Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Analog Science Fiction and Fact September 2009




Ok issue, the lead novelette was fine, others a bit so and so.

Evergreen • novelette by Shane Tourtellotte
Children’s physical growth can be stopped using genetic manipulation. That stops ageing process, and gives greater intelligence as brain’s plasticity stays high. There is naturally some prejudice against the “frozen” persons, and each frozen has different ways dealing those and other pressures. The main characters are nearing thirty years in chronological age while being physically preadolescent. Good, thought provoking and entertaining story. There might be more stories worth telling about these characters. ****-
From the Ground Up • shortstory by Marie Desjardin
NASA has once more stopped spaceflight. A former astronaut goes to aunt’s farm which she has acquired after her aunt’s death. As a child she had a very significant experience there which guided her career. And there might be a way a spark a new interest in space flight. Very short story, which seems to be more like a prologue of the real story. Also, not very logical. An astronaut who had left THAT secret untouched for years. Yeah, right. **
Attitude Adjustment • shortstory by Eric James Stone
How to correct a trajectory of a spaceship orbiting moon after explosion has destroyed engines and computers onboard? Nice problem solving story, pretty standard Analog material. ***
The Last Resort • novelette by Alec Nevala-Lee
Surroundings of a small crater lake are being transformed to a ski resort. A herpetologist is surveying the surroundings to evaluate environment impact of the vacation centre. The ecoterrorists make a strike against the pumping centre which pumps water to cool skiing slopes, and they get more that they bargained…
Ok story, but with severe problems. The skiing centre is said to use water piped from the lake to cool the skiing slopes so that the snow doesn’t melt as soon. That is totally ridiculous. Water is ALWAYS warmer than snow, so that method would just cause the snow melt faster, not slower. Also, the snow melts mainly from the top down through sublimation. I wasn’t able to enjoy the story as that error bugged me far too much. Also, the characters were fairly dense – haven’t they ever watched any nature documentaries? I knew straight away what was causing the major problems they were encountering. **-

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