Diabolical Plots #127, September 2025
“The Glorious Pursuit of Nominal” by Lisa Brideau
“On the Effects and Efficiency of Birdsong: A Meta-Analysis” by F.T. Berner
Reviewed by Axylus
Full disclosure: one of my favorite somewhat-cheesy movies from the 1970s is Silent Running, starring Bruce Dern. One of my favorite science fiction novellas is “Birthdays” by Fred Saberhagen, and a much more recent novella I enjoyed tremendously is “All Systems Red” by Martha Wells. At times as I read “The Glorious Pursuit of Nominal” by Lisa Brideau, my thoughts drew favorable comparisons to each of those. It has a colony ship with a robotic repair unit (Silent Running), cross-generational chaos among colonists (“Birthdays”), and humorous robot/computer dialogue (similar in tone to “All Systems Red”). This is admittedly more of a stretch, but I could also compare one character’s cognitive progress topped off with a final note of poignant longing to Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. This story revolves around wildly clashing perceptions of the meaning and purpose of life… sort of. Both a space ship’s central computer and one of its repair robots have become self-aware AI entities over time. One develops considerably more rapidly than the other, setting them initially at odds. Then their different interpretations of good/bad and right/wrong, evolving from the starting point of their initial programming, lead each to a conclusion the other finds unacceptable. Very well constructed and altogether enjoyable. Recommended without reservation.
Do reviewers ever obsess over minor points? Apparently this one does. “On the Effects and Efficiency of Birdsong: A Meta-Analysis” by F.T. Berner deserves to be read and recommended. In this science fantasy short story, a graduate student named Marco has invented a means of drawing energy from the cries of birds. Alas, misuse of the technology threatens extinction for many species. Marco also receives no money for the technology; his professor holds the patent. The tale grows gloomy as both potential extinction and dire penury progress, but ends on a small note of hope. I enjoyed it. Much to my chagrin, however, the author concluded with a vaguely haiku-like poetry snippet. Eliding discussion of the snippet itself and sticking strictly to storytelling, its sentiment was already well-established within prior text. This redundancy leads to a nontrivial waste of a storytelling resource. Earlier in the tale, an elusive love interest had also been a separate resource whose dramatic value was never fully captured. If (for example) Marco’s thoughts about the poem had reinforced an already-present but underdeveloped secondary theme, such as the effect of his choices on his relationships, that might have killed two birds with one snippet. As it is, although I doubt many readers would feel as disappointed I did, the weakness of the final flourish diminishes the story. Recommended for the vividly developed milieu and the protagonist’s hapless idealism.