novels.  That doesn’t mean the long novels are not good it just means that I prefer reading many different stories in the short fiction (novellas, novelettes, short stories) to reading one long novel.  There are exceptions.  “Dune” is one of my favorites and I have read it many times.  But if you look at the novels I mainly read, they are the length I enjoyed reading in the 70s and 80s when I was getting into science fiction.  Look at the length of the typical works of Isaac Asimov, Roger Zelazny, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Michael Moorcock, Jack Vance, E. C. Tubb, and others of that generation.  Even many of Frank Herbert’s novels are not 600 to 1000 pages long.  Take a look at the majority of the novels I am reviewing.  Most are older ones.  Does this mean I don’t want to read newer authors?  No.  I plan on reading books by Alastair Reynolds, Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton, Robert Sawyer, Eric Brown and others this year.  In the words of Peter David, “But I Digress…”.

Cover by Jack Gaughan

Getting back to the subject of “best of the year” collections, my favorite in the early days were the ones edited by Donald A. Wollheim and Terry Carr.  I plan on starting to re-read them with the first one this year.  Last year I took a good look at the current series.  I chose to buy two (the Gardner Dozois collection and the David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer one).  From what I have read on other sites, the Dozois is generally considered the top series since it started.  Each year he includes a fascinating overview of the field.  So why did I pick up the Hartwell & Cramer book?  A friend of mine loved this series because it is more focused on traditional science fiction.  When I compared the two, there is very little overlap.  Part of my plan is to go back, read and review all of the Hartwell & Cramer collections.  It will take some time because last year’s edition is the seventeenth.  By reading these, it will give me a chance to read many of the newer authors I have not read or have read very little of.  Which leads me to the first story in last year’s collection…

"The Graveyard Reader" by Theodore Sturgeon

The Graveyard Reader by Theodore Sturgeon

Published in Science Fantasy, 1958.

This is a different type of story to read for R.I.P. IV. The title led me to believe this would be a scary story. I was not exactly sure what a "graveyard reader" was but it sounded like the title to a good spooky tale. What I ended up reading was an excellent story that initially was not frightening. But then, upon further thought, it was a very scary story.

How many people would be happy to find that others could read their grave after they die? Would you want all of your secrets and actions revealed to others? Probably not. Sturgeon is an author I have not read much. After reading this story, he goes on my must read list. It is not a flashy story but it is well written.

Highly recommended.