Future Science Fiction Digest #4, September 2019
“They Are Coming” by Paul R. Hardy
Reviewed by Robert L Turner III
“They Are Coming” by Paul R. Hardy starts out in the form of a variety of news reports that track the rise of Darlene McKinnon from a State rep considered a UFO conspiracy freak, to President of the US when aliens appear in the solar system. Her antagonist Teshana Wright gives us her view of President McKinnon and her rise to absolute power as she prepares for the alien arrival.
The story presents an interesting twist on the whole alien arrival/first contact genre with a focus on societal changes rather than the aliens and it is well written and flows well. The technical mastery is certainly very good, and the final twist is somewhat surprising. What weakens the story is the too obvious this-is-Trump’s-America meta-narrative. Darlene McKinnon is clearly a stand in for a left-wing strawman Trump with her efforts to establish a police state, mute science and neuter the supreme court. This is a shame, since it invites the reader to see the story as a political metaphor instead of exploring the nature of humanity and society’s tendency towards paranoia. Nevertheless, this is certainly worth the read and offers some interesting things to consider.
Alexander Bachilo’s “The Building Atop the Hill” is set in a Russia besieged by aliens. In it, a small family arrives at an unassuming apartment building drawn by the rumor that there is a rescue ship of some kind coming. As more and more people come, they start to wonder if the promised salvation is real or just a trap. The piece is deliberately vague and claustrophobic with the focus in uncertainty and with an undefined threat just out of sight, while evoking memories of the Holocaust and Soviet atrocities. The translation by Alex Shvartsman is solid and generally keeps consistent. While not the best story ever written, there is a Godot like feel to the story that will appeal to some readers. My best summary is that it feels exactly like you would expect from a Russian writer.
“A Typical Tale of Bloodlust and Conquest” by Mike Resnick is a quick story based on inverted expectations. Told with the typical droll irony that is Resnick’s style, we meet Bloodlust the Conqueror, Jimmy in private, as he conquers his first planet, following in his father’s and grandfather’s footsteps. Quickly his plans go off the rails and he learns that conquest is the easiest part of his job. The story harks back to early SF stories that in many ways were a brief narrative with a final, ironic/amusing twist. Don’t expect any deep content, that isn’t the goal of the story, instead, read and enjoy what the final twist tells us about Bloodlust’s universe. PS: enjoy the Marx Brothers reference.
“You Came to the Tower” by Shaenon K. Garrity is something that starts out slow and then gradually builds to a satisfying and disturbing conclusion. Kaida and her little sister Catherine live alone on a self-sustaining satellite circling a dead Earth. Life is idyllic, filled with 19th century romantic imagery and the routine chores of a pastoral lifestyle. When Stuart and Donald, sent by the last surviving colony on Mars arrive, things move from English romanticism to a slow horror story as an outside perspective forces the reader to reevaluate what they have been shown. This is a strong piece that delicately balances narratives and reveals while also addressing issues of morality and the hard constraints of survival level living. The author shows an advanced level of writing skill that makes this one well worth the read.
“Through the Fog, a Distant Land Appears” by Wanxiang Fengnian, translated by Nathan Faries starts in a small Chinese village where a mother watches over her daughter who has poisoned herself and is slowly dying. Suddenly, the village is covered in a dense fog and all the residents except for Gu Huilan (the mother) disappear. The remainder of the story involves Gu Huilan coming to terms with the absence of people, her guilt for her daughter’s choices, and the echoes of those who have disappeared. The elements of the story aren’t new. There are many stories that develop the last man/woman on Earth theme. What is interesting is how this story comments on contemporary Chinese culture and the radical shifts over the last few decades. Depending on how you read it, it works as a critique of the current regime, or a celebration of Chinese Communism’s march towards the future.
In “Yi” Oskar Källner introduces us to a strike team trying to sneak into the Yi stronghold on the moon and detonate a nuclear weapon. Rickard and Clarissa are lovers and two of the three members of the team. Once they land on the completely terraformed moon, they must make their way to headquarters without alerting the bioengineered lifeforms that serve the cockroach-like Yi. Unfortunately, once they infiltrate the main compound they make an unpleasant discovery.
Källner, with the able help of the translator Gordon Jones, manages the difficult task of taking old SF tropes and recombining them in a fresh and engaging way. The funny thing is that there is literally nothing new anywhere in the story. The bioengineering, the long struggle, the resurrecting of the combatants and the twist. We’ve seen it all, but it feels new and significant as Källner puts his individual imprint on it.
“The Last Trial” by Stephen S. Power is John Henry and the steam engine set in the near future. That completely sums up the story. AmaBaba (Amazon + Alibaba) wants to replace packagers (Boxers) with robots. John, in case you didn’t get the hint, is the best of the best and wants to hold off the inevitable. His husband, Luke, narrates the tale of their trial against the newly revised bot. The world building is completely mundane, and the narrative thread is entirely predictable. The only surprise, a talking dog, is a useless adornment that adds nothing to the plot. The boxing/boxer conflation is mildly interesting, but this isn’t something to prioritize.
The final installment, “The Messiah of the Thirteenth Colony” by Davide Camparsi, translated by Michael Colbert is, like the preceding story, entirely predictable. Placed during a war between Mars and Earth, the story tells us of Joseph Synczlowieczy, survivor of a destroyed mars cruiser, who suffers from a brain tumor. He is charismatic and starts performing miracles until the crowd turns on him and he disappears from his closed cell after three days. There is a side story about his gardening which ends up terraforming Mars in time to save them from Earth, but the connection never really works.
Camparsi does nothing more than add an SF skin to the generic Jesus/Christ framework, but it’s been done before and done better. It seems almost paint-by-the-numbers and lacks any attempt to discuss religion, human nature, or our need for a savior figure. Christians will probably dislike the lazy comparison to Christ, while non-believers will feel that the “magic” doesn’t fit into an SF story. Either way, it’s not worth the effort.
Robert Turner is a professor and long-term SF reader.