Analog Science Fiction and Fact - 2014-03

by Penny Publications

  Fitfully and falteringly, we move in the right direction... and bring the field along with us.

  Mothership: Tales From Afrofuturism and Beyond

  edited by Bill Campbell & Edward Austin Hall Rosarium Publishing, 350 pages, $19.95 (trade paperback)

  ISBN: 978-0-9891411-4-7

  Genre: Original Anthology

  Mothership is billed as presenting "just a part of the changing face of speculative fiction," and features thirty-nine stories by forty writers of color. Some are familiar names (Tobias Buckell, S.P. Somtow), while others are up-and-comers.

  As you might expect from the term "speculative fiction," not all of these stories are science fiction—there's fantasy, steampunk, and horror as well. And despite the term "Afrofuturism," these stories aren't limited to the concerns of Africa or African-Americans. Frankly, what we have here is simply an anthology of good stories.

  Market realities dictate that it's not enough to have good stories by relatively unfamiliar writers—there has to be a gimmick. In this case, readers need to look past the gimmick at the stories themselves.

  Mothership's keyword is "diversity." If these stories share anything, it's that they spring more from the tradition of literary SF than from the Campbell era. To put it in magazine terms, you'd see most of these stories in Asimov's or Fantasy & Science Fiction before you'd see them in Analog. Not surprising, really—the editors come from academia. Don't let that deter you.

  Among the standouts in this volume are Thaddeus Howze's "Bludgeon," a Twilight Zone-ish tale of alien invasion with a surprise ending; Carlos Hernandez's "The Aphotic Ghost," in which a father comes to terms with his talented son's death on Mount Everest; and Nisi Shawl's "Good Boy," a parable of virtual reality.

  If there's anything missing from this volume, it's background on the contributors. Yes, one can always turn to the Internet—but I kept wishing there was an "about the authors" section.

  For readers who want to see more diversity in SF, Mothership is definitely worth the price.

  New Under the Sun

  Nancy Kress and Therese Pieczynski Phoenix Pick, 183 pages, $12.99 (trade paperback)

  ISBN: 978-1-61242-123-0

  Genre: Biological SF, Psychological/Sociological SF, Shared/Franchised World

  Phoenix Pick's "Stellar Guild" series publishes a novella by a big-name author along with a companion novella or novelette by a protégé chosen by the big name. As far as gimmicks go, it's an interesting one, and the results have so far been good.

  Nancy Kress, multiple Nebula Award-winner, brings us "Annabel Lee"—a gripping story of a young girl unknowingly infected by an alien parasite in a near-future world. This being Nancy Kress, there's a lot more going on; Annabel's family is as troubled as any other, and her friends have their own problems. And as Annabel grows up, her abilities become greater....

  Therese Piecsynski's companion piece, "Strange Attraction," is set in the 1980s and combines chaos theory with South American militias in a tale of another woman with unusual abilities. Paula is a U.S. expatriate in Nicaragua during the revolution, and strange events follow her around. Electrical plants stop working, her friends get killed... and lately she's been involved with a powerful, deadly whirlwind that seems to feed on fear and pain.

  Together, these two stories do what science fiction is so good at: exploring the impact of unexpected change on people. The theme of people with amazing abilities is as old as literature itself—but here Kress and Pieczynski ring new changes on the idea.

  The Exodus Towers

  Jason M. Hough Del Rey, 527 pages, $9.99 (mass market paperback) iBooks, Kindle: $7.99, Nook: $9.99 (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-0-345-53714-0 Series: Dire Earth 2

  Genres: Adventure SF, Post-Apocalyptic, Visitors From Space

  I reviewed The Darwin Elevator, book one of the Dire Earth series, in the September 2013 issue. Jason M. Hough and Del Rey have done us a favor by issuing the second book, The Exodus Towers, just a few months later. By the time you read this, book three (The Plague Force) should be out as well.

  A quick recap: It's 2283. At some indeterminate time in the past, aliens called the Builders established a space elevator with a terminus in Darwin, Australia. Along with superior technology, the aliens also brought a plague that turned most humans into savage, mindless beasts.

  Only two groups survived: The people of Darwin, protected by a plague-resistant force that extends nine kilometers from the elevator, and a very few others who have natural immunity to the plague. Darwin became the only refuge of civilization in the world, supported by salvage missions run by immunes like Skyler Luiken and his crew. The immense structure of the Elevator, anchored in synchronous orbit by a derelict ship of the Builders, serves as agricultural space and additional room for the remaining humans.

  The Darwin Elevator told of Skyler, scientist Tania Sharma, and a cast of other compelling characters as they fought for survival while trying to solve the mystery of the Builders.

  The Exodus Towers picks up right where the first book ended, at the Brazilian site of a crashed Builders ship. Strange mobile towers emit the same aura that protects Darwin from the plague. With them, Skyler and Tania found a new colony, called Exodus. Then they discover a second space elevator....

  Before they can solve the new mystery, the new Exodus colony has to fight off not only the brutish subhumans, but also a band of immune soldiers who don't like a new colony in their territory. Plus, there's been a theocratic coup in Darwin, and the new rulers want control of Exodus as well.

  Oh, and there are these aliens....

  The Dire Earth books have suspense, thrills, adventure, and characters you care about. In addition, they're good science fiction. I can't recommend them enough.

  Pirates of the Timestream

  Steve White Baen, 247 pages, $14.00 (trade paperback) iBooks, Kindle, Nook: $8.99 (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-1-4516-3909-4

  Genres: Adventure SF, Trips in Time

  Jason Thanou, special operations officer with the Temporal Regulatory Authority has struggled against the nefarious temporal plots of the Transhumanists in two previous books ( Blood of the Heroes and Sunset of the Gods ). Along the way, he fought—and bested—the Teloi, a batch of hostile aliens whose favorite form of recreation is genocide.

  Now Thanou and his stalwart crew travel back to the seventeenth-century Caribbean, where he finds that the Teloi are alive and well, and making mischief that threatens not only humanity, but the fabric of reality itself.

  Luckily, Thanou happens across the one man who can help him: the legendary British admiral turned privateer and pirate, Henry Morgan.

  Steve White is good at this stuff; he knows his history, and he has a light, brisk style that doesn't get in the way of the story. Mixing time travel, hostile aliens, and pirates together might have been a disaster, but White makes it work. Great fun.

  Saga Volume One and Saga Volume Two

  Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples Image, 160 pages, $14.99 (trade paperback) iBooks: $9.99 (v.1), $14.99 (v.2), Kindle: $8.06 (v.1), $11.22 (v.2) (e-book)

  ISBN: 978-1-60706-401-9 (v.1), 978-1-60706-692-7 (v.2)

  Genres: Adventure SF, Graphic Novels, Science Fantasy, Space Opera

  The biggest thing to hit the comics world recently isn't Superman, Batman, or the Avengers—it's a space opera comic that tells an up-to-date story while brimming with an old-fashioned sense of wonder. This isn't just my opinion: as I write this, Saga has just been awarded the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story.

  Two worlds have been at war for time immemorial. Landfall is home to a race of winged humanoids ruled by a robot dynasty; its moon, Wreath, is inhabited by a horned race of warriors. Since destroying either world would send the other out of its orbit, Landfall and Wreath have moved their war to the vast galaxy. For generations and across hundreds of worlds, often working through proxy armies, the two peoples have fought bitter and brutal wars.

  Alanna, a soldier of Landfall, was assi
gned to a military prison on the distant world Cleave. Marko, one of the most bloodthirsty warriors of Wreath, renounced his heritage and surrendered to Landfall soldiers on Cleave. He was taken as a prisoner of war.

  Alanna and Marko fell in love and escaped, hiding on Cleave. The story starts with the birth of their daughter, Hazel. Almost immediately, they're beset by rival troops of soldiers, and they're off on an odyssey that will lead them across Cleave and into the distant reaches of space.

  Meanwhile, both governments send bounty hunters to track down the pair and bring back their daughter—who is the only viable offspring of the two peoples in millennia.

  Saga is a nearly perfect story. Both Alanna and Marko are strong, powerful characters that instantly engage the reader's sympathy. Their universe is populated by wondrous creatures and places, from ghost children to multi-limbed bounty hunters, from forests of rocketship trees to the depravity of Sextillion, the galaxy's premier brothel.

  This is the graphic novel form at its best, a fusion of words and pictures that is more than its parts. The plot is solid and fast-paced, the characters all three-dimensional, the universe compellingly detailed. Even if you don't think you like graphic novels, you owe it to yourself to pick up Saga.

  With that, I am out of space for this issue. It's a big and diverse world out there, filled with all kinds of people—enjoy it.

  Don Sakers is the author of The Eighth Succession and The Leaves of October. For more information, visit www.scattered worlds.com.

  * * *

  BRASS TACKS

  1535 words

  Trevor Quachri:

  Just read your editorial, "On Genre." I'm not sure I came away with an accurate reading of your personal preferences on definitions, but at one point you made the point ('scuse the rep) about the differences between horror, fantasy, and SF. Then there's some of that "new age" stuff that doesn't belong to any particular genre. Mostly an author just has an idea and tries to convince his audience that it's profound.

  I became a bit enamored with SF back in the Astounding days and remember at one time Mr. Campbell tried to describe what science fiction was all about. I also remember Dr. Asimov complaining that Campbell limited what he could write. He felt his ingenuity was being stifled and said that Campbell had too rigid a definition and wouldn't publish anything Asimov wrote that didn't follow his editorial guidelines.

  I don't keep back issues and at my age my memory is sometimes a transitory thing. But that was the jist of the deal, and I'm afraid I agreed with Mr. Campbell even though (or maybe because) Asimov was one of my favorite writers. And that's saying a lot because there was an enormous number of greaterthan-great authors back then. I'm afraid that nowadays, I have trouble remembering the names of most of the authors I read and associating them with stories. I hope it's me and not them. I do sometimes have a problem remembering names and four-syllable descriptive words. It's very frustrating getting old, in part because no one warns you ahead of time about all of the problems.

  But at one point, I did cancel my subscription to Analog because I felt the stories had drifted too far away from SF and into the social speculative areas. I have a great appreciation for the study some authors have made into some of these social and psychological areas, but for the most part, I don't believe most of their speculation, even with my theoretical hat on, and I certainly don't consider any of it science fiction. However, on occasion, I do like some fantasy. At one time, in addition to Astounding, I subscribed to both Galaxy and Fantasy & SF. But that was then... and when I read a fantasy magazine, I expect fantasy.

  By the way, I loved your footnote about "literature" as a genre. If you ever come up with a definition, I may not be the only one who'd like to know. Two words come to mind: "Snob" and "Prig." Webster defines them using words almost as meaningless.

  Leonard R. Cook Goleta, CA

  Dear Editor,

  An editorial should make the point right away, then develop the reasons to support it. You spent the first half explaining why you do not or did not like science fiction. I got bored and quit reading, never getting to your issue. Editorial writers lose readers if they don't make their point up front. Also, it doesn't help to tell fans that you had trouble liking science fiction.

  The old editor, Campbell, kept my attention, made his point, backed it up, and quit. It never dragged.

  Most newspaper managers don't write the editorial. They get to specify what they want, but writing it is a different skill. Let someone else write the editorials.

  Joseph Blacksten

  Mr. Blacksten,

  Your criticisms aren't inaccurate, exactly, but they are somewhat beside the point. I wanted to take a different approach from what I had just done with the more opinionated two-part editorial preceding it, so the looser tone and structure were intentional—sorry you didn't care for them. There are many ways to write editorials, and they're not necessarily all going to be arguments that need supporting evidence; sometimes they're going to be more conversational. If that kind of editorial isn't to your tastes, you'll still have plenty of the other sort from me in the future, and no shortage of guest editorials.

  If your take-away from the editorial, though, was that I had trouble liking science fiction, you might want to go back and actually read the rest of it.

  Dear Trevor,

  I wish to comment on John G. Cramer's Oct. 2013 Analog article The Alternate View. On page 233 of the Penguin 1959 edition of Arthur Koestler's The Sleepwalkers, I found that Kepler, "confident that victory was just around the corner—wrote a kind of obituary notice for classical cosmology."

  "Oh, for a supply of tears that I may weep over the pathetic diligence of Apianus [author of a very popular textbook] who, relying on Ptolemy, wasted his valuable time and ingenuity on the construction of spirals, loops, helixes, vortices, and a whole labyrinth of convolutions, in order to represent that which exists only in the mind, and which Nature entirely refuses to accept as her likeness. And yet that man has shown us that, with his penetrating intelligence, he would have been capable of mastering Nature."

  We are now at a similar time. Having scanned and learned the implication of some of the late-revered astronomer Halton Arp's articles based on telescopic observations, about the true nature of QUASARS, and having also read some of Anthony L. Peratt's papers in the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science, not to mention scanning his classic text-book Physics of the Plasma Universe, I am convinced that the whole concept of our universe, as taught by gravitationally centred astronomers, is as faulty as was Ptolemy's concept of the Solar System.

  "Oh for a supply of tears" for the mathematicians in front of their screens, divorced from actual observations, who have dreamt up the whole edifice of nuclear powered suns, black holes, big bangs, dark matter, dark energy, accelerating expansion, frozen magnetic fields, re-closing magnetic lines. These figments of the imagination are about to be swept into oblivion by the light of the NPA (Natural Philosophy Alliance) SAFIRE project which, when complete, will have experimentally proven that suns are energised by electric currents from the cosmos and not by internal nuclear reactions.

  Of course there are nuclear reactions but these are high in the upper reaches of the Sun's atmosphere. Some years ago Analog reported about university students achieving such reactions with linear accelerators of stunning simplicity.

  I must pay homage to Donald E. Scott's book T he Electric Sky which I first read three years ago. I found that I was not the only one scornful of magnetic fields in the Sun without reference to the electric currents generating those magnetic fields and the whole unbelievable edifice of the big bang, black holes, etc. The new Electric Universe is much simpler. Even though much remains enigmatic, it is subject to experimentation not conjecture upon conjecture.

  If the Big Bang is a figment of imagination so too must be the micro-wave "Sound" from it. Perhaps you should reclassify John's article as fiction.

  Henry Broadbent Victoria, Australia

  The auth
or responds:

  Sorry Henry, but I put Big Bang and nuclear-powered star disbelievers in the same category as climate change disbelievers, relativity disbelievers, and flat-earthers. There is simply too much consistent evidence for the Big Bang, including the cosmic microwave background and the synthesis of deuterium and lithium in its hot aftermath.

  There is always a fringe of would-be theorists who will present alternatives to any well-publicized mainstream theory, including special and general relativity and quantum mechanics, but when examined in detail these theories inevitably fail to deal with all the known facts. For example, I wonder how suns energized by electric currents could produce the solar neutrinos that are observed to come from the sun.

  Dear Analog,

  Seems I've been waiting quite some time for an article like Ken Walsh's "The Evaporation of Worlds" to come along. It answered a number of questions I'd been wondering about.

  But it also makes me think it is time to dust off Hal Clement's Iceworld, featuring aliens from Saar, a world so hot that its atmosphere is an equilibrium between liquid and gaseous sulfur. Its sulfur-breathing inhabitants, upon encountering our Earth, get the icy shivers at the mere thought of a world so horrifically cold that sulfur is a solid rock. I would like to ask Dr. Walsh if such a world as Saar is probable or possible, and if a world that hot would remain stable long enough for intelligent life to evolve. Such hot earths may be more plentiful in the galaxy than temperate earths like our own.

  Stephen Block St. Louis, MO

  The author responds:

  It is very possible that a world with a similar temperature range to Saar exists. By galactic standards, the temperatures on Saar appear quite moderate, as the melting point of sulfur is only about 115 degrees Celsius, or only slightly higher than the boiling point of water at sea level. Also, if the world were in orbit around a Sun-like star, it could maintain such temperatures for billions of years.