Galaxy’s Edge #51, July/August 2021
“Nanabojou and the Wise Men” by Carolyn Ives Gilman
“Shadow Walk in Obsidian” by Brian Trent
“Article of Faith” by Mike Resnick (reprint, not reviewed)
“The Last Dentist” by Tina Gower
“How Does My Garden Grow?” by David Cleden
“The Far Side of the Bell-Shaped Curve” by Robert Silverberg (reprint, not reviewed)
“Not All Treasure” by Julie Frost
“Destiny” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (reprint, not reviewed)
“Hyperspace Partner” by Bao Shu, (translated by S. Qiouyi Lu)
Reviewed by Geoff Houghton
The July issue of Galaxy’s Edge, #51 includes five new works and one first translation into English, together with three reprints that have not been reviewed.
The first piece of new fiction is “Nanabojou and the Wise Men” by Carolyn Ives Gilman. This is an alternative history which explores the relationship between the very different mind sets of Native Americans and European immigrants to the New World but based on the assumption that both could be equally valid truths.
Nanabojou is a Native American trickster-spirit, somewhat in the mould of the Norse God, Loki. The story is set in the early days of the white settlement of the North American Great Lakes region. In the early 1820’s, the settlers are few and scattered and Nanabojou does not see any danger in the coming of the white man, but only the opportunity for some amusing mischief. The white men described are genuine historical characters, including Joseph Smith, the founder of the Church of Later Day Saints. Nanabojou manages to entirely bemuse the white scientists in the party but not even the trickster-god could predict the final result of Joseph Smith’s revelations.
The second original offering, “Shadow Walk in Obsidian,” by Brian Trent is a fantasy/horror story set in the present day USA. The narrator battles against a deadly peril in a shadow world in order to save his terminally ill fiancée. He discovers a way in which she can be saved, but the defeat of evil is not bought cheaply. Whether they will live happily ever after or whether victory can only be snatched from the forces of chaos by a Samson-like act of self-sacrifice is uncertain, even after the final word of this story.
“The Last Dentist” by Tina Gower is a short story set in a near-future, post-apocalyptic USA in the aftermath of some unspecified depopulating event.
Our teenaged protagonist has a problem. Just before the end of the world as we knew it, she had been fitted with dental braces. In the post-apocalypse world, finding even a modern day Doc Holliday to remove them is no easy matter. Our heroine finally finds “The Last Dentist” of the title, but his work is less than ideal. This is a gentler view of a post-apocalyptic world than is seen in many explorations of this theme, and even when the reason for the dentist’s shortcomings become evident, civilised behaviour prevails.
“How Does My Garden Grow?” by David Cleden is a dark SF story set aboard a slower than light, multi-generational spacecraft inching away from some unspecified disaster on Earth. This ship carries the final tiny remnant of humanity, but, amidst the self-sacrifice and courage there is a weak link that will bring all mankind’s hopes to nought. This is mainline SF, competently written, but do not expect to feel uplifted. If you despair of your fellow-man and think only the worst of our species then this is just the story for you. Otherwise, brace yourself and prepare to feel depressed!
“Not All Treasure” by Julie Frost could be the antidote to the darkness of the previous piece. It is a light-hearted, rumbustious tale set in a rather hygienic rural village in an even more sanitised medieval fantasy world. The narrator is a feisty and competent female blacksmith with a rather more hapless male partner who is in urgent need of treasure.
If this tale took itself more seriously, a reader might quibble at the modern day assumptions and stereotypes built into the story, but if you enjoyed the early books set on Terry Pratchett’s Discworld then this may be just the story for you. The magic is, mainly, wholesome, the villain is adequately evil and the talking dragon surprisingly urbane and reasonable.
The final story is “Hyperspace Partner” by Bao Shu, translated by S. Qiouyi Lu. This is a small-scale and very human SF story set in a completely believable and relatively nearby technological future. The point of view character is a young student who must leave his home and true love in China to study in America. Advanced technology has solved the ability to communicate across continents but can offer no guidance what it is that we should say. This story thoughtfully examines how new experiences inevitably change us all and how new technologies that are already in development might either benefit us or lead us down blind and rather tragic alleys.
Geoff Houghton lives in a leafy village in rural England. He is a retired Healthcare Professional with a love of SF and a jackdaw-like appetite for gibbets of medical, scientific and historical knowledge.