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Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1982
CONTENTS
Novelettes
"The Tide Will Come" by Tony Richards
"The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" by Gene Wolfe
Short Stories
"The Long Wind" by Kathryn A. Sinclair
"Ann Atomic on the Island of Dr. Morose" by Sharon Farber
"Palindromes and Primes" by Martin Gardner
"A Meeting of Minds" by Ardath Mayhar
"The Far Shore" by Jack McDevitt
"Azimuth 1, 2, 3 ..." by Damon Knight
"Peg-Man" by Rudy Rucker
"The Comedian" by Timothy Robert Sullivan
"The Munji Deserters" by Chuck Rothman
"200 Light Years from Paradise" by Coleman Brax
"A Clockwork Lemon" by A. Bertram Chandler
Poetry
"Improbable Bestiary: The Doppelganger" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
Departments
"Editorial: But We're the Good Guys!" by Isaac Asimov
"On Books: The Best of 1981" by Charles N. Brown
"The SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
"Letters"
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1982, Vol. 6, No. 6 (Whole No. 53)
Kathleen Moloney, editor
Cover art by Peter Lloyd
Novelettes
"The Tide Will Come" by Tony Richards
"The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" by Gene Wolfe
Short Stories
"The Long Wind" by Kathryn A. Sinclair
"Ann Atomic on the Island of Dr. Morose" by Sharon Farber
"Palindromes and Primes" by Martin Gardner
"A Meeting of Minds" by Ardath Mayhar
"The Far Shore" by Jack McDevitt
"Azimuth 1, 2, 3 ..." by Damon Knight
"Peg-Man" by Rudy Rucker
"The Comedian" by Timothy Robert Sullivan
"The Munji Deserters" by Chuck Rothman
"200 Light Years from Paradise" by Coleman Brax
"A Clockwork Lemon" by A. Bertram Chandler
Poetry
"Improbable Bestiary: The Doppelganger" by F. Gwynplaine MacIntyre
Departments
"Editorial: But We're the Good Guys!" by Isaac Asimov
"On Books: The Best of 1981" by Charles N. Brown
"The SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
"Letters"
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, June 1982, Vol. 6, No. 6 (Whole No. 53)
Kathleen Moloney, editor
Cover art by Peter Lloyd
180 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1982
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 31, 2024
I appreciate having a platform from which to celebrate IAsfm.
This issue is lacklustre. The columns and features are fine, the fiction is mostly drab and undistinguished, 12 stories in all.
My favorite story from the issue is perhaps Coleman Brax's "200 Light Years from Paradise," which concerns a foolish young man on a quest to reach a distant planet which promises more than it can possibly deliver. Two girls for every boy, for instance, the classic sales pitch. He ends the story throwing away a chance to reach his goal, under the impression that he will instead be apprenticed to an ancient musician of an even more ancient musical tradition on a backwater planet. I believe he made the right choice. This story did not go where I thought it was going, so kudos are due to Brax. There's a Dumarest whiff to this story, and I expected a kind of one step forward twho steps back kind of narrative vector, so I found it admirable that Brax went in an oblique direction from that storyline, on a vector of his own.
Another possible favorite candidate from this issue is "Peg Man" from a truly terrific sci-fi writer, Rudy Rucker. I this one, an arcade addict finds himself in the spotlight of powers beyond his belief due to his ability to play a video game. I love the desultory dismissal of authority here.
Yet another best-of-issue candidate is "The Far Shore" by Jack McDevitt. On a distant planet, a marooned astronaut finds sanity during his long wait for rescue by listening to the radio broadcasts of Earth from the 1930's. Sheer boomersploitation done right. Cheesy, implausible, but satisfying in the way truly great storytelling often is.
One of the bravest stories I've read in a while is "A Meeting of Minds" by Ardath Mayhar, in which a member of a interplanetary trade delegation makes the ultimate sacrifice for tue sake of the sales team. It takes courage to write such a story, which involves the wrong story elements, ends on such a note, elicits such a feeling. It takes courage to publish such a story as well. Truly an eccentric story.
Kathryn Sinclair gives us a portrait of a possibly bat-like sentient species living in a windy planet in "The Long Wind" in which an adolescent learns how to participate in society after a traumatic experience.
Tony Richards explores the idea of madness in "The Tide Will Come," in which a planetary mystery is solved despite the best efforts of the mission leader, whose clumsy attempts to control the alien intelligence are both doomed and deeply misguided. I don't buy the technology of the indigenies, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief on behalf of such a tightly-told tale.
Then there's Tim Sullivan, here under the byline Timothy Robert Sullivan, wrong a Varley revision in "The Comedian," a challenging story which also illustrates the courage of the editor. A person of our time is put to work by a future person in abducting children for use by the post-apocalyptic survivors. Dark material, button pushing dystopia. My only real criticism is that is isn't dark enough. Challenging story: probably did not win a readers' choice award.
Most of the stories in this issue are meant to be humorous; some of them manage to be humorous.
Sharon N Farber delivers another punishing installment is the "Ann Atomic" series. It's funny enough.
"Azimuth 1 2 3" by Damon Knight is about a time-paradox which produces a veritable infinity of our protagonist, and which ends in ignominy. I did not laugh.
Chuck Rothman presents a human colony on the rocks in "The Munij Deserters," but the story has more bark than bite.
A Bertram Chandler's "A Clockwork Lemon" is a waste of two pages.
I am left to assume that Gene Wolfe's "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" is supposed to be funny. Some metafictional stuff about a mad scientist, a chiseled hero, a plucky heroine, and... the Devil? Whatever.
This issue is lacklustre. The columns and features are fine, the fiction is mostly drab and undistinguished, 12 stories in all.
My favorite story from the issue is perhaps Coleman Brax's "200 Light Years from Paradise," which concerns a foolish young man on a quest to reach a distant planet which promises more than it can possibly deliver. Two girls for every boy, for instance, the classic sales pitch. He ends the story throwing away a chance to reach his goal, under the impression that he will instead be apprenticed to an ancient musician of an even more ancient musical tradition on a backwater planet. I believe he made the right choice. This story did not go where I thought it was going, so kudos are due to Brax. There's a Dumarest whiff to this story, and I expected a kind of one step forward twho steps back kind of narrative vector, so I found it admirable that Brax went in an oblique direction from that storyline, on a vector of his own.
Another possible favorite candidate from this issue is "Peg Man" from a truly terrific sci-fi writer, Rudy Rucker. I this one, an arcade addict finds himself in the spotlight of powers beyond his belief due to his ability to play a video game. I love the desultory dismissal of authority here.
Yet another best-of-issue candidate is "The Far Shore" by Jack McDevitt. On a distant planet, a marooned astronaut finds sanity during his long wait for rescue by listening to the radio broadcasts of Earth from the 1930's. Sheer boomersploitation done right. Cheesy, implausible, but satisfying in the way truly great storytelling often is.
One of the bravest stories I've read in a while is "A Meeting of Minds" by Ardath Mayhar, in which a member of a interplanetary trade delegation makes the ultimate sacrifice for tue sake of the sales team. It takes courage to write such a story, which involves the wrong story elements, ends on such a note, elicits such a feeling. It takes courage to publish such a story as well. Truly an eccentric story.
Kathryn Sinclair gives us a portrait of a possibly bat-like sentient species living in a windy planet in "The Long Wind" in which an adolescent learns how to participate in society after a traumatic experience.
Tony Richards explores the idea of madness in "The Tide Will Come," in which a planetary mystery is solved despite the best efforts of the mission leader, whose clumsy attempts to control the alien intelligence are both doomed and deeply misguided. I don't buy the technology of the indigenies, but I'm willing to suspend disbelief on behalf of such a tightly-told tale.
Then there's Tim Sullivan, here under the byline Timothy Robert Sullivan, wrong a Varley revision in "The Comedian," a challenging story which also illustrates the courage of the editor. A person of our time is put to work by a future person in abducting children for use by the post-apocalyptic survivors. Dark material, button pushing dystopia. My only real criticism is that is isn't dark enough. Challenging story: probably did not win a readers' choice award.
Most of the stories in this issue are meant to be humorous; some of them manage to be humorous.
Sharon N Farber delivers another punishing installment is the "Ann Atomic" series. It's funny enough.
"Azimuth 1 2 3" by Damon Knight is about a time-paradox which produces a veritable infinity of our protagonist, and which ends in ignominy. I did not laugh.
Chuck Rothman presents a human colony on the rocks in "The Munij Deserters," but the story has more bark than bite.
A Bertram Chandler's "A Clockwork Lemon" is a waste of two pages.
I am left to assume that Gene Wolfe's "The Last Thrilling Wonder Story" is supposed to be funny. Some metafictional stuff about a mad scientist, a chiseled hero, a plucky heroine, and... the Devil? Whatever.
July 26, 2021
A (excellent):
Ann Atomic on the Island of Dr Morose by Sharon Farber
The Far Shore by Jack McDevitt
The Last Thrilling Wonder Story by Gene Wolfe
B (very good):
The Tide will come by Tony Richards
A Clockwork Lemon by A Bertram Chandler
C (average):
The Long Wind by Kathryn Sinclair
A Meeting of Minds by Ardath Mayhar
Azimuth 1,2,3 by Damon Knight
Peg-Man by Rudy Rucker
The Munij Deserters by Chuck Rothman
The Dopperganger by F. Gwynplain McIntyre
200 Light Years from Paradise by Coleman Brax
F (awful):
The Comedian by Timothy Robert Sullivan
Ann Atomic on the Island of Dr Morose by Sharon Farber
The Far Shore by Jack McDevitt
The Last Thrilling Wonder Story by Gene Wolfe
B (very good):
The Tide will come by Tony Richards
A Clockwork Lemon by A Bertram Chandler
C (average):
The Long Wind by Kathryn Sinclair
A Meeting of Minds by Ardath Mayhar
Azimuth 1,2,3 by Damon Knight
Peg-Man by Rudy Rucker
The Munij Deserters by Chuck Rothman
The Dopperganger by F. Gwynplain McIntyre
200 Light Years from Paradise by Coleman Brax
F (awful):
The Comedian by Timothy Robert Sullivan
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews