Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June 2020

“Tunnels” by Eleanor Arnason

“The River” by Alice Towey

“The Mrs. Innocents” by Ian R. MacLeod

“Ithaca” by Brad Aiken & Rick Wilber

“Ronni and Rod” by David Gerrold & Ctein

“Digital Witness” by Dominica Phetteplace

“Against the Stars” by James Gunn

“Brave New World by Oscar Wilde” by Ian Watson

“Pax Mongolica” by Evan Marcroft

“Perfect Blue” by Tegan Moore

“The Voice” by Bruce McAllister

“Living in Wartime” by R. Garcia y Robertson

Reviewed by Chuck Rothman

The May/June issue of Asimov’s begins with “Tunnels” by Eleanor Arnason, which shows Lydia Duluth who has just arrived at Innovation City, a company town run by BioInnovation, a biochemical company that specialized in genetic modification. The entire world is a research station. Lydia is there working on a video show and finds herself exploring the tunnels beneath the city. And that she cannot leave them. Other people are affected, as she tries to find a way out and to discover what BioInnovation is really doing. Very strong characters with a story that is very satisfying.

Alice Towey‘s “The River” presents Imani, a woman who had gotten a computer implant in order to analyze water use in California. She begins to discover some anomalies, but the main thrust of the story is about her adjustment to the change and her appreciation for the rivers and waters. The character study is more important than the plot, and it’s interesting to see Imani adjusting and learning from her new abilities.

“The Mrs. Innocents” is an alternate history/time travel story about Mrs. Innocent, a midwife who attended the birth of Wilhelm II, to considerably different results from our history. Ian R. MacLeod‘s alteration is well thought out, though the basic concept behind it is an old one. Still, the story is well told and does a great job of holding interest.

“Ithaca” by Brad Aiken & Rick Wilber has Wayne journeying to the title city to visit his sister Alex Wright. Alex was the golden girl in high school, surpassing him in every way (though not out of any sort of meanness). But after an accident, Alex ended up in a coma, kept alive in the Infinity Center, where she is dreaming and believes she is alive. The center gives Wayne a way to share her dreams. I liked the story, which builds up to a well-done twist.

David Gerrold & Ctein are next with “Ronni and Rod,” a strong action piece that’s a standalone excerpt from an upcoming novel. Rod Archer is a helicopter traffic reporter for a San Diego TV station, while his wife Ronni works for the local paper, where she is sent to cover San Diego Comic Con. Disaster strikes: an enormous tsunami is heading for the city, and evacuation is a nightmare. Rod presses into action to try to find and save Ronni with his helicopter. The result keeps piling problems on top of problems in his race against the giant wave of water. Excellent story from start to finish; I’ll be looking out for the book.

“Digital Witness” is the type of story that fits into the time honored trope of science fiction as extrapolation, though the result is hardly stereotypical. Alma is a woman in an open relationship with Cleo and is faced with a blackmailer as she goes about her dating life. The plot is almost incidental as Dominica Phetteplace extrapolates on the ways the sale of personal information leads to strange results, all of which—and this is a great part—Alma takes in stride. It is excellent worldbuilding, where the events in the story are not wonders to the people living with them.

James Gunn‘s “Against the Stars” is the sequel to an earlier story where the characters found there was an ancient A.I. influencing human affairs. This story shows how the characters react to the discovery and try to take action. There’s a lot of derring-do spy events, but I don’t feel the characters really came to life.

“Brave New World by Oscar Wilde” by Ian Watson involves a pair of time travelers, Mason and Sharma, who travel to 1897 to find Oscar Wilde and propose he come back with them so that he can continue to write in 2051. It’s hard for me to say much about the story because the concept is so close to one of my own. It’s certainly well done, but the parallels keep jarring me. Other readers will not have that problem, and the result is clearly interesting in concept and execution.

“Pax Mongolica” by Evan Marcroft is a concept story, where the ancient gods are real and have been captured and kept in a zoo. It seems to be a metaphor for the morality of zookeeping, as the protagonist observes and is saddened by what she sees. It’s content to just present the idea and not do much with it. I would have preferred if there had been more to it than just observing and feeling morose.

Tegan Moore‘s “Perfect Blue” is mostly a romance about Gretchen, who is spending the summer with her aunt and uncle and starts making friends, including Jason, who is a few years older. Meanwhile, Gretchen is going through some changes after she is stung by a plant. I have to admit the story didn’t grab me at all.

Jude keeps hearing “The Voice” in his head, telling him there’s something he needs to do. Jude is an auditor for a company that makes genetically engineered creatures, and has to deal with its “mistakes”—those that haven’t worked out. Some are being sold to aquariums, who can no longer use live creatures, but can use bio-engineered ones. And the local aquarium has bought several, which may create problems. Jude has to act to deal with them. Bruce McAllister has an interesting setup and a musing on performing a mercy.

“Living in Wartime” by R. Garcia y Robertson follows Amanda James, who is fighting an endless virtual battle in an alternate history, commanded by Princess Rylla against the slavers. I think that the idea of combining alternate history with hard SF and VR games complicates matters too much. Both subgenres allow you to do whatever you want, and prevents the story from being grounded. People who enjoy battle scenes might like it, but it didn’t do anything for me.

Chuck Rothman’s novels Staroamer’s Fate and Syron’s Fate are available from Fantastic Books. His story “Occurrence at Arroyo de Buho Bridge” appeared in Strange Horizons.