Posted by Nicky Drayden on Jan 11, 2010 in
Reviews Author Website: http://ashevilledilettante.blogspot.com
Published by: Fantasy and Science Fiction, December 2009
The Story:
Dr. Saraih Hertz is a professor at Baghdad University, whose interest in paleography is piqued when she receives an oddly worded letter intended for her recently deceased father. In the 26th century, parcel post is all but obsolete, except among the merchant trans-celestial crewes that ferry specialized cargo across the galaxy. One of these crewes is captained by Parastrata Harrah, the man who sent the cryptic letter that speaks of a woman named Ete, a woman Saraih’s father had never mentioned during the recounts of his dealings with Harrah’s crewe.
Saraih decides to look into the matter and books a flight to the sub-orbital station where Harrah’s ship is docked. There she encounters Harrah, his wives, and the curious, rich culture of the ship’s inhabitants.
The Craft:
SPOILERS
Saraih feels like an awkward schoolgirl when she boards Harrah’s ship, her brightly colored headscarf and dark skin in stark contrast with the sallow, nearly translucent skin of Harrah’s aloof crewe. They’re more than hospitable, but all eyes are upon Saraih — a woman who has stepped upon the earth — a privilege reserved only for men within the crewe’s culture. Slowly, she teases out the information about this mysterious Ete, the details of her secretive relationship with Sarah’s father, and why Ete’s presence is bringing bad luck to Harrah’s crewe.
There’s not a lot I can say about this story without spoiling the plot since there’s so very little of it, and yet this is probably one of the most enjoyable short stories I’ve read in a long time. The meat of this story lies in a meticulously constructed culture that even now I have a hard time getting into my head that it’s only fiction. The footnotes give the story an extra punch of believability and are well-written, informative, and add just a touch of humor to the piece.
This story has a re-readablity factor of 10 out of 10, and its only fault is that it leaves me wanting more. I hope to see a novel set in this universe from Ms. Duncan very soon.
Tags: F&SF Mag, literary, science fiction
Posted by Nicky Drayden on Jan 7, 2010 in
Reviews Author Website: http://www.marissalingen.com
Published by: Clarkesworld Magazine, December 2009
The Story:
The Grandmother-Granddaughter Conspiracy is a sweet story about Dr. Hannah Vang, a marine xenobiologist on a mission to prove advanced intelligence in a native species of cephalopod on a sparsely settled human colony. The moral stakes are high, since if she fails, the local government will take a portion of the cephalopods’ habitat to cultivate edible aquiculture.
Hannah has problems brewing at home as well. Her mother Dee is suffering from injury-related memory loss which could be easily treated on more populous colonies, but with the limited resources of their home planet, Dee must use an often-faulty memory augmenter that has already fractured their family and is a heavy burden on both Hannah and her daughter Lily.
The Craft:
SPOILERS
I’m a sucker for all things tentacle, so I got pulled into the story pretty quickly. The Grandmother-Granddaughter Conspiracy opens with a slight buildup for Hannah, then immediate disappointment as her squid-like alien experiment fails to remember the solution to a puzzle. The story raises an interesting question of what constitutes higher intelligence, as the squid frequently use tools to get what they want, however, they don’t appear to communicate or have any sort of long-term memory.
The story then segues nicely into Hannah’s personal life, where her own mother’s memory loss has caused Hannah’s husband to move to the other side of town after several frustrating incidents with the authorities, since every time Dee’s memory augmenter pops out, she thinks he’s an intruder. Fortunately, Hannah’s daughter Lily seems to pick up the slack, working closely with her grandmother, building the bond that leads them into their well-meaning conspiracy against Hannah.
The story itself is straightforward, nothing fancy done with the plot or the characters, but its strength lies in the philosophical questions it poses, which are fun to muse about. I enjoyed that Hannah’s mother and daughter got together to help solve the problem, though their solution did seem to come a little out of left field. I would have liked to have seen more buildup to their solution and more mystery as to where they were running off to behind Hannah’s back.
In the end, we’re left wondering not only if Hannah will be able to save the squids’ habitat, but also the true extent of the squids’ intelligence, leaving the reader with endless possibilities to ponder.
Tags: Clarkesworld, science fiction, squid punk
