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.

"By Fools Like Me" by Nancy Kress

First Printing:  Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, September 2007

Kress has crafted a fine story here.  The tale of a grandmother and grand daughter in a future world that suffers from the devastating effects of climate change.  Books are evidence of sin because they are made out of wood taken from trees.  This book shows what happens when the grand daughter finds a few books.  She and her grandmother share a special time reading them until...

Kress does a good job of showing the effects of hate.  The bonds of hatred are hard to break.  Sometimes the negative feelings take priority and control people's lives.

The author thought out the effects of a climate disaster.  The rules and lifestyle of the survivors are presented like things have always been this way.

Not a great story but it is a good solid one.

"Draw" by Pati Nagle

First Printing:  Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine, September 2007

Sometimes you read a short story and just know that it is in a particular magazine.  While reading "Draw" I had to keep double checking the cover to see if I had picked up Analog.  It reminded me of a typical Analog problem solving story.  It is not an insult.  Personally, I enjoy Analog.

"Draw" seems like it was inspired by the old Winston Science Fiction series.  It features a young protagonist in a strange environment.  He is worried that his father will not survive if he waits for the authorities so he takes matters into his own hands.  This is a classic science fiction plot.  The author does a good job with it.  It is not the kind of story that will win awards but it is fun to revisit this style.  I would like to see more stories like this.

Short Story Sunday-January 24, 2010

Welcome to the first of my newly revived Short Story Sunday posts. This was inspired by Carl at Stainless Steel Droppings. Carl has been doing Short Story Sunday's for quite some time. In my version, I will review the short stories that I have read in the past week.

Let's take a look at the two stories I read.



1. "Misquoting the Star" by David Bartell
First printing: Analog, December 2008

"Misquoting the Star" was the cover story for the December 2008 issue of Analog. The image I included does not do justice to the David Hardy cover.

It tells the story of what happens when an asteroid crashes into the Earth. Bartell writes about the issues faced by refugees on the moon. His characterization is very good. When the refugees are selected they are put through a very thorough screening process to prevent diseases from infecting the colony. When one of the leaders finds out that one of the crew is not who they thought he was, problems begin. A father goes through the testing then switches places with his son. The son would not have passed the health screening. The leader falls for the son. The conflict of how to handle the crewman is the basis of this interesting tale.

A good, solid short story.

1. "The Ghost Pit" by Stephen Baxter
First printing: Isaac Asimov's SF Magazine July 2001

Baxter is one of the author's I had not tried yet. Based on this story, I will be reading more of his works.

From Wikipedia...
The story follows Raida, a young woman on a hunting expedition, who is teamed with her mother's old partner, L'Eesh. The two are investigating a large jovian planet for the presence of rare aliens known as Ghosts when their spacecraft is attacked and they crash land on one of the planet's moons. As they walk to the artificially constructed bridge that connects the two moons, Raida learns more about Ghosts, her mother and how much she can trust her partner.

Baxter describes an amazing environment for this story. I was very impressed to read about this world and the conflict that is taking place between the Ghosts and the humans. The conflict between the two hunters is interesting. The only shortcoming in this story was the mystery of who killed Raida's mother. Baxter leads the reader to think there will be a sequel to this story. It was aggravating to read this without knowing for sure.

Overall, a very good short story. Highly recommended.