This edition I finished reading about two or so weeks ago. However, my rigorous schedule, these past few weeks, has inhibited my blogging. I have been reading in the wee hours before work, but haven't managed to instigate a writing session at that time yet.
In any case, this edition of Fantasy and Science Fiction consists of one novella, four novellets, and four short stories. All told, it's around 79k words. I thought May's edition was much better than the one before it. There were still a few poor pieces, but this time they were in the short stories section rather than infecting all sections.
Maze of Shadows, Fred Chappell
This was a fun piece of fantasy. The style that Chappell employed was playful and consistent. The prose was often mixed with colourful metaphors and similes. By way of example, Chappell writes of an inconsequential character, "She ... was pale as the winter moon."
Shadows play a larger than real life role in this story. They may be stolen or sold. They play a role with its caster. If someone loses their shadow, then it can cause some meddlesome problems. In fact, one of the main roles that shadows play in this fiction is that of deceiving the eye. The story is told in first person with the narrator being a shadow placer. He takes shadows from other things to make the evening appear differently than they really are. So, one sees stairs where there are none, or a pathway when in fact it's a precipice that eventually leads to his client's demise. The idea is that potential thieves will harm themselves and never find the treasure that they're after. This would normally work, but in this instance, a blind man who can see no shadow at all foils the false shadows that the narrator and his partner lay about the home.
Cats also play an interesting role in the story. The narrator's side-kick (Mutano), for instance, had his voice taken from him by the cat which patrols the night, a guard in its own right. Sunbolt, the owner of the stolen voice, makes limited use of this command over a human language, saving it for the end in a fight for his life. Mutano's effort to recapture his voice is an interesting subplot, in fact. Cats are given human-like intelligence and highly valued for it, but remain slaves to the human race to be bought and sold according to its value. Mutano, on the other hand, can speak and comprehend the language of the cats. It is only after a particularly valuable and, to Sunbolt, an extremely attractive cat, is offered in exchange for the voice that it gives back to Mutano his voice.
I think that this story has a lot of unique characteristics, an interesting voice, and a pair of plots, which were highly enjoyable to read. Of the stories in this edition of Fantasy and Science Fiction, I thought it was the best.
Liberty's Daughter, Naomi Kritzer
This is another story told in first person. It is a light piece, resembling detective fiction. The main character is a young girl, perhaps adolescent or a young teen, who makes extra money by finding things for people.
The setting is a big part of the plot. It is on a floating man-made island which is governed by several different styles of governments. They range between anarchy and semi-anarchy. They wanted to be free, and so they are free. However, in these states has evolved several classes of people. It is when the narrator is asked to locate a person who has gone missing that the plot to the story is revealed.
The detective is an untouchable due to her father's status. She is therefore able to go about her mission with little to no restraint. She discovers that there are some people selling their organs in exchange for expensive treatments by bonding themselves to jobs that no one will do. She even manages to rescue Lynn Miller from the owner of the company, only to watch her willingly go back into a new contract.
There is one thing that is a little hard to buy in this story. The technology to put such an island together is still quite possibly decades away. We simply haven't created a ship or platform or anything that can withstand the worst that Earth's mother nature can throw at it. To complicate it further, making enormous floating cities would pose problems since there are physical limitations that we face today which may or may not be overcome in the next century. And yet the culture has a hard time acquiring physical goods, like shoe laces, shoes, types of food, etc. The reason I find such a thing funny is because we are on the verge of replicator like technology where a 3D printer ought to be able to make a pair of plastic shoelaces and the many other widgets that people living on the island need or want. I wouldn't be surprised if, in the next 10 years, 3D printers become somewhat ubiquitous either at home or professional shops.
But, a part of enjoying fiction has to be the ability to suspend disbelief.
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