Asimov’s, July/August 2024
“Sisters of the Flare” by Stephen Case
“Flipped” by Leah Cypess
“A Family Matter” by Robert Morrell Jr.
“Tamaza’s Future and Mine” by Kenneth Schneyer
“This Good Lesson Keep” by James Van Pelt
“Yarns” by Susan Palwick
“Future Perfect” by Genevieve Valentine
“Untouchable” by R. Garcia y Robertson
“You Know Me Al” by Alex Irvine
“The Weight of Oceans” by Mark D. Jacobsen
“The Sixteenth Circumstance” by John Richard Trtek
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
This issue is unusual in that it contains more novelettes (six) than short stories (four.) With the addition of a novella, the emphasis is definitely on longer works of fiction.
“Sisters of the Flare” by Stephen Case takes place aboard an enormous starship operated by members of a religious order, all female. The women serve an empress who is considered to be divine. In return for their service, they obtain a substance that offers a greatly extended life, as well as a calm state of mind.
A crisis causes the empress to strand the starship away from the pathways that allow it to navigate and to travel faster than light. The possibility of being lost forever causes a young novice to flee to the interior of the ship, near the dangerous fusion engines. She meets the older woman who tends one of the engines and who lives as a hermit. Together they struggle to find a solution to the problem.
The need to supply a lengthy synopsis provides evidence that this novelette has as much complexity as a novella or novel. In addition to the basic plot, there are multiple sections of the text that relate folk tales of planet dwellers that offer insight into the background and its inhabitants. The author manages to create both a vast, intricate setting and fully developed characters.
“Flipped” by Leah Cypess deals with a parallel version of a high school boy who arrives in the universe of his other self. The story is narrated by a girl who has a crush on him. The version of the boy she is used to has another girlfriend, but the newly arrived version loves the narrator.
This story is best suited to young adult readers. It deals almost entirely with the ups and downs of the relationship between the two characters. There is no explanation for the movement between universes. If nothing else, the author clearly understands the emotions of teenagers.
In “A Family Matter” by Robert Morrell Jr., the narrator discovers that some of his DNA is different from anything else known in other people. The situation leads to his kidnapping by the members of a religious cult, as well as involvement with government agents.
The reader is likely to predict the explanation for the anomalous DNA long before it is revealed. Although not openly comic, the narrative style has a cynical, wisecracking tone that makes the unlikely events of the plot seem even more outrageous. The best part of the story may be the author’s ability to create a vivid portrait of the backwoods of North Carolina.
The narrator of “Tamaza’s Future and Mine” by Kenneth Schneyer has been secretly undermining security at the government agency where she works for many years. Her activities are part of a decades-long plan of rebellion against the oppressors of the exploited class. She knows the climax of the plot will result in the death of many innocents, including the child of whom she is genuinely fond.
The story deals with the difficult question of whether the end justifies the means in a thoughtful manner. The narrator is a rational person, not a fanatic or a terrorist, but also one willing to sacrifice others for a cause she considers to be just. By making the background a completely imaginary one, unrelated to any current situations, the author explores vital moral issues in a manner that avoids a particular political viewpoint.
“This Good Lesson Keep” by James Van Pelt features a high school English teacher who is about to retire. In this near future, students are often connected to electronic devices. In particular, one boy, the son of very religious parents, wears contact lenses that paint the world in ways that relate to their beliefs. The plot deals with his romantic relationship with a girl, also from a very religious family, who uses no devices at all. The tension between their affection for each other and their opposing religious beliefs comes to a climax when the teacher leads the class in a detailed performance and discussion of Hamlet.
This story makes an interesting contrast with the work by Cypess, which also deals with high school romance. Van Pelt’s version of the theme is more sophisticated, due to the important role played by the teacher. The characters and the speculative content are also more believable. If the previous story was better suited to teenage readers, this one is more likely to appeal to mature adults.
“Yarns” by Susan Palwick takes place in a future dominated by criminal gangs using sophisticated technology to keep track of their members and intended victims. The protagonist tries to help the young child of a gang member escape an attack by a rival gang. The attempt fails, and makes her the target of a novice gang member who is assigned to kill her. The two become unlikely friends, even though this threatens both their lives.
The author manages to make violent criminals into believable characters who care for their families. The plot offers a touch of hope in a very dark world. In addition to its emotional appeal, the story also features plausible and interesting futuristic technology.
“Future Perfect” by Genevieve Valentine deals with performance artists in a violent near future. In particular, a woman continually recreates a dinner party of the 1950’s for wealthy patrons acting as guests. The constant cooking and cleaning cause her to experience intense physical pain. The situation leads to a gruesome climax.
There is quite a bit more to the story than this basic plot. Another act of performance art involves two women recreating conversations they had in past. The reader is very casually told that one of the women is killed, as if to suggest that violence is everywhere in this dystopian world. The story is very disturbing, but I failed to understand what the author was trying to say, if anything, about the bizarre world of performance art.
“Untouchable” by R. Garcia y Robertson is an adventure story in which a pirate/secret agent is hired to locate young women missing from a space station orbiting Jupiter. The search leads her into a virtual reality world recreating the criminal underground of the 1930s.
Unlike many other stories in the magazine, this action-packed tale seems to have no purpose other than to provide light entertainment. The heroine is super-competent, so there is little suspense. The author seems to enjoy romping through the VR world, and some of this enthusiasm comes across to the reader.
“You Know Me Al” by Alex Irvine borrows its title from a book of humorous stories by Ring Lardner. It also follows the same structure, in a series of letters from a baseball player to his friend. In this pastiche of the original, the athlete tours the solar system, running into all sorts of situations involving the way the game is played on other planets and satellites.
Fans of Lardner’s work are likely to appreciate this pastiche, as well as baseball fans. Others may find it less interesting, with a simple premise that hardly justifies a full novelette.
“The Weight of Oceans” by Mark D. Jacobsen takes place on a peninsula that is about to be flooded out of existence by rising sea levels. (A force field had previously prevented this from happening, but proved to be unprofitable.) The rather meek narrator follows his wild girlfriend into an empty building, unaware of what she intends to do just before the last possible moment they can escape the disaster.
The force field seems out of place as an extremely advanced form of technology in a near future not much different from our own time. It must be admitted, however, that its existence and its abandonment are necessary to the plot. The girlfriend is something of a stereotype of the Bad Girl as might be found in an old motorcycle gang movie.
The novella “The Sixteenth Circumstance” by John Richard Trtek concludes the issue. A man works for aliens, earning profits for them from the worlds they dominate, while subtly undermining their control. A visit to his old mentor, another species of alien, leads to his investigation of irregularities on one of the dominated planets.
Much of the story consists of lengthy conversations. These often seem longer than necessary, and may try the reader’s patience. The author creates an intriguing background containing multiple aliens, but the fairly simple plot is insufficient to fill a full novella.
Victoria Silverwolf is working a couple of extra days this week.