Analog, September/October 2024
“Minnie and Earl Have a Kitten” by Adam-Troy Castro
“Bad Cop, No Donut” by Ryan Hunke
“The Compromise” by Tom R. Pike
“The Fyootch” by Wil McCarthy
“Discorporation” by Mar Vincent
“The Space Between” by Brenda Kalt
“Sleeping Giant” by Kedrick Brown
“The Ones Who Refuse to Walk Away” by Andrea Kriz
“A Stream of Leaves” by Tony Ballantyne
“Carter’s Refugio” by Hayden Trenholm
“The Circumambulation” by James Van Pelt
“Transitive Property of Names” by Mark W. Tiedemann
“Sex and Lies on the Internet of Things” by Filip Wiltgren
“Best Practices for Safe Asteroid Handling” by David Goodman
“It’s the Principle of the Thing” by Tim McDaniel
“Firegrounds” by Jen Downes
“Starburst” by Meghan Hyland
“Fast Women, Loose Lips, and Treasure Ships” by Josh Pearce
“Gaiatosis” by Andrew Sullivan
Reviewed by Mike Bickerdike
“Minnie and Earl Have a Kitten” by Adam-Troy Castro is an SF novella in the author’s ongoing “Minnie and Earl” series of stories. Those who are fans of these stories will doubtless find much to enjoy here, though the tale has several imperfections. Minnie and Earl are apparently kind, elderly Americans, who live in an old-fashioned ranch-style house, behind a white picket fence, on the otherwise uninhabitable surface of the moon. This is, of course, not possible and what they actually are is revealed within this installment in the series. The protagonist is a young female astronaut, with half of the novella told as backstory, at a time when as a young teen she nearly drowned. The tale explores her depression and relationship with her sister, with the SF elements seeming to be secondary to the author’s exploration of mental health. A few things detract from the enjoyment of the novella, unfortunately. Firstly, there are some prose and structural choices made here that do not completely work; the gender of the protagonist is clouded for some time, only being revealed clearly after several pages; and additionally, the author breaks the ‘fourth-wall’ many times, directing his characters’ thoughts and ideas directly to the reader. This is doubtless meant to get the reader onside through familiarity, but its predominant effect is to diminish immersion in the story. Secondly, we are given little reason to emotionally connect or sympathise for the lead character, which limits the tension of the piece. Finally, there are numerous typographic errors which take us out of the tale; stories in Analog are usually better proof-read than this.
“Bad Cop, No Donut” by Ryan Hunke is a rather good SF short story, not entirely dissimilar in its broad theme to Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? Here, the tale focusses on two cops who are looking for unregistered ‘synths’ within the city of Philadelphia, which they will arrest if found working without due registration. The similarities to Dick’s famous novel end there, as this is lighter in tone and the cops’ place of investigation is a cake shop. The tale is told in a hardboiled detective style, through the eyes of one of the cops, who is more liberal than his partner. Overall, it’s well-told, rather droll and offers a little more depth than is shown on the surface. Recommended.
“The Compromise” by Tom R. Pike is an interesting and quite engaging novelette. Union leaders from across the world gather for an important vote regarding the regulation and integration of AI ‘instances’ and humans, in the workforce. This is a timely and well-considered piece, with arguments for and against AI controls put forward by different union leaders in the debate. I imagine such tales, which wrestle with concerns toward the technological development of AI, will become increasingly common—much as stories of nuclear war and post-nuclear winters were common in the magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. Also recommended.
“The Fyootch” by Wil McCarthy is an entertaining story that’s well-conveyed, but which combines a decent premise with a slightly disappointing conclusion. An older academic and her much younger research assistant have managed to build a matter-transference device, and it’s come to the point where they will test it on themselves. The build-up in the plot, as well as characterisation, is good and successfully immerses us in the scenario. However, it’s somewhat let down by a jokey, light-hearted end that doesn’t fully satisfy the excellent set-up. Incidentally, it’s not clear why the story is called “The Fyootch,” as the term is used nowhere in the story
“Discorporation” by Mar Vincent is dark SF ‘noir’. In a future where organs and tissues are replaced by corporates using internal prosthetics, a women needs a new spine to replace the synthetic one that is failing her. A freelance prosthetics technician herself, she is suffering from the adverse effects of the imperfect design of her first spinal prosthesis. The overall mood here is very dark, projecting a future of significant corporate greed. While the negativity of the piece is a little unrelenting, it’s internally consistent in its mood and style, and therefore manages to be quite successful.
“The Space Between” by Brenda Kalt is a very short story. However, despite this, it’s rather appealing. Kalt’s work tends to be reminiscent of ‘Golden Age’ SF and this is no exception, being a short planetary-adventure type of tale, in which a young trader touches down on an unknown planet.
“Sleeping Giant” by Kedrick Brown is one of those technical stories that’s more a thought-experiment than it is a plotted tale. On the moon, a researcher decides to try and build a small device that might communicate with extra-dimension life. The idea is reasonably neat, and like the prior story it has overtones of a ‘Golden Age’ story, but it’s a little lacking in charm and characterisation—there’s too much technological idea, and not enough story here.
“The Ones Who Refuse to Walk Away” by Andrea Kriz is a laboured short story, written in second person (you did this, you thought that). The voice of the tale comes from an AI who is directing its thoughts toward you, a member of a terrorist state in opposition to the AI. Rather than immerse the reader in the story’s tensions, the use of second person reduces the reader’s sense of involvement, and the dense, strident prose seems to be trying a little too hard to make its point—which is not helped by the fact that nothing much happens.
“A Stream of Leaves” by Tony Ballantyne is an intriguing short story, containing some significant SF ideas. In a far future, on the mysterious world of Oberon, a man who has made a deal with aliens to better understand the nature of humanity, travels to a strange locus on the planet to obtain his answer. While the man eschews emotion—and his essential humanity—he travels with a woman who embraces her emotions. There are several successful aspects to this tale, including the otherworldly nature of Oberon and its spiders, and the twisted nature of reality they encounter. The strangeness of the alien experience seems reminiscent of Silverberg, and overall this is recommended. However, it could perhaps be even better. There is so much here, it would benefit from having more space to breathe and in which to introduce the reader to its interesting concepts. If it were longer, perhaps novella-length, it might have conveyed its ideas with even greater clarity and success. That said, its worth a read.
“Carter’s Refugio” by Hayden Trenholm is essentially detective fiction, but set in space. In the next century, the asteroid belt has been colonised by miners and traders. When one reclusive trader, Carter, is found tortured and murdered at his small asteroid home, the protagonist, Willie Lumen (no connection to Arthur Miller’s salesman, except a similar name) sets out to solve the case. The novelette starts reasonably brightly, but rather than explore the SF environment and involve speculative elements in the plot, the tale becomes a straight detective story in the styling of an Agatha Christie ‘whodunnit’, to the extent that all the potential suspects gather at the end for an explanation of the crime. This could have been set in a 1930’s drawing room with minimal changes. Unfortantely, the story seems to break a cardinal rule in “Golden Age” detective fiction, by hiding certain facts from the reader until they are revealed at the end. The tale is also let down a little by typographical errors (not the first time in this issue) and the author’s misuse of the word ‘latter’ on two occasions, when referring to the last thing in a list.
“The Circumambulation” by James Van Pelt is an entertaining short story of alien invasion, and while it doesn’t break new ground especially, it manages to be better written and more engaging than every other story in this issue. Characterisation is particularly good, and the switching point-of-view between the cuckolded husband and his unfaithful wife is successful and interesting, making this recommended reading.
“Transitive Property of Names” by Mark W. Tiedemann is an intriguing SF short story, which offers an utterly alien perspective. First contact with humanity reveals us to be very strange to the alien entity. The strangest aspect appears to be the use and requirement for names, and what these connote. Not only is the perspective interestingly explored, but the highly alien viewpoint is cleverly conveyed. Recommended.
“Sex and Lies on the Internet of Things” by Filip Wiltgren is flash fiction. Albeit short, it’s a little hard to digest; the story comprises an AI considering how to help and aiding another AI, in computational (and cynical) terms.
“Best Practices for Safe Asteroid Handling” by David Goodman is a more exciting SF novelette than the slightly prosaic title might suggest. Set on an inhabited Jovian asteroid, an experienced asteroid inhabitant undertakes to induct a new recruit. Once the recruit has met certain safety and training requirements, he will be able to join the mental connection shared by the asteroid’s inhabitants, called the Accord. The ideas here are quite good, the environment is clear and compelling, and the plot takes some interesting turns. The nature of human conflict, and the difficulty of seeing the perspective of one’s adversaries, are at the heart of this story.
“It’s the Principle of the Thing” by Tim McDaniel is another piece of flash fiction, comprising a joke about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Silly, but short.
“Firegrounds” by Jen Downes is a dystopian story, set in a post climate change world, where the hot, tinder-dry land catches fire easily and often. A woman works as a technician maintaining fire-fighting bots and juggles this work with raising her ne’er-do-well teenage son. It’s quite well conceived and executed, though the tension is perhaps a little lacking, given the potential with this subject matter.
“Starburst” by Meghan Hyland is either a surrealist SF story, or full of dream and/or metaphoric imagery. In either event, it’s hard to understand and appreciate. A teenager gives up their body to become a spaceship AI, and in the Oort cloud meets up with a gender-fluid cowboy living in a teapot, and they go off on adventures together. As well as being hard to decipher in its meaning, this tale struggles to engage the reader. Novelty of ideas is always a plus point in SF, but it’s not the only thing.
“Fast Women, Loose Lips, and Treasure Ships” by Josh Pearce is a well-written and entertaining story, though with a notable flaw. Two female pilots have been converted cybernetically to be able to withstand enormous acceleration g-forces. Detecting an old ship in deep space, they are beset by aggressive merchants who want to claim it themselves, and our pilots need to get there first. It’s a neat idea, and the cybernetic changes to the women, bringing a ‘hard SF’ approach to coping with g-forces, are not unreasonable. The tale is certainly enjoyable, and quite well-conveyed as far as place and character are concerned, though it has a serious flaw that deserves mention. In a tale in which acceleration g-forces are so critical, it’s a shame the author seems to confuse velocity and acceleration. When the protagonists approach the drifting ship, they drop their acceleration toward their target to only “5 g”. However, this means they are still rapidly accelerating, albeit with a lower rate of change in velocity than during their prior 69 g acceleration. Why, if you were approaching your destination would you rapidly increase your speed? Surely you would slow down. This sort of error occurs in several places throughout the story, which is unfortunate given a correct use of acceleration forces is critical to the plot. Fans of Heinlein or Clarke may struggle with this one.
“Gaiatosis” by Andrew Sullivan is a far-fetched novelette that concludes this issue of Analog. An academic researcher has placed the Earth in danger following back-firing and disastrous attempts to address climate change. She loses her job, and we are invited to feel sorry for her and support her challenges in putting things right. Two principal problems limit the reader’s enjoyment in this story. On the one-hand, the tale lacks punch and tension, being a little slow in its build up and overly technical and dry. Secondly and perhaps more importantly, it suffers from being entirely unlikely. We are asked to believe that individual researchers are entrusted by the UN to personally run planet-saving programs using only their own research, employing billion-dollar academic grants. This is so silly, it’s a little hard to accept any other premise in the story.
More of Mike Bickerdike’s reviews and thoughts on science-fiction can be found at https://starfarersf.nicepage.io/