Fantasy and Science Fiction, January 2012

After suffering from the poor architecture of the last two e-magazines which I read and posted journals of, where navigation was extremely poor, opening up the latest Fantasy and Science Fiction issue is a pleasure. Right away I'm taken to 'Sections and Articles' where I can see a table of sections and stories in each section. I can see how many words are in each story, I get information about each author, and navigating around is not a pain.

The word tally for this issue is just over 74,000 words. That's a slim to middle sized novel. It's a good value for the dollar. I don't recognize any of the authors. So, let's see if this issue is the equal of the last.

Small Towns, Felicity Shoulders

This story is charming. It's a bit like Tom Thumb in that it's about a little girl who grows to 20 centimetres in height at her tallest. Her mother dies, or is about to die, when she's sent off to her grandparents. Unfortunately, the grandparents have been gone for a long time, and there's no one to receive her.

Coincidentally, there's a man in the village who builds the village as it was prior to being destroyed in miniature. This is the correlation between story and title. When they come together, he's happy to provide her with a home. He builds miniature things for her. But, being all by herself, she is not happy.

In the end, she manages to escape him. His fears, and the fears of her mother, that the villagers would harm her from superstition turns out to be unfounded. However, I'm inclined to think that most people would treat such a person as Satanic or something and do harm to her.

In any case, Felicity Shoulders does a fine job weaving a charming tale.

The Secret of the City of Gold, Ron Goulart

This story is a mystery. Someone, or some people, have been getting themselves killed by jaguars. Out to solve the mystery is one detective Harry Challenge. He himself is attacked by a jaguar of supernatural form.

There has been an expedition to that legendary city of gold in the central American jungles which are legendary. Each of the members of that expedition are being killed by jaguars. A magician that Harry runs into is the first to suggest that they are were-jaguars. As it turns out, there is a magical necklace with pendant that gives its wearer the ability to metamorph into the jaguar.

This is fortunate for Harry, as he's able to get some silver bullets made which are capable of killing the magical beast. He solves the mystery, wounds the murderer so that he might be tried for the murder, and apprehends his co-conspirator.

I have recently watched a number of TV movies called Agatha Christie's Poirot. It's not often I'm all that fond of mysteries. However, those TV movies are so well made, and in such a 60s-70s sort of classic TV style, that I couldn't help but love the series. I don't know how the books themselves measure up. Well, all that is just to say that I didn't feel that the story had developed itself all that well. Towards the end, however, the fat lady sings. I suppose that's meant for some kind of dry humour. Also, when the detective is held up at gun-point by the opera singer who wants the journal which contains the information relevant to the city of gold, he drops it. This distracts her attention, and he strikes her. Classic move that one is. I suppose that's supposed to be funny, too. Is it too dry for me to laugh I wonder.


Umbrella Men, John G. McDaid

In the world, there is a mystical umbrella--actually, there are two of them. One of them brings about evil, while the other, good. The umbrella and its caretakers happen to be in possession of the good one. It's the same one that prevented riots in New York City. It also helped expose Nixon for wiretapping. This is due to the effect of the umbrella.

The umbrella has an intelligence: a quiet intelligence that you can't rush. You just wait for it. The grandfather is dying. It's time for the family to pass it on to the world's next instigator of peace. That person happens to be Palestinian. It seems to suggest that in order for peace in the middle east to germinate, that it needs to be a Palestinian authority who instigates it. I find that questionable.

Alien Land, K. D. Wentworth

This story combines the period of the housing crisis with alien colonization. Aliens from an unknown place in the galaxy have come to earth looking to settle down. Though they have great technology, they have the ability to cross a massive gulf of space, they do not choose to use it to replace the human race. Instead, they decide to take the foreclosed homes which are under the ownership of banks and are uninhabited.

When these aliens redecorate a house, they do so with style. The ceilings aren't just painted, but rather there is a skyscape view, presumably the view they'd had from the planet from which they'd come. They become friends with a group of their neighbours. One particular alien, to be named Gus, decides to visit his neighbours and actually becomes friends with them. They explain that they're looking for a home, and want to be welcomed. They don't want to be hostile. Over time, they expose their psychic abilities (they share memories), their ability to dematerialize and materialize themselves, objects, and other people, using thought.

Eventually, they are rounded up, and they allow themselves to be rounded up, by the military. The housewives, having lost their friend, decide to try and find them and to help them. It occurs to them that they only need gold, silver, and platinum in order to be accepted into the neighbourhoods. They materialize these metals in great quantities, and it's suggested that this will be enough to win the hearts of the bankers and all those others who value material wealth.

The story is entertaining and well written, if not a bit shallow. But, it's been awhile since I've been staggered by something profound. Maybe after I've read this magazine, it'll be time for me to pick up something more substantial.


Mindbender, Albert E. Cowdrey

In Russia, there were numerous scientific inquiries into the possibility of psychic ability. In the world created by Cowdrey, there was some success. In particular, one man had the ability to read Vladimir Putin's mind. Cowdrey doesn't explicitly name the president, but he certainly described him. He did name Obama.

In any case, the mind reader reports what he reads from the Russian presidents mind. When the Russian president manages to discover what it is that the spy has written, he wants to kill him. Of course, being a mind reader, Milo (the mind reader) escapes to the US in return for protection.

While in the US, he manages to get quite a bit of protection. Not only did this come from the FBI, but more surprisingly, from the town in which he is put. He lives in a hick town in a double wide trailer park. Everyone knows the name of everyone's dog and cat in that town. So, when strangers start poking around who in reality are there to assassinate Milo, they know about it. They catch them. They then kill them.

Ultimately, a particularly good assassin arises. He also has telepathic powers. However, these powers are hypnotic or something like that. He is able to tell people, using telepathic powers, what to do and who to kill. He very nearly manages to get his target, but ultimately fails.

His love interest ends up being more dangerous to Milo than the assassins, as she's the one who nearly kills him with his own gun. The relationship is a good comical relief to the story. She's got six kids, very nearly all of which come from different fathers. Nonetheless, he takes on them all. Even after she tries to kill him, he isn't ready to give up on her.

It's a somewhat funny and enjoyable story.

The Color Least Used by Nature, Ted Kosmatka

This story is set on an island called Hiwiloa. The closest I came to a hit on that name was 'Hawaiiloa.' I don't know if that's a coincidence. The whole story I simply felt was basically set in the Hawaiian islands. This was because of the description of the islands.

The main character, Kuwa'i, is a man who begins life at the end of an era: the isolated island is no longer isolated. People have come to the island from abroad. Throughout his life, this trend continues.

The title of the story is kind of funny, and the premise as well. In the story, Kuwa'i's father says that the gods made the ocean blue because that was the only colour left from the gods' palette. Of course, I think there's more blue spent on nature's canvas than any other colour: It's the colour of the sea and the water, and also of the sky above which stretches on forever. But, blue is a rare colour in terms of things on land.

In any case, Kuwa'i's character is that of a talented ship builder. His life is filled with love and loss. He is not really a thinking man. His emotions rule him. His anger eats him up when his child dies. He kills the man who assaults the woman he loves. The reason for the assault on his love interest is for cuckolding him. The child that was borne from one of those relationships will be the very man who will later kill Kuwa'i.

In the end, his son from a different woman, decides to do what he could not: leave the island with his love interest. He steals the greatest boat that Kuwa'i had ever built. However, this was going to be done by the man known as the 'administrator,' in any event. It is not explicit, but I believe it is implied that Kuwa'i is happy when he catches the last glimpse of his son and his son's love interest escaping into the horizon with his boat. This satisfaction seems to comfort him as he's being murdered for allowing his son to escape with the boat that the administrator had wanted.

The story was well told. It reminded me of a book by Chinua Achebe called "Things Fall Apart." Not that the setting or anything like that has much similarity. But rather that one character of a somewhat wild character is brought through the metamorphosis of the world in which he lives.

Maxwell's Demon, Ken Liu

Racism, prejudice, have been dirty words for a long time. Though, these days, it seems to be less dirty to me. I see them both all the time. Maybe it's because I'm in a relatively xenophobic culture. I was raised in Canada, which claims to be tolerant of other cultures. However, over-and-over I see evidence to the contrary. Perhaps it is worse in other countries. Certainly, the times I've shown an image of a black person in a classroom only to hear the Korean children call out how ugly the person is, or, in their words, 'Ewwwe!' They openly teach children to hate Japanese people by disguising it in history. In Canadian schools, they do a similar thing using Nazi Germany.

In WWII, Canada and the US put thousands of Asians in concentration camps. We stole their worldly possessions, and put them in prisons for being Asians. It wasn't just the Japanese, with whom we were at war, who were sent to prisons for being Japanese. But there were also the Chinese. For a little history: if not for the Chinese, Canada would not exist at all. Building the railroad coast-to-coast was necessary for confederation. It was a contract between provinces and the federal government. If there had been no railroad, there would have been no Canada. Building the railroad through British Columbia was extremely dangerous. Indeed, there is an expression that says that there is one dead Chinaman for every kilometer of railroad through BC. Their hard work brought the country together. And, how did Canada repay that sacrifice? They were put into concentration camps, despite the fact that China was also at war with Japan.

Well, this story starts off with a Japanese family in an American concentration camp. An intelligent girl is threatened by one of the keepers that if she does not help them as a spy in Japan, her family would be treated like traitors to the country. She accepts her mission after some coercion in order to protect her family. While she is in Japan, she discovers that she has a spiritual link to Okinawa. She can commune with the spirits. The Japanese scientist in charge of the research in Okinawa tells her that she needs to have those spirits separate cold atoms from hot ones. In essence, creating an engine that requires no energy.

She does what she is told, and reports her situation to the Americans. However, towards the end, as Japan is losing the battle in Okinawa, she manages to escape to the American military. However, they mistaking her for a Japanese citizen, shoot her.

This story brings some attention to the horrors of war, the terrible way in which Asians were treated in America. These are good things. The story is well told and enjoyable.

Scrap Dragon, Naomi Kritzer

This story is like a bedtime story told by a parent to a child off the top of her head. The child interrupts at certain parts to object to something--ie., dragons are not all bad. or, the princess can't die., or the princess shouldn't have to marry the rescuer. In essence, it's a modified princess and dragon story made politically correct.

I am not particularly fond of this story. It was not all that well told. At best, it might be seen as a critical look into the princess/dragon story. But, it's neither entertaining nor all that academic (which is what I expect from a critical look into literature.)

In the Trenches, Michael Alexander

This is the second story set in a world war. The second was set in WWII, this one is in WWI.

The perspective is from that of a Nazi German soldier. He is not a bad guy. He's a soldier, much like any soldier on the front line. It is going very badly for him. He's out of food. He hasn't had a rest in years. He cannot remember the last time he had bathed. Soon, the war will be lost entirely.

His position in the trenches is about to be compromised. They are being bombarded. When they are hit, he tries to kill a rat. Apparently he hates rats. They come out from everywhere and bite everything when that happens. In trying to hit one, he actually hits a kobold. The kobold actually saves the narrator and brings him face-to-face with a French enemy. However, instead of killing his enemy, they quickly become friends deep within the kobold tunnels. The Frenchman, however, is dying.

They share some food, have a conversation, then the Frenchman dies. The narrator is offered the ability to become a kobold, and immortal, but he does not like the idea. So, he returns to the surface. There, he sees his old friend, grinning at him, but he does not realize that his friend is dead.

This story explores the aspect of war where the people, most of them at least, who are responsible for the war, are not in the trenches fighting. Those who are fighting are more likely to be friends than enemies. I don't know how true that is. The people of Germany were pretty enthusiastic about their war. I'm sure that there were many on both sides who would see just their bloodlust. But, one never knows. In the world of fantasy and kobolds, perhaps it's not so simple.

Canto MCML, Lewis Shiner

I'm not really sure what this story is doing in this magazine. It seems like nothing more than an ex-girlfriend sending strange messages to a current girlfriend. The boyfriend talks to the ex-girlfriend and gets her to move on. If there's something more to it than that, then please let me know.

I really don't know what it's doing in this issue. It just doesn't seem like either fantasy or science fiction.

Conclusion

This issue of Fantasy and Science Fiction is good. But, it's not as good as the last one. There were no novellas in this. Just a number of novelettes and short stories. Some of the stories were good, but I think they should have had a novella in it. After suffering from several magazines which were terrible to navigate in, I really appreciate what they've done with this magazine. Perhaps in the world of paper magazines, such things are not so important. But in a digital rag, it's really important. The bad ones really make you appreciate the good ones.