The February 2010 issue of the leading sci-fi magazine has the now familiar mix of new and familiar names providing the fiction, as well as the regular non-fiction contributors to Asimovs (ISSN 1065-2698, 112pp).
The first new name is Caroline M. Yoachim, whose novelette 'Stone Wall Truth' depicts a future world defined by a mysterious wall upon which criminals are impaled, to judge their 'shadowselves.' When the protagonist is herself pinned to the wall she learns of the systematic misuse to which the wall's technology is put. It's an interesting idea at the heart of a quietly told story.
Damien Broderick
A more familiar writer to regular readers is Australian-born Damien Broderick, who has appeared five times in a little over a year, often with stories that take a conscious bow to the greats, such as Roger Zelazny. This time 'Dead Air' is a Philip K. Dick pastiche, but in throwing so much strangeness into the narrative Broderick erects a barrier to reader comprehension.
Veteran Bruce McAllister returns after a three year absence with 'The Woman Who Waited Forever' a fantasy set in early sixties Italy that forms part of a forthcoming novel. That precludes McAllister being able to generate a satisfying narrative arc, but though there's no great originality, the author is able to beautifully evoke a lost childhood.
David Erik Nelson makes an intriguing debut with 'The Bold Explorer in the Place Beyond,' another of his Clocky stories which have appeared in several venues, but unlike the previous entry in the series, this is as much poignant as funny. Recommended.
Aliette de Bodard
Campbell Award finalist Aliette de Bodard is the last, and perhaps most eagerly awaited of this month's debutants. Her novelette 'The Wind-Blown Man' takes the reader to a China that has become the dominant culture on Earth (p.58) and where trancendental meditation enables adepts to attain a very non-technological Singularity. Highly Recommended.
Stephen Baxter
Stephen Baxter's novella 'The Ice Line' is a sequel to 'The Ice War,' taking place some eighty-five years after that earlier piece; it's another story set in the same universe as his novel Anti-Ice, in which frozen aliens containing anti-matter have invaded seventeenth century Earth, particularly Northern England. It's competent as one would expect from Baxter, but as is often the case with serial installments, the author adds little to his earlier piece.
Departments
In Sheila Williams' Editorial she looks back at two people who mentored her in her early days at Asimov’s, while sixty years after the publication of 'The Lion of Comarre' Robert Silverberg re-evaluates Arthur C. Clarke. James Patrick Kelly looks free stuff on the internet in 'The Price of Free,' and Peter Heck reviews books.
It's a competent if collectively uninspiring issue, with only a couple of stand out stories and too many misses.
Colin Harvey - Author six novels, and editor of four anthologies; professional reviewer since 2003, including six years at Strange Horizons. Member of ...
