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Asimov's Science Fiction, Vol. 41, Nos. 5 & 6, May/June 2017
CONTENTS
Novella
"The Runabout" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Novelettes
"Come as You Are" by Dale Bailey
"Night Fever" by Will Ludwigsen
Short Stories
"On the Ship" by Leah Cypess
"Good Show" by William Preston
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story" by James Gunn
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?" by Peter Wood
"The Best Man" by Jay O'Connell
"Triceratops" by Ian McHugh
"Persephone of the Crows" by Karen Joy Fowler
Poetry
"Sparking the Matter" by Tod McCoy
"Your Clone Watches Over You" by Robert Frazier
"Pinned" by Suzanne Palmer
"Endeavor" by G. O. Clark
Departments
"Editorial: Anniversaries and Milestones" by Sheila Williams
"Reflections: Advertisements for Myself" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Harry and Dot" by James Patrick Kelly
"On Books: Wolockification" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, May/June 2017, Vol. 41, Nos. 5-6 (Whole Nos. 496-497)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Jim Simpson
Novella
"The Runabout" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Novelettes
"Come as You Are" by Dale Bailey
"Night Fever" by Will Ludwigsen
Short Stories
"On the Ship" by Leah Cypess
"Good Show" by William Preston
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story" by James Gunn
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?" by Peter Wood
"The Best Man" by Jay O'Connell
"Triceratops" by Ian McHugh
"Persephone of the Crows" by Karen Joy Fowler
Poetry
"Sparking the Matter" by Tod McCoy
"Your Clone Watches Over You" by Robert Frazier
"Pinned" by Suzanne Palmer
"Endeavor" by G. O. Clark
Departments
"Editorial: Anniversaries and Milestones" by Sheila Williams
"Reflections: Advertisements for Myself" by Robert Silverberg
"On the Net: Harry and Dot" by James Patrick Kelly
"On Books: Wolockification" by Norman Spinrad
"SF Conventional Calendar" by Erwin S. Strauss
Asimov's Science Fiction, May/June 2017, Vol. 41, Nos. 5-6 (Whole Nos. 496-497)
Sheila Williams, editor
Cover art by Jim Simpson
212 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 25, 2017
28 people want to read
About the author
Sheila Williams
277 books66 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
Sheila Williams is the editor of Asimov's Science Fiction magazine. She is also the recipient of the 2012 Hugo Award for Best Editor, Short Form.
Sheila grew up in a family of five in western Massachusetts. Her mother had a master's degree in microbiology. Ms. Williams’ interest in science fiction came from her father who read Edgar Rice Burroughs books to her as a child. Later Ms. Williams received a bachelor's degree from Elmira College in Elmira, New York, although she studied at the London School of Economics during her junior year. She received her Master's from Washington University in St. Louis. She is married to David Bruce and has two daughters.
She became interested in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine (as it was then titled) while studying philosophy at Washington University. In 1982 she was hired at the magazine, and worked with Isaac Asimov for ten years. While working there, she co-founded the Dell Magazines Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing (at one time called the Isaac Asimov Award for Undergraduate Excellence in Science Fiction and Fantasy writing). In 2004, with the retirement of Gardner Dozois, she became the editor of the magazine.
Along with Gardner Dozois she also edited the "Isaac Asimov's" anthology series. She also co-edited A Woman's Liberation: A Choice of Futures by and About Women (2001) with Connie Willis. Most recently she has edited a retrospective anthology of fiction published by Asimov's: Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: 30th Anniversary Anthology. Booklist called the book "A gem, and a credit to editor Williams."
She has been nominated for 4 Hugo Awards as editor of Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine.
See also Sheila Williams's entry in the Internet Speculative Fiction Database.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 18, 2017
Really interesting issue. A few real home runs for me, and almost all the stories did something unusual, interesting, or exciting.
My standout stories:
"On the Ship," by Leah Cypess. Something is sorely amiss aboard the colony ship St. Louis. But surely the next planet on their list will be habitable -- or the one after that?
Both the tension and its underlying significance build up throughout the story. Very nicely done; recommended.
"Persephone of the Crows," by Karen Joy Fowler. Fowler is one of my favorite authors; her creations are always rich with detail and character. "Persephone," a character piece, is no exception. As always, every paragraph of Fowler's feels like a short story in its own right:
I also enjoyed:
"Come as You Are," by Dale Bailey. Its SFnal premise: that you can experience another person's personality, in the form of a drug. The protagonist is just the sort of person to make frequent, oh so frequent, use of this drug -- and the story covers both his downward spiral, and where that leads him.
"Night Fever," by Will Ludwigsen. alternate history, where Charles Manson's spree is in the 70's disco era, instead of in the 60's. Plus ça change...
Extremely engaging -- even for me, who didn't really know anything about Manson before reading the piece.
"Good Show," by William Preston: A film critic gets a private invitation to a deeply unsettling screening. Whoever his "benefactors" are, they want to get their production just right -- and Pete really, really doesn't want them to.
A silly story, in many ways, but a very fun one.
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?," by Peter Wood. A fun, quick pastiche - and heaven knows, good pastiche is rare and precious.
--
"The Runabout," by Kristen Kathryn Rusch: Rusch's writing is extremely engaging, and this story does a great job portraying a space salvage team encountering something truly otherworldly. They're seasoned pros who know they're in over their heads, and also know they have no better choice.
I enjoyed quite a bit, but this story fizzled out towards its end leaving it feeling incomplete and highly unresolved. In retrospect, it's revealed as much less exploration and discovery; much more thriller, suspense for suspense's sake.
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story," by James Gunn. A family starship is being held captive; we see their attempts at diplomacy in flashbacks, and their escape in the present day. This is apparently a teaser for the next book in Gunn's Transcendental series, and it shows -- there seems much more exposition than narrative, and the events don't seem particularly interesting in their own right.
"Triceratops," by Ian McHugh. A quiet, introspective story about attempting to bring the past back to life.
"The Best Man," by Jay O'Connell. A thought-plague has victims violently hating their own faces. Brendan has painted his face green in order to stave off the effect, which might hamper his participation in his brother's wedding.
Mostly this is a weird piece that I don't feel really find its footing -- it veers between horrifying and goofy, leaning more weight on the humiliation of wearing makeup in an airport than it does upon multiple deaths. This winds up being a "get a normal thing done while something insane is going on" story, but I don't much care about the normal thing, and the "something insane" feels fairly aimless as well.
My standout stories:
"On the Ship," by Leah Cypess. Something is sorely amiss aboard the colony ship St. Louis. But surely the next planet on their list will be habitable -- or the one after that?
Both the tension and its underlying significance build up throughout the story. Very nicely done; recommended.
"Persephone of the Crows," by Karen Joy Fowler. Fowler is one of my favorite authors; her creations are always rich with detail and character. "Persephone," a character piece, is no exception. As always, every paragraph of Fowler's feels like a short story in its own right:
Isabelle Winters once saw a fairy. For real. (...) She's just told this to Polly, though not exactly in those words. The sarcastic for real, for instance, is all Polly. If there was ever a girl primed to see fairies, Isabelle Winters is that girl. If there ever was a girl who was not, that girl is Polly.---
I also enjoyed:
"Come as You Are," by Dale Bailey. Its SFnal premise: that you can experience another person's personality, in the form of a drug. The protagonist is just the sort of person to make frequent, oh so frequent, use of this drug -- and the story covers both his downward spiral, and where that leads him.
"Night Fever," by Will Ludwigsen. alternate history, where Charles Manson's spree is in the 70's disco era, instead of in the 60's. Plus ça change...
Extremely engaging -- even for me, who didn't really know anything about Manson before reading the piece.
"Good Show," by William Preston: A film critic gets a private invitation to a deeply unsettling screening. Whoever his "benefactors" are, they want to get their production just right -- and Pete really, really doesn't want them to.
A silly story, in many ways, but a very fun one.
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?," by Peter Wood. A fun, quick pastiche - and heaven knows, good pastiche is rare and precious.
--
"The Runabout," by Kristen Kathryn Rusch: Rusch's writing is extremely engaging, and this story does a great job portraying a space salvage team encountering something truly otherworldly. They're seasoned pros who know they're in over their heads, and also know they have no better choice.
I enjoyed quite a bit, but this story fizzled out towards its end leaving it feeling incomplete and highly unresolved. In retrospect, it's revealed as much less exploration and discovery; much more thriller, suspense for suspense's sake.
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story," by James Gunn. A family starship is being held captive; we see their attempts at diplomacy in flashbacks, and their escape in the present day. This is apparently a teaser for the next book in Gunn's Transcendental series, and it shows -- there seems much more exposition than narrative, and the events don't seem particularly interesting in their own right.
"Triceratops," by Ian McHugh. A quiet, introspective story about attempting to bring the past back to life.
"The Best Man," by Jay O'Connell. A thought-plague has victims violently hating their own faces. Brendan has painted his face green in order to stave off the effect, which might hamper his participation in his brother's wedding.
Mostly this is a weird piece that I don't feel really find its footing -- it veers between horrifying and goofy, leaning more weight on the humiliation of wearing makeup in an airport than it does upon multiple deaths. This winds up being a "get a normal thing done while something insane is going on" story, but I don't much care about the normal thing, and the "something insane" feels fairly aimless as well.
June 8, 2017
This was one of the most enjoyable issues I've read. There wasn't a single story that bogged down my reading!
The featured (short) novel was "The Runabout" by Kristine Katherine Rusch. The novel takes place in the same universe as her "Diving" stories ( some of my favorites) and the crew of the "Ivoire", who find themselves 5,000 years in their future. The "Boss" and her team hear strange music coming from an old runabout in "the Boneyard." It's source is from a piece of technology that former Fleet engineer, Yash, swears cannot be. Well written, taut, and suspenseful. Looking forward to the next story in the series!
"Come As You Are" explores what might happen if you could really become another person, just for a little while. Would you be willing to become your lover? Or see inside yourself? "Triceratops" looks at genetic restoration--what if we brought Neanderthals back? "Night Fever" is an alternate history version of Charles Manson. "The Best Man" is about the relationship between adult siblings and acceptance. "On the Ship" was another favorite, but difficult to summarize without spoilers. Finally, Jim Kelly's column discusses Harry Potter and the Wizard of Oz, with some comments on copyright laws.
The featured (short) novel was "The Runabout" by Kristine Katherine Rusch. The novel takes place in the same universe as her "Diving" stories ( some of my favorites) and the crew of the "Ivoire", who find themselves 5,000 years in their future. The "Boss" and her team hear strange music coming from an old runabout in "the Boneyard." It's source is from a piece of technology that former Fleet engineer, Yash, swears cannot be. Well written, taut, and suspenseful. Looking forward to the next story in the series!
"Come As You Are" explores what might happen if you could really become another person, just for a little while. Would you be willing to become your lover? Or see inside yourself? "Triceratops" looks at genetic restoration--what if we brought Neanderthals back? "Night Fever" is an alternate history version of Charles Manson. "The Best Man" is about the relationship between adult siblings and acceptance. "On the Ship" was another favorite, but difficult to summarize without spoilers. Finally, Jim Kelly's column discusses Harry Potter and the Wizard of Oz, with some comments on copyright laws.
November 24, 2021
Novella
"The Runabout" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Novelettes
"Come as You Are" by Dale Bailey 4 stars
"Night Fever" by Will Ludwigsen 3 stars
Short Stories
"On the Ship" by Leah Cypess 4 stars
"Good Show" by William Preston 4 stars
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story" by James Gunn 2 1/2 stars
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?" by Peter Wood 3 stars
"The Best Man" by Jay O'Connell 2 stars
"Triceratops" by Ian McHugh 2 stars
"Persephone of the Crows" by Karen Joy Fowler 2 1/2 stars
"The Runabout" by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Novelettes
"Come as You Are" by Dale Bailey 4 stars
"Night Fever" by Will Ludwigsen 3 stars
Short Stories
"On the Ship" by Leah Cypess 4 stars
"Good Show" by William Preston 4 stars
"The Escape of the Adastra: Asha's Story" by James Gunn 2 1/2 stars
"Tired of the Same Old Quests?" by Peter Wood 3 stars
"The Best Man" by Jay O'Connell 2 stars
"Triceratops" by Ian McHugh 2 stars
"Persephone of the Crows" by Karen Joy Fowler 2 1/2 stars
January 9, 2019
The reliable Asimov's Science Fiction delivers another reliable installment of compelling fiction. Kristine Kathryn Rusch's novella "The Runabout" is the most compelling in this collection - and the longest. The shorter stories offering compelling thought experiments and a so-so alternative history of Charles Manson as a disco king.
March 24, 2018
Okay, this issue gets 5 stars simply for 'Night Fever' by Will Ludwigsen, an 'alternate history' yarn with Charles Manson as a DJ at Studio 54, and in conversation with Truman Capote ... to the eternal beat of 'Dancing Queen'.
February 6, 2018
This issue was worth everything just for the short story "Tired of the same old quests" I really wish my friend Kirk were around to have read that one.
November 1, 2020
I liked "On the Ship" by Leah Cypess
May 13, 2017
Best story: "Night Fever" by Will Ludwigsen. Pairs well with Little Heroes.
July 30, 2017
Hacía bastante tiempo que no leía un Asimov completo, cosa de medio año o desde que pasó a ser bimensual, y la verdad es que parece que no ha mejorado mucho.
El primer cuento, "On The Ship" es muy bueno y casi original, quizás candidato a algún premio (gracias, Locus, por el chivatazo), pero ya está. Los demás son la típica combinación de morralla y mainstream camuflado de ciencia ficción, como el cuento "Come as you are", en el que se narra cómo dos amigas se introducen en el mundo de las drogas y sus consecuencias. El que sean drogas "futuristas" es un hecho accesorio a la historia que, sin ser mala, no es ciencia ficción como tal. Ya hemos dicho que porque el protagonista empuñe una pistola atómica no lo convierte en un personaje del género.
Y la traca final viene con la inclusión de una "novella" completa y larga de KKR (Kristine Kathryn Rush)... porque es mala con dolor si no peor. Es lo que tiene escribir una novela al mes. En este caso la protagonista es una mujer cuya empresa se dedica a "rescatar" ("ride", montar o cabalgar, lo llama ella, vete tu a saber por qué motivos freudianos) naves espaciales abandonadas en un cementerio espacial, y que perdió a su madre hace años porque no disponía de los genes adecuados para contrarrestar el fallo del motor de salto que estaban toqueteando. Como lo lees. De ahí pasamos al intento de "montar" una extraña y antigua nave espacial cuyo motor de salto produce una extraña firma que la mujer es capaz de detectar gracias a no he entendido bien qué facultad innata en ella. Las 75 páginas de la revista (como unas 150 de libro de bolsillo) pasan entre conversaciones, preparativos, monta y fallo posterior, sin que ocurra nada de nada mínimamente interesante. Las conversaciones son, por decirlo suavemente, intrandescentes, cháchara descerebrada y alargada en extremo.
En fin, es lo que hay. Si el "Pati" levantara la cabeza...
El primer cuento, "On The Ship" es muy bueno y casi original, quizás candidato a algún premio (gracias, Locus, por el chivatazo), pero ya está. Los demás son la típica combinación de morralla y mainstream camuflado de ciencia ficción, como el cuento "Come as you are", en el que se narra cómo dos amigas se introducen en el mundo de las drogas y sus consecuencias. El que sean drogas "futuristas" es un hecho accesorio a la historia que, sin ser mala, no es ciencia ficción como tal. Ya hemos dicho que porque el protagonista empuñe una pistola atómica no lo convierte en un personaje del género.
Y la traca final viene con la inclusión de una "novella" completa y larga de KKR (Kristine Kathryn Rush)... porque es mala con dolor si no peor. Es lo que tiene escribir una novela al mes. En este caso la protagonista es una mujer cuya empresa se dedica a "rescatar" ("ride", montar o cabalgar, lo llama ella, vete tu a saber por qué motivos freudianos) naves espaciales abandonadas en un cementerio espacial, y que perdió a su madre hace años porque no disponía de los genes adecuados para contrarrestar el fallo del motor de salto que estaban toqueteando. Como lo lees. De ahí pasamos al intento de "montar" una extraña y antigua nave espacial cuyo motor de salto produce una extraña firma que la mujer es capaz de detectar gracias a no he entendido bien qué facultad innata en ella. Las 75 páginas de la revista (como unas 150 de libro de bolsillo) pasan entre conversaciones, preparativos, monta y fallo posterior, sin que ocurra nada de nada mínimamente interesante. Las conversaciones son, por decirlo suavemente, intrandescentes, cháchara descerebrada y alargada en extremo.
En fin, es lo que hay. Si el "Pati" levantara la cabeza...
May 9, 2022
Retroactive Review (12 Sep 2021): They put in a "Diving Universe" novella (really a short novel) by Kristine Kathryn Rusch. What a contrast to her story in Galactic Empires. There's just something about her Diving books that I can't stand or that bores me--I read Diving into the Wreck six years ago, and never bothered to continue the series. This novella just reconfirmed that. Anyway, the other short stories were decent, though a couple seemed pointless/plotless ("Triceratops" and "Persephone of the Crows"). I did like "The Best Man" by Jay O'Connell, though some of that might just be because it reminded me of a Ken Liu-style story, haha! (Sorry, Jay). I liked the Leah Cypess story called "On the Ship," too.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews