Fairly nice issue. Read as a e-book version from my Iphone during lunch hours.
Helping Them Take the Old Man Down • novelette by William Preston
A former member of a team which was fighting against "bad guys" is drafted to find their former leader, "the old man" very little is told of him, but it seems that he is a kind of superhuman who doesn't get old. As such well written and nice story, but I wonder if there is some background I missed -earlier stories or something – as the background as such felt a bit too open, or not too defined. What was the team? Why was it fighting against crime? How? ***½
Centaurs • shortstory by Benjamin Crowell
Two teenagers living on asteroid belt have an adventure together. Well written, but otherwise fairly simply story with a strong YA-feel, could be from fifties if it hadn't had a few fairly innocent sexual scenes. ***+
Ticket Inspector Gliden Becomes the First Martyr of the Glorious Human Uprising • shortstory by Derek Zumsteg
Aliens trying to travel on Berlin's subway without paying, and one zealous ticket inspector who wants to prevent that. Dry humor, but felt like a piece of some larger work. ***-
The Speed of Dreams • shortstory by Will Ludwigsen
8th grade student writes a science fair paper about the speed of time in the dreams. She is able to estimate time by measuring the length of the dreams her dog has. The story is well written,but goes somewhere I wasn't expecting, and somewhere I am not sure I was comfortable with.
Blind Cat Dance • novelette by Alexander Jablokov
Relationship troubles in the backdrop of future where animals are genemodified to not notice anything human. The main protagonist is looking after the animals, and is tending the ecosystem. There some parts in the story which are pretty interesting, but I didn't really care for the relationships which were the main part of the story. Probably it is just me. Those parts which didn't deal with that were nice. ***-
The Tower • novelette by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
A group of historians is traveling back in time to history of London. Unfortunately one of their group has fallen ill, and they must take a last minute replacement. As usual everything doesn't go according to the plans. Pretty similar in presentation than those time travel books by Connie Willis. Just so much better than anything by Willis. Most of her characters are more or less bumbling idiots, these characters in this story felt alive, smart and believable. A story I really enjoyed. ****
2 comments:
If you want some background on the "old man," look up "Doc Savage." The story is not exactly about him and his team, but is rather an homage to Doc and to pulp heroes.
Best wishes,
Bill Preston
Thank you for the comment. I thought that I was missing something. I know "Doc Savage" only as a name, I know hardly anything about him and I have never read any stories about him.
Post a Comment