Short Story Sunday: Dinosaurs and Cold Equations

Welcome to the return of Short Story Sundays.  This time around I am reviewing two stories with some similarities (dinosaurs and cold equations).

Title:  Think Like a Dinosaur
Author:  James Patrick Kelly
First Publication:  Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1995
Cover Art:  Todd Lockwood

Check another author off my list.  James Patrick Kelly was first published in 1984.  Somehow I never read any of his fiction before "Think Like a Dinosaur".  I am attempting to read all of the David G. Hartwell "Year's Best SF" and this was the lead story in the first collection.

In many ways this is a modern retelling of Tom Godwin's classic "The Cold Equations".  Kelly took the basic original idea and created his own unique take on the story.  The aliens in this story bare a resemblance to dinosaurs.  They do not understand our customs and question whether or not humanity is ready to travel to other planets.  The dinos finally agree to install the necessary systems to allow us to go to other worlds.  This is the story of what happens when things go wrong.

Kelly does an excellent job with the plot, aliens and characterization.  Highly recommended.

Title:  The Tall Grass
Author:  Steven Utley
First Publication:  Asimov's Science Fiction, June 1989
Cover Art:  Nicholas Jainschigg

Buried in this issue was another great science fiction story by Steven Utley.  With the all star lineup, Utley did not make it on to the cover.

As usual, Utley is a master of the short story form.  It is similar to "Think Like Dinosaurs" in that it features dinosaurs and an uncompromising situation.  Where Kelly's story took place in the future, this takes place in the past.  The dinosaurs in Utley's story are the usual earth bound type we have read about for years.  "The Tall Grass" is the tale of what happens on a journey to the era of the dinosaurs.  To say more than that would ruin the story.

Highly recommended (like Utley's other stories).

Double, Double by Michael Jan Friedman

On a routine exploratory mission, the Starship U.S.S. Hood picks up a distress signal from a research expedition thought lost long ago-the expedition of Dr. Roger Korby, one of the centuries’ greatest scientific minds.  Korby himself is dead, it seems, but his colleagues have made a most incredible discovery.  A discovery they insist the Hood’s captain sees for himself.  Reluctantly, the captain agrees to beam down.

Meanwhile the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise begins a long overdue shore leave on Tranquility Seven.  James T. Kirk is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation…until what seems like a bizarre case of mistaken identity plunges Kirk into a whirlpool of mayhem and murder and puts an inhuman stranger with his memories in command of the Enterprise.

Have you ever wondered what happened after a television episode?  Michael Jan Friedman shows us the follow up to the original series “What Little Girls Are Made Of”.  It is one of the best of the Trek books I have read.

A Talent for War by Jack McDevitt

The first book I read in 2009 was a good one. Somehow, I had missed the career of Jack McDevitt. When I recently returned from my SF sabbatical I kept hearing about McDevitt's books. As is usual for me, I managed to pick up a few of his books before I found the first one in the Alex Benedict series. Now I see why so many readers like his novels.

A Talent for War sets the basic premise of the series. The death of Alex's uncle has left a mystery to be solved. With the aid of Chase Kolpath, Alex sets out to solve the mystery of what his uncle was researching. Although the story slows down in spots, overall it is an exciting story as the clues are revealed. Every time progress is being made another obstacle is thrown in their path. In this case, the journey is worth the effort. The author does a great job of showing how history is not always what it appears to be. But there is usually a good reason for the way history is reported.

I will be looking forward to reading other books by this author. In some ways this seems inspired by the sf mysteries of Isaac Asimov(The Caves of Steel, The Naked Sun). If I had read this in 1989 when it was first published, I know I would have followed McDevitt through his many novels. Now, I have a stack of books to add to my must read pile.

Highly recommended.

Rating: 4 out of 5.