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Title: The Best of Jim Baen's Universe 2
Editors: Eric Flint and Mike Resnick
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy short story anthology
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A collection of stories from the online magazine "Jim Baen's Universe".
Thoughts: This is a shockingly mixed bag for an anthology that must have gone through not one but two editorial processes--first to be included in the magazine and then to be selected for the anthology. It's divided into two sections, science fiction and fantasy, but some of the stories appear to be misfiled.There are some great stories in each, but also some really disappointing ones.
"Crawlspace", by Erik Flint and Dave Freer, could only have been included because one of the authors was one of the editors. This murder mystery featuring bioengineered rats who only talk in Shakespearean prose is overly precious, needlessly confusing, unsatisfying concluded, and leaves loose threads dangling which should never be possible in short fiction. It was sufficiently bad that if I wasn't on a business trip at the time with no other nonelectronic books to read during takeoff and landing, I wouldn't have bothered reading the rest of the book.
Also problematic are "Murphy's Law", about automated ballistic missile launch systems, and "Creation: The Launch!", about a project consultant to God. The first is gimmicky and has so much telling-instead-of-showing that I accidentally skimmed the only line that makes the punchline makes sense. The second is just plain gimmicky. And "A Better Sense of Direction" fails Sexism 201 by trying earnestly to explain that (spoilers!) the reason women get lost so much on Earth is because their sense of direction works better in space. Given that my sense of direction is significantly better than my husband's, I was not amused.
On the other hand, there are some gems. I loved "Touching the Dead", about a blind girl with a secret as well as a psychic touch. "A Stranger in Paradise", about a colony gone awry, and "Laws of Survival", about a post-apocalyptic alien abduction, are both genuinely touching. And the disturbingly poignant "The Necromancer in Love" is one of the better uses of second-person I've read.
So it's an uneven batch.
Editors: Eric Flint and Mike Resnick
Genre: Science Fiction/Fantasy short story anthology
Thingummies: 3
Synopsis: A collection of stories from the online magazine "Jim Baen's Universe".
Thoughts: This is a shockingly mixed bag for an anthology that must have gone through not one but two editorial processes--first to be included in the magazine and then to be selected for the anthology. It's divided into two sections, science fiction and fantasy, but some of the stories appear to be misfiled.There are some great stories in each, but also some really disappointing ones.
"Crawlspace", by Erik Flint and Dave Freer, could only have been included because one of the authors was one of the editors. This murder mystery featuring bioengineered rats who only talk in Shakespearean prose is overly precious, needlessly confusing, unsatisfying concluded, and leaves loose threads dangling which should never be possible in short fiction. It was sufficiently bad that if I wasn't on a business trip at the time with no other nonelectronic books to read during takeoff and landing, I wouldn't have bothered reading the rest of the book.
Also problematic are "Murphy's Law", about automated ballistic missile launch systems, and "Creation: The Launch!", about a project consultant to God. The first is gimmicky and has so much telling-instead-of-showing that I accidentally skimmed the only line that makes the punchline makes sense. The second is just plain gimmicky. And "A Better Sense of Direction" fails Sexism 201 by trying earnestly to explain that (spoilers!) the reason women get lost so much on Earth is because their sense of direction works better in space. Given that my sense of direction is significantly better than my husband's, I was not amused.
On the other hand, there are some gems. I loved "Touching the Dead", about a blind girl with a secret as well as a psychic touch. "A Stranger in Paradise", about a colony gone awry, and "Laws of Survival", about a post-apocalyptic alien abduction, are both genuinely touching. And the disturbingly poignant "The Necromancer in Love" is one of the better uses of second-person I've read.
So it's an uneven batch.
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Date: 2012-06-08 11:28 am (UTC)From:I guess it says something that when Bradbury wrote an anti-new technology polemic, it was Fahrenheit 451. And when a lesser author writes one, it's just treacle. There is a certain pleasure, though, since these were written in the fifties and sixties, of reading it and going--wow, you were so wrong about that.
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Date: 2012-06-08 12:14 pm (UTC)From:Any particular standouts?