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).

The City Quiet As Death by Steven Utley & Michael Bishop

Title:  The City Quiet as Death
Authors:  Steven Utley & Michael Bishop
First Publication:  2009
Cover Artist:  Jon Foster

From Amazon:

Between the incessant music of the stars and the spectre of a giant squid caught inside a locket ball, it is difficult for Don Horacio to maintain a restful mind.

The synopsis does not sound exciting but that is not the reason for this short chapbook.  The authors combine to write a very poetic book.  The language seems to flow from paragraph to paragraph.

This is one of those stories that I will read again.  My best guess after the first reading is that this is a H. P. Lovecraft inspired allegory about madness.

Recommended.  When you combine two of my favorite short story writers it has to be good.

"Ghost Seas" by Steven Utley

Story:  Ghost Seas
Author:  Steven Utley
First Publication:  Lone Star Universe, 1976
Cover:  Joseph Troffimoff

On January 12, 2013 the world lost another writer.  Steven Utley was once called the most under-rated sf writer in the world by Gardner Dozois.  The collection "Ghost Seas" is an excellent one to read whether you are familiar with him or not.  In honor of his passing, I plan on reviewing the stories from this collection over the next few weeks.

Synopsis:  A man and his new wife go to the Texas desert to visit his wealthy old uncle.  What is unusual about that?  Nothing.  Then the uncle starts talking about the waves from the ocean  coming up to his back porch at night time...