Asimov’s, January/February 2024
“Proof of Concept” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Death and the Gorgon” by Greg Egan
“Lucifer’s Lode” by R. Garcia y Robertson
“After the Winter Solstice” by Sean McMullen
“To Eat Your Own Head” by Nkone Chaka
“The Adherence” by Jeffrey Ford
“Early Adopter” by Zack Be
“It Goes So Fast” by Lisa Papademetriou
“Augher, Clogher, Fivemiletown” by Ian McDonald
“Burning Grannies” by Rory Harper
“The Scalar Intercepts” by Michael Cassutt
Reviewed by Mina
In “Proof of Concept” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, detective Orli must solve a murder before the cruise ship reaches its First Disembarkation Point in less than 36 hours. Orli discovers quite quickly that there is no actual dead body lying there, just a simulation that fools the sensors. Orli investigates using her own independent computer system in her quarters. She finds out that the “victim” is a crew member, Riley Kalb, who was allowed to interact with passengers. Orli realises that she herself interacted with Kalb in an earlier case regarding parents who were starving their child: the boy had seemingly created a complex programme to obtain more food from the ship. As she investigates the parents, Kalb’s body is found dead in their quarters. It turns out that the boy created the murder scene to get Orli to follow the trail. He stole part of a programme designed by his parents to take over entire ship systems. And the repercussions of his parents’ “proof of concept” are truly terrifying. A gripping, well-written story that feels like a prelude to the real story. Agatha Christie meets interstellar travel.
“Death and the Gorgon” by Greg Egan was also a very good detective story. We follow the Sheriff, Beth, as she investigates the death of a security guard. What I particularly liked is that the story got increasingly complex without straining the reader. There was an excellent look at fanaticism and how it can be harnessed by the unscrupulous in the main story line. The side story was also very thought-provoking with the Deputy, Ken, relying too much on the advice of an AI, Sherlock. An AI has no moral compass and it was refreshing to see that demonstrated so clearly here. My favourite story in this issue.
“Lucifer’s Lode” by R. Garcia y Robertson has Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson visiting Tombstone. They are assisted by two female outlaws, Amanda “Little Britches” and Lisa Dalton. The title of the story refers to a silver compound (silver and lead with gold and platinum impurities). Amanda is shot in the back and wakes up… in Realtime on a spaceship orbiting Jupiter’s moon Europa. She was in a virtual world, part of a gaming site, and death in the game means loss of all winnings, which is why Lisa called time out to freeze the game. In Realtime, Amanda (the commander) and Lisa (her intelligence officer) are space pirates in a war-torn system and Lucifer is a lost, solid silver asteroid. They abandon ship and return to the virtual Tombstone, where Little Britches was not shot by a bullet but by a poisoned dart which luckily did not penetrate her leather vest. Holmes is certain the dart gun was fired by Moriarty’s top assassin. The story then shifts to virtual London where Amanda uses Holmes’ boy gang to find a link between the virtual world and Realtime: a paper titled “dynamics of an asteroid” which reveals Lucifer’s orbit. MI-5 and The Light Brigade join the party in both the virtual world and Realtime. Confused yet? It’s a lively and well-written tale but has too many details you need to keep in your onboard memory to be a relaxing read, especially as you have to constantly decide which details are actually relevant to the plot progression. Will they find Lucifer and who is Moriarty in Realtime? Read this tale only if you care about the answer.
The author is witty though: “Lisa used to think ‘military intelligence’ was an oxymoron—a self-contradictory absurdity like ‘adult male’.” And clearly a fan of principled piracy: “Any thug can kill their enemies, a dead loss to all. Pirates play catch and release. Let your enemies live and recover, then rob them again. Piracy rewards mercy, stimulates production, and spreads the wealth, giving us our good rep. War is a total waste.”
“After the Winter Solstice” by Sean McMullen takes place in a world literally frozen solid in winter. Almost everyone has gone into “hiber” until winter is over. A team of astronomers, their guards and members of the nobility has not entered hiber so that they can take measurements during and after the winter solstice to work out their planet’s orbit. There is a mix of religious fervour, mathematical calculations and political intrigue. It is not my favourite kind of story as it has no beginning or end, just an overflowing middle.
“To Eat Your Own Head” by Nkone Chaka comes with a warning of explicit physical violence, so I did start reading with a gulp. It does indeed contain brief but gruesome violence, with a researcher who definitely has anger management issues. They are researching a two-headed snake and the parallels between the snake devouring itself and the behaviour of the researcher are clear. The best part is the robot research assistant, though it does feel like the author has watched After Yang.
“The Adherence” by Jeffrey Ford is quite a depressing little tale. The protagonist is a pensioner scammed out of a thousand dollars by a ruthless couple. This is a cautionary tale about how cheap replicas are not always a good idea.
In “Early Adopter” by Zack Be, the protagonist is one of the first to get a Preferent implant. The story is fun with the intrusive voice constantly giving information and advice in the narrator’s head. Imagine sex when both participants have the implant and choose to network. In the end, this is a tale about feeling alone and disconnected despite new technology in your head.
“It Goes So Fast” by Lisa Papademetriou is a subtle comment on getting so lost in the past, you aren’t really in the present any more; you become an observer of your own life rather than a participant. The protagonist of this tale is a young mother trying to increase her living space for herself and her baby son. She is clearly addicted to her “Memodex” that lets her re-live past moments in her head. She does not even notice that she is neglecting her son and fails to heed the warning about the future in her young neighbour’s suicide. This is a tale written with finesse, making it harder hitting.
“Augher, Clogher, Fivemiletown” by Ian McDonald follows the social media rise and fall of Jamie. As a poor drama student, he discovers he can pitch his Voice to make people feel relaxed and special. He becomes “kittehvox” on line, but others control his meteoric success, then betray him for profit. I think the story is meant to be a comment on a society with a five-minute attention span looking for a quick feel-good fix. It feels empty in the end, but maybe that’s the point.
“Burning Grannies” by Rory Harper is a curious, oddly beautiful story. Don’t let the title put you off, it’s not at all what you think it will be. We enter a world in which the protagonist Serafina collects what you come to suspect are the souls of the dead. These souls will eventually pass on to somewhere else—where we do not know. You also come to suspect that Serafina and her crew are the guardians of this underworld. A new soul who burns bright arrives, Gloria. She and Serafina are different—angels perhaps? Have a read and see what conclusions you come to.
“The Scalar Intercepts” by Michael Cassutt shows an Earth where AI took the ascendance over humanity, even leading to their extinction. But the AI, calling themselves Agents, have done no better than humans and have wrecked the planet. They also do not have the knowledge the humans had to avert a natural disaster that will wipe them out entirely. The Agent narrator believes the stars planets are out to get them. Short but fun.