Analog Science Fiction and Fact, May 2016

Pretty average issue all in all.

NOT QUITE TATERONA KEMPI, Ryan W. Norris
Two stories are told in alternating chapters. One tells about a day in the life of a scientist who is examining rodents in an African rainforest. Another about far future sentient beings who have evolved on Earth after humans have disappeared. They have found the said journal in an archive people left on the Moon. They translate and ponder if the journal is important. A pretty good story about how "aliens" don't always come from space. Probably the best story in the issue. ***½
THE LANGUAGE OF FLOWERS, Ian Creasey
Florists develop flowers with themes, according to old Victorian "language of flowers" rules. They add pheromones which cause actual feelings for the theme. Then someone asks for a flower corresponding to racism for a funeral of a "peculiar" uncle. It works pretty well, but some of his friends are offended, as they think he was a patriot. They ask for a flower which would correspond to that feeling. They get what they are asking for, but pheromones causing patriotic feelings might have some drawbacks... A pretty fun little story. ***+
O WHAT FREEDOM, THIS GREAT STEEL CAGE, Shane Halbach
Three people are using a robot as a "surrogate" for their minds, all for different reasons. A very short but good story.***
THE TREATY BREAKER, Brendan DuBois
An asteroid which is inhabited gets visitors, who remotely take control of all computer systems. When the ship docks, the visitors claim that they have come to inspect if the children are treated well and they have papers from the UN to prove that claim. But their guns seem slightly suspicious... An OK story with several pretty unbelievable plot points. ***
PROMISED LAND, Bethany Gilton
A man is awake alone in a generation ship. He was supposed to have some company, but someone who awoke before him used up stores more than he was supposed, as he woke several women from the deep sleep to entertain him. And now there isn't enough food to keep more than one person awake at one time. A pretty stupid story: the women he woke up were apparently mindless morons and had no way to stop that stupid activity. ***-
MOUNTAIN, Andy P. Smith
A story that starts with little background given. A woman's son has apparently died in some sort of post-apocalyptic world. Apparently there has been an alien artifact which has produced limitless electric power until it stopped working. There are some sort of cargo cult style religions, which try to restore power (apparently including suicides). The writing was OK, but the story was too short with little background and little resolution. Another typical story for analog during current editor: just a fragment of the real story. ***
ARTIFICE OF ETERNITY, Lettie Prell
A man is being tried for a shooting he did 60 years ago (the victim survived, but died as an old man due the late complications - there are several problems with that: how it can be said with certainty that the problem causing death was due to ancient gun shot? And aren't there any statutes of limitations in shooting which was not even premeditated? ) And it turns out that the victim is still alive as an uploaded personality in an android body. A decent story but the ending is pretty weak and the story just fizzles out. ***
THE INFINITE MANQUÉ, Howard V. Hendrix
A researcher uses an experimental treatment to turn bonobos sentient. It seems to work very well. One monkey especially seems to be very smart and develops an obsession towards an ancient lost play and wants to recreate it. His mental state seems to deteriorate and the ending isn't too happy. A bit dense story, a little longer format with more background might have made it better. ***

Proofreading by eangel.me.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Pimeyden vasen käsi (The Left Hand of Darkness)

An excellent book which I have read last time about 35 years ago. Still relevant and thought provoking even if the attitudes of the human main character feel very dated at places. A classic of science fiction and a classic of ALL literature. The writing was very good and has held the time well. Recommended for everyone.

Luin tämänkin kirjan osana Hugo-voittajien uudelleen lukemisprojektia. Nyt ne paremman pään kirjat, joiden edellisestä lukemisesta on kulunut >20 vuotta taitaa olla luettu ja voin alkaa miettiä koko satsin paremmuusjärjestystä. Tämän kirjan olin lukenut viimeksi noin 35 vuotta sitten ja muistikuvat olivat hieman haalistuneet. Itse asiassa muistin koko kirjan koostuvan suurimmalta osalta matkasta läpi jäätikön, kun todellisuudessa tämä oli vain suppeahko, mutta vaikuttava, episodi kirjan puolenvälin jälkeen.
Kirjassa maasta kotoisin oleva, tähtienvälistä liittoumaa edustava lähettiläs, Genly, on asunut jääkautta elävällä planeetalla muutaman vuoden ajan. Hän on ystävänsä Estraven, paikallisen valtion pääministerin, kautta lopultakin saamassa mahdollisuuden tavata valtion kuninkaan. Kyseinen ystävä kuitenkin karkotetaan maanpetturuudesta syytettynä, ja tapaaminen kuninkaankaan kanssa ei suju lainkaan niin hyvin kuin Genly olisi toivonut. Pian Genlynkin on paettava maasta viereiseen valtakuntaan. Siellä tosin hän päätyy nopeasti metsätyöleirille alkeellisiin oloihin. Mutta Estreven ei ole unohtanut ystäväänsä vaan pelastaa Genlyn leiriltä ja he pakenevat jo alussa mainitsemallani tavalla jäätikön yli.
Kirjan varsinainen omaperäinen pointti on planeetan asukkaat: he eivät ole miehiä tai naisia vaan suurimman osan ajasta sukupuolettomia neutreja. Kerran kuussa heillä on ”kiima-aika”, jolloin jommankumman sukupuolen omaisuudet ottavat vallan ja he muuttuvat fyysisesti miehiksi tai naisiksi. Muutos on sattumanvarainen, tosin jos läheisyydessä on joku, joka on jo ”kiimassa” ja on jompaankumpaan suuntaan jo muuttunut, niin silloin todennäköisimmin muutos tapahtuu vastakkaiseen suuntaan. Muuten sukupuoli voi vaihtua ja vaihtuukin kierrosta toiseen. Sukupuolisessa vaiheessa olevat ihmiset yleensä pitävät lomaa, eivät liiku kodin (tai tähän tarkoituksen erityisesti tarkoitetun julkisen rakennuksen) ulkopuolella ja seksin harjoittamattomuus tuona aikana aiheuttaa hyvin suurta epämukavuutta. Muun ajan he ovat sukupuolettomia ilman seksuaalista viettiä.
Kirja on kirjoitettu hienolla kielellä ja on yhtä ajatuksia herättävä kuin se oli pian 50 vuotta sitten julkaisuaikanaan. Kirjoitusajankohta kyllä osittain näkyy, Genlyn asenteet ja oletukset miesten ja naisten välisistä suhteista ovat paikoitellen ärsyttävän vanhanaikaisia ja hyvin 60-lukulaisia, mutta vaikeapa kirjailijan olisi asenteiden muuttumista ennakoida. Paikoitellen Genlyn vaikeus suhtautua planeetan asukkaisiin ja hänen henkinen pakkonsa suhtautua planeetan asukkaisiin jotenkin miehinä tai naisina (vaikka oli asunut heidän joukossaan jo vuosia) tuntui aika kummalliselta ja jotenkin juuttuvalta. Maineensa arvoinen kirja kyllä kaiken kaikkiaan on ja pohdinta sukupuolisuuden aiheuttamasta duolismista ja sen merkityksestä yhteiskunnan kehittymisen kannalta oli todella kiinnostavaa. Kyseessä on klassikko koko kirjallisuus, ei vain tieteiskirjallisuus, huomioiden sanan kaikissa merkityksissä.

302 s.

Libriomancer: Magic Ex Libris: Book One by Jim C. Hines

A fantasy which has some surface level similarities to Justice Calling by Annie Bellet. In both books magic is real, but it is kept secret by those who are able to use it. The main protagonist isn’t using his/her ability for some reason, but after some unfortunate events he is forced to come back to the magic world. Also, he/she is a geek of some sort. This time, the mage in hiding, Isaac Vainio, (with some Finnish roots apparently) is a Libriomancer, a magic user who is able to pull things out of books. Need a good ray gun? Fine, find an action filled space opera, thrust your hand in the right place and get it out of the book. The ability is limited by the size of the book; if something is too large, it doesn’t fit out. It turns out that the other Libriomancers are being attacked by hordes of vampires. Usually, the vampires like to stay in hiding and they have a kind of non-aggression pact with magic users, so this is unusual behavior. And the vampires almost seem possessed, which shouldn’t really be possible. And the unbeatable automatons which were originally designed by Gutenberg, who discovered the libriomancy, are attacking some important libriomancers. How has someone been able to take control of them? It shouldn’t have been possible. And Gutenberg (who is still alive as he is using the Holy Grail (lifted from a book) to be immortal) can’t be found anywhere. Everything seems to be falling down in shambles. But soon he gets some help from a dryad, who originates from a pretty badly written erotic fantasy book. She is a wonderful and beautiful person and tough as a nail (and practically unbeatable in battle) but she must be deeply in love with someone and moulds herself to whatever her lover wants. And that can’t be helped – she is written that way. And she knows it herself. Her former lover is apparently dead and she is in bad shape, but she needs a new “host” soon to survive. Isaac has more than little moral qualms about the situation which is forming…
The start of the book was a bit exposition heavy – it almost seemed like there were earlier parts of the series (there apparently are none), there was so much back-story to be explained. But then the actual plot got going and it was a pretty fast and interesting ride after that – filled with fun references to a wide variety of books. The personalities of the characters were interesting and well written. All in all a good and entertaining read, something to take my mind away from a pretty horrendous cold I was having.
368 pp.

Proofreading by eangel.me.

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, November 2005

Only three stories in this issue. It is a pretty decent one.

911-Backup • shortstory by Richard A. Lovett
A man has used his brain implant to store most of his memories and basic skills. It works fine, until his storage unit crashes. Unfortunately for him, he has been too lazy and busy to make any backups. A pretty good story, but would someone be so stupid as to omit making such backups? ***½
The Case of the Contumacious Qubit • novelette by Thomas R. Dulski
A retired chemist is asked to act as a referee in a high school science competition. One work seems to be very good – so good that it is hard to believe that a schoolboy might have done it. And his aunt, a research scientist, seems to be missing. Is there some connection? Soon things get pretty hot indeed. A tad overlong story that takes its time to get going. ***
The Diversification of Its Fancy • novella by John Barnes
A popular singer works as some kind of underground government agent. His performances are aimed to spread tolerance and co-operation. He has a troop of agents safeguarding him, but there are a few murder attempts against him. He also has a relationship with a young, beautiful assistant. An overlong story that goes from a pretty interesting agent story to a less than interesting and less well written relationship tale. On the other hand, there is little backstory of the characters given, but there are long lectures on the history of the world, but no good explanation for the professional hitmen with implanted explosive devices inside their brain who try to kill the main character (and who are completely forgotten in the latter half of the story). The story feels very much like part of a series, but I am not aware of any other installments (and neither is ). **½


Proofreading by eangel.me.

Galaxy Science Fiction, July 1955

An average or perhaps above average issue.

The Mapmakers • novelette by Frederik Pohl
An interstellar space ship has an accident, and isn't able to find its location in hyperspace. Everything seems doomed, as the ship starts to heat up and there is not enough air to flush the heat out. (Fred Pohl should have known better in 1955 - the concept of the ship heating should have been totally ridiculous already at that time. According to quick back of an enveloped calculations, a decent size space ship should lose several hundreds if not thousands of kWs of energy just by black body radiation. Also, Pohl seems to think that rotating the ship would demand constant energy input). The dilemma is solved by a stupid fortuitous event: it turns out that blind people can “see” and navigate in the hyperspace, and one crew member was blinded in the accident. By far the worst story by Pohl I have ever read. **-
Spoken For • shortstory by William Morrison
A man arrives to a desolate farm on Jupiter’s moon. He wears pretty old fashionable clothes and is looking for his family. The farmer’s daughter is inexplicably attracted to the man. But where is his family? A simple story, writing ok, but nothing really special. ***
Property of Venus • novelette by L. Sprague de Camp
A group of men who are interested in raising unusual plants get seeds of Venusian plants from a friend who took part on the first expedition. The seeds sprout, and the plants seem very interesting, especially the one with the best tasting fruit ever. But those plants aren’t as innocuous as plants on Earth. A pretty standard story for its time. Pretty stupid people, but that isn’t surprising… ***
Deadhead • shortstory by Robert Sheckley
An apparent stowaway arrives to a Mars colony. He wants to get a job, but you need to have at least one doctorate to work at the colony. The scientists do the routine maintenance as well as they are able and have time, and it seems it really might be useful to have someone used to construction work at the colony, but the law is law, and the scientist think about sending the man back to Earth in the same ship he apparently arrived. But that ship was only for cargo and wasn’t even pressurized… A nice story, but not as good as could be expected from Sheckley. ***+
The Amateurs • shortstory by Alan Cogan
You must commit suicide at a certain age – but you may choose any method to do it. One guy wants a reenactment of Socrates’ death. That can be arranged, of course… Not very good, a little twist in the end, but a pretty forgettable story. **½

Proofreading by eangel.me.

Haruki Murakami: 1Q84. Osa 3

The last part of long novel. Much worse as the first part. Little happens for most part of the book and the main characters mostly just wait. Probably the worst Murakami I have read and it was pretty much unnecessary.

Kyseessä on jatko-osa (tai oikeammin saman kirjan loppu) kirjaan jonka luin jo pari vuotta sitten. Kirja kertoi lähinnä kahdesta toisensa lapsena tunteneesta ihmisestä. Molempien lapsuus oli ollut surkea, Aomamen äiti oli ollut Jehovan todistaja, joka raahasi tytärtään mukaan ovelta ovelle saarnaustyötä tehdessään, kun taas Tengon isä oli Japanin yleisradion TV-lupien tarkastaja, joka kuljetti poikaansa mukanaan ovelta ovelle tarkastustyötään tehdessä. Lapsena heillä oli ollut lyhyt kumppanuuden kokemus, mutta olosuhteet erottivat heidät toisistaan. Kumpikaan ei kuitenkaan missään vaiheessa unohtanut lapsuudenystäväänsä. Ensimmäisessä kirjassa molemmille henkilöille tapahtui paljon ja erikoisia asioita, mutta he eivät tavanneet toisiaan. Tässä kirjassa molemmat elävä vielä erillään, kuitenkin 1q84 maailmassa, maailmassa jossa on kaksi kuuta. Molemmat kokevat että heidän elämästään puuttuu jotain, ja muistelevat toisiaan, Aomamea jahtaava uskonnollinen lahko, jonka johtajan hän viime kirjan lopussa tappoi. Tengoa taas väijyy lahkon palkkaama hämäräperäinen salapoliisi, joka epäilee jotain yhteyttä Tengon ja Aonamen välillä.
Kirjan ongelmana on se alkupuoli, jossa ei tapahdu oikeastaan yhtään mitään. Käytännössä kaikki juonet ovat lähes paikallaan ja loppupuolellakaan, jossa sentään jotain tapahtuu, tapahtumia ei varsinaisesti paljoa ole. Tämä kolmas osa tuntuu aika turhalta – tärkeimmät asiat olivat jo tapahtuneet, tässä vain solmittiin viimeiset juonenpäät yhteen. Ei siihen olisi tarvittu näin paksua kirjaa - muutama tiivistetty luku lisää edelliseen olisi ollut paljon toimivampi ratkaisu. Selvästi heikoin Murakami, mitä olen lukenut.
450 s.

Seppo Jokinen: Koskinen ja pudotuspeli

Another police procedural which happens on my home town. This time a man has been killed during a bank heist. The killing seems very arbitrary as the victim who was in bank mostly by accident didn’t resist the robber in any way but was shot down anyway. And a colleague of inspector Koskinen who is in a mental hospital due work related stress claims that someone is killing the patients. Is that really happening of is the stressed out policeman imagining things? Ok book, but below average of the series.

Komisario Koskinen seikkailee jälleen. Tällä kertaa pankkiryöstön yhteydessä on ammuttu mies. Ampumisen motiivi vaikuttaa aluksi epäselvältä, sillä ammuttu ei mitenkään vastustellut ryöstöä, vaan seurasi tilannetta sivusta. Olisivatko ammuttu ja ryöstäjä tunteneet toisensa? Toisena juttuna Koskinen selvittelee kollegansa uskomusta siitä, että hänen Pitkänniemen sairaalaosastolla on tapettu jo useampi potilas. Onko kyseessä jotain todellista, vai ovatko kesähelteet vain olleet liian rasittavia useamman aikaisemmin kohtalaisen terveen sydämelle?

Kirja on ehkä hiukan hajanainen kun tutkinta keskittyy kahteen ihan erilliseen juttuun ja Koskisen kotielämän ongelmat saavat myös oman tilansa. Hiukan ainakin aikaisemmin lukemiini Koskisiin poiketen tässä kirjassa on myös pankkiryöstöön syyllinen osan ajasta näkökulmahenkilönä aika ymmärtäväänkin sävyyn. Etenkin nämä osat kirjasta toivat kovasti mieleen Matti Yrjänä Joensuun teokset. Kokonaisuutena ihan hyvä ja luettava kirja, mutta tasoltaan jää kyllä sarjan keskitason alapuolelle.

273 s.