Category: Reviews

Review: Hugo Short Story Nominees

written by David Steffen

And here it is my favorite category of my favorite SF award, the Hugo Award for Short Story. Another smaller batch this year because the Hugo rules require the nominees to have a minimum of 5% of the total nomination ballot. On the one hand, it’s great that there are so many great short stories being published every year that the nominating vote is spread that thin. On the other hand, I want more stories and it’s disappointing to have less stories to read just because there are more great stories out there this year than ever based on an arbitrary percentage threshold.

Neil Clarke, editor of Clarkesworld, has posted an editorial suggesting that the rule be changed to encourage more short stories to end up on the ballot in the face of increasing Hugo voters. Personally, I would love to see that rule changed. My preference would be to allow the top 5 and count any ties for 5th place as nominees. A too-large ballot can be detrimental if you’re using a simple voting scheme where each voter picks only one story–two stories by one author will self-compete and if people’s first and second choices are very close in their mind there would be no way for them to support both. But the Hugo Awards use an instant runoff scheme where you can rank all the stories in the order that you like them, so if your favorite gets eliminated your vote will still support your second favorite, and so on.

The rules can change if people get involved and raise their voice about what they want. A few years ago, Neil Clarke was a major voice in saving the SemiProZine category by helping people understand the value in the award, and this can be the same.

Now that we have that out of the way, let’s go on to the stories!

 

1. “The Water That Falls on You from Nowhere”, John Chu (Tor.com, 02-2013)
A few years ago, the world inexplicably changed so that any lie you utter would be met with a downpour of cold water that falls from nowhere combined with a feeling of angst, both proportional to the audacity of your lie. These effects can only be counteracted by saying something unequivocal. You can avoid saying the truth and you can mislead as long as you don’t utter something that can’t be untrue. The protagonist Matt is gay and has managed to avoid coming out to his traditional-minded Chinese parents for years. Now Matt and his boyfriend Gus have decided they want to get married, and Matt needs to break the news to his parents, over his sister’s objections.

At first I thought the speculative element of the water was more than a bit corny. But the story doesn’t make a joke of this concept and runs with it. As with the best speculative fiction, it’s not about the speculative element. It’s about how that element allows us to look at the real world through the lens of the speculative. This story did an excellent job of that. It’s a great story, well told, and I highly recommend it. Easy choice in this category.

 

2. “The Ink Readers of Doi Saket”, Thomas Olde Heuvelt (Tor.com, 04-2013)
“People send their dreams and wishes floating down the Mae Ping River with the hope that those dreams will be captured, read and come true. It is a surprise what some wish for and why. One can never know what’s inside someone’s heart,what they really truly want, and those dreams sometimes reveal our true selves.”

This is the introduction before the story starts, and the story is exactly what is described by those few sentences. The story starts by explaining the wishes of a bunch of people that are cast into the river, and then as the story plays out it’s shown how those wishes are granted, not always in a straightforward fashion. Young Tangmoo dies in the opening paragraphs, drowned in that same river, and the story rolls back to reveal his wish and the wishes of others.

This was an interesting thought experiment about how one must be careful what one wishes for, but to me it never really extended beyond a thought experiment. Some of the turns of phrase were interesting and strange and definitely lent something to the story. But in the end I just was never really connected with it, and the concept itself was also not something new to me. Not bad by any means, but easily forgettable.

 

3. “If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love”, Rachel Swirsky (Apex Magazine, Mar-2013)
This story starts out with the whimsical hypothetical in the title, as spoken by a woman to a friend she loves dearly, and continues on to give real life reasons why she is pondering this whimsy.

The characters read as real once the story got to the story, but I found all the hypotheticals more irritating than entertaining or illuminating. If A, then B. If B, then C. If C, then D. A story this short shouldn’t feel too long, but to me it did. Eventually the story gets to the actual story behind the hypotheticals, but by that time I was just impatient for it to be over.

 

4. “Selkie Stories Are for Losers”, Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons, Jan-2013)
A girl’s mother leaves her family behind. The girl thinks the circumstances imply that her mother is a selkie (a mythical shapeshifting creature that could turn into a seal by pulling on her sealskin, but would be trapped in human form if that skin was stolen).

Most of the body of the story is the girl criticizing the tropes of selkie stories, which I wasn’t very interested in, partly because I haven’t seen enough selkie stories to really say whether her tropes are actually accurate or not. While some of the circumstances of her mother leaving match a selkie story, I didn’t see any really strong evidence that that was the case, so it just seemed to be a story about a neurotic fixation caused by family trauma. The family trauma, perhaps I should’ve felt moved by, but it happened before the story started, and rather than confront the real situation she spends all of her time obsessing about selkie stories.

Not my thing, I guess.

Review: The Very Best of Tad Williams

written by David Steffen

Tad Williams is the well-known and talented SF author who wrote such well known works as TailChaser’s Song, the Otherland series, and the Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn series. Most people know him best for his novels, but what many people don’t know is that he is also a master of the short story form. Many writers have a strong tendency toward one or the other, but Tad Williams tackles both with equal aplomb.

If you want to check out some of Tad’s short story work, there’s no better place than The Very Best of Tad Williams, out this week from Tachyon Publications. It is comprised of eleven short stories written by Williams, one of them in a screenplay format. To get a sample of what’s in the book, you can check out StarShipSofa’s audio adaptation of Child of an Ancient City, which is one of the stories that appears in this volume.

My favorite in the bunch were:

The Storm Door
A paranormal investigator has been looking into an unrecedented increase in ghostly posessions by the dead. At the beginning the story seemed very familiar, but stick with it, it didn’t go where I expected.

The Stranger’s Hand
A strange pair of vagrants wander into town, one of them a mute with the ability to give anyone their heart’s desire. soon people are coming to the town from many miles around to visit the mute stranger. But who are they? What do they want?

Black Sunshine
This is the lone screenplay in the bunch. I’m not used to reading screenplays so I admit the format took a little bit of getting used to. This is a story told in two times–a group of kids going through a traumatic experience and those same people grown up coming back to their hometown to confront their past. Solid story. I’d like to see the movie if it’s been filmed.

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Daily Science Fiction December 2013 Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

 

The Key To El-Carim’s Heart by Henry Szabranski (debut 12/2/14 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a dark tale about a king who falls in love, only to be spurned. He locks his heart away behind an encrypted firewall. Free to act without regret, the world falls before him.

I appreciated the emotion of this story, despite it being about a lack thereof in Carim. However, I found the clash of medieval imagery with computer technology difficult to reconcile.

Read this is you’re looking for a no-holds-barred, bleak but well executed story.

 

Lucky Cherry Luck by Kailyn McCaord (debut 12/3 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is the epitome of speculative fiction. The premise: a girl, with a mysterious yet subtle power to grant good luck by infusing it into sugary cherries, works at a canning factory where she can surreptitiously put them in cans to be sent to the rest of the world.

Much of the story’s (delightful) tension comes from the big brother-like conditions within the factory, and Jolene’s ability to get these lucky cherries inside a can. I was slightly confused by the author’s meaning within the final paragraph, what she imagines the future will bring. However the theme of the story seemed clear to me. If I’m correct, it’s that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 

A couple says their goodbyes in Patchwork Blouse by James E Guin (debut 12/4 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is a woman who is spending her last day with the love of her life. Her man is one of the first settlers to Mars. A shopping trip is how they spend the last of their time together.

“Patchwork” is a tale of separation. The story is unraveled much like a war story , woman saying goodbye to her soldier as he leaves for war. A familiar premise.

 

A hero is a kiss away from breaking a curse. Asleep by Jeremy Minton (debut 12/5 and reviewed by Frank D) is a tale of a would-be rescuer. Ralph has accompanied his friend, Tom, to Sleeping Beauty’s palace. Tom fell yards from the prize, done in by a last ring of poison thorns. It is up to Ralph to finish the deed, but death and decay fill this place, which ruins the mood for him.

“Asleep” is a tale of destiny. The destiny of this tale, however, is not meant for the protagonist. Ralph had gone along for the journey, but weighs whether the prize at the end of the destination is worth the price paid.

 

A warrior withdraws from society. Sabi, Wabi, Aware, Yugen by Sam J Miller (debut 12/6 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a revolutionary who cannot live with the horrors he has done. Malcom was one of the downtrodden, a poor citizen fighting against the might of the growing power of multi-national corporations. His desire to escape his past led him into a Buddhist monastery but his water-bending nanomites are still a part of him. A warrior like himself can’t hide forever.

“Sabi” is a tale of reflection and forgiveness. Malcom wishes to forget the evil he has done. His teacher’s goal is to guide him on a path that will not undo his evil, but embrace an existence where his past will be irrelevant, thus erasing the guilt that has consumed him. Running away has not solved anything for Malcom. The truth is what has eluded him and it may still catch up to him yet.

“Sabi” is set in the backdrop of a horrible war. The story has a twist that was unexpected to the protagonist and reader alike. The horror and expectations for what he had done don’t quite pan out for Malcom. For a man who sought enlightenment, running away from his past may be the thing that stands in his way all along. The tale serves as an object lesson for those who chose to hide rather than face their own sins. War does indeed bring out the worse in all of us, but hiding from the truth is never the way to deal with your own crime.

A good story.

 

The first time traveler is the last to appear in Time to go Home by Stephen R. Persing (debut 12/9 and reviewed by Frank D). Ward has traveled into the far future. Millions of years has changed humanity beyond recognition. Twenty time-traveling expeditions have all ended at this point of history. The inhabitants of this future have all decided to be caretakers of these people from the past, imprisoning them in a virtual reality. Ward wants no part of it, wishing only to return home.

“Time” is a tale of false perception. The people of the future have made their world where the virtual is the reality. Ward is told that he can’t go back, the limitations of time travel have deemed it impossible but he wishes to try anyway, asking if he can pursue further along the time in hopes of a future breakthrough that will allow him to go home.

“Time” is a story of competing premises. The tale is half The Time Machine and half Matrix. This story of uncertain perspectives leaves the reader with an uncertain finale. I would have liked a more defined outcome, but I think uncertainty was the point of the piece.

 

A teenage boy resents the winged reptile companions of his tribe. The Clasp by Jarod K. Anderson (debut 12/10 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a boy eager to break away from his tribe. The reptiles, who he refers to as The Swoons, are a symbol of freedom that alludes him. He has come to hate them. He is determined to climb down the butte and brave an unfamiliar world to escape them and his tribe.

“The Clasp” is a tale that serves as a suitable metaphor for the growing pains many young men experience as they ascend into adulthood. The protagonist is filled with nothing but irrational hatred for the Swoons, but the reptiles appear to be indifferent to his people and him. He later learns that just because they choose to not interfere doesn’t mean that they are as indifferent as they appear.

“The Clasp” is a short tale that is long on meaning. The point of the tale was not lost on me. It could have been done in a much longer format but Mr Anderson’s telling in this small frame of a narrative did it justice. Well done.

 

An alien species learns about humanity while playing board games with a child. Games by James Valvis (debut 12/11 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a small boy who has found his own ET. He teaches his friend (and the collective the alien is a part of) the competitive nature of board games and the ruthlessness that is required to win.

“Games” leaves the reader with an ominous ending. I would hope the aliens would be aware of the entertaining aspect of games, but the author leads me to believe they don’t.

 

Followers by S.R. Algernon (debut 12/12 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

The game was winding down and Athena was in control. I reveled at my good fortune to have acquired follower rights to her earlier in the year. The midseason injury had diminished her value somewhat, but now in last game of the year, Athena was back to herself leading the team. Seconds were ticking off the clock, slowly the game was moving toward the end. Athena was saving the last shot for herself, fully confident in her ability to win the game. BID FOR MOTOR CONTROL ENTERED – $250,000 bid by Joe Six pack. That was a lot of cash; Joe must have one heck of a day job. BID ACCEPTED. The game paused. “We have an amateur on the court,” the announcer let the crowd know. The intake of air was palpable. The time wound down, the shot was up, and in. But Joe’s shot wasn’t the best of that fateful night.

This is a well told tale in a few lines. The author does a good job of providing both a sense of place and players. Most of all the ending conveys the emotion of what lies beyond the sports venue. Though set in another time and place, it allows us to relate to the present. Well done.

 

Why Woman Turned To Stone by Heather Morris (debut 12/13 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

Tom tried to concentrate on Miss Collingsworth’s flower arranging, but he was distracted by the stone statue under the arbor. “You were bespelled by that ugly statue, weren’t you Mr. Haversham.” She asked. “It is strangely captivating.” He replied. She laughed and related tales of her and her brother “playing” with the stone woman. “You talk like she’s alive,” he said when she wound down. “Of course she’s alive,” Miss Collingsworth replied. “That’s my aunt Hephestia.”

This is a nice little bit of fantasy that explores the subjects of love, loneliness and companionship. The author has done a good job of weaving the story in such a way that it pulls the reader into both the world and the mind of Tom Haversham. The ending is done in such a way as to let us know just how much of his world is beneath the surface of our understanding. This one is well worth the read.

 

A prisoner forms a plan of escape in We Are All But Embers by Gemma Noon (debut 12/16 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is part of a forced labor camp controlled by a drug pumped into his system. His tube fails, allowing his own thoughts to return. He discovers that the guards are lax and tools for their escape are everywhere. All he needs are numbers, and patience.

“We Are” is a straightforward tale of mind control in a forced labor camp. We see the origins of a breakout. The story has shades of several different classic tales written before.

 

A Tower of Babel crisis has an odd effect on a crumbling relationship in Silence by Lydia Waldman (debut 12/17 and reviewed by Frank D). Language, and the ability to understand each other, is disintegrating. Newscasts are become incomprehensible. Soon, even the written language will become gibberish. Society is bracing for an uncertain future. For a couple that has been drifting apart, the shared anxiety is an opportunity to draw closer together.

“Silence” is a story of need overcoming familiarity. The protagonist and her husband have all but abandoned communicating with each other long before the crisis developed. Their deteriorating relationship has them uniquely prepared for this tragedy.

I liked the novelty of this piece but I confess, it didn’t speak to me as it should have.

 

A cloning specialist replaces his daughter’s pet in Goldfish by Elizabeth Archer (debut 12/18 and reviewed by Frank D). Nala doesn’t think their daughter, Malala, will buy the copy of Gibba her father, Adan, created for her. Nala’s motherly instinct knows that Malala will be able to tell the difference. She doesn’t believe the seven-year old is ready to handle the notion of death and worries the little girl will have a relapse when the news hits her. It had been 3 years since her accident, and death may be too much for a girl who came so close to experiencing it for herself.

“Goldfish” is a tale of acceptance. There is an underlying issue that the accident affected Nala more than it did her daughter. Adan tells Malala that death is a part of life, and that their daughter may benefit from the experience.

This tale takes a twist that I found delightful. It is a story that fits very well in the short, sharp, themes that DSF loves to bring to our email inbox’s. Not my favorite tale, but worthy of my recommendation.

Recommended.

 

Two lovers meet under a total eclipse in Totality by Tony Pisculli (debut 12/19 and reviewed by Frank D). While the protagonist catches a solar eclipse in Munich, he spies two lovers who find each other under the shadow of the moon. Their encounter is brief, lasting only the few minutes of the eclipses life, before the woman disappears before the sun’s light.

“Totality” is a tale of commitment. The woman exists only in the shadow of the eclipse. The protagonist becomes obsessed by the pair and seeks them out, chasing each eclipse.

I found the tale too brief to be sweet, and too short in material to be compelling.

 

A conscripted man and his dog make a formidable team. In Tommy and the Beast by Bud Sparhawk (debut 12/20 and reviewed by Frank D) the protagonist is a sheepherder throw into the meat grinder of an interstellar war. The only one to survive his first battle, he is given a dog as a partner and names him Tommy. The pair can communicate better than any human couple, each complimenting the others strength while watching the other’s back. Tommy and his master are deadly to the enemy. Then the day comes when the pair are confronted by an alien team every bit as formidable as they are, and a third antagonist that will bring enemies together in a final stand.

“Tommy” is a boy and his dog story with a bit of Buck Rodgers mixed in. Tommy and his master learned to rely on the other’s cues. With his loyal companions help, the protagonist is transformed from a quiet sheepherder into a professional soldier. The tale’s climax gives way to a twist at its end, giving this companion tale an extra dimension.

“Tommy and the Beast” has a familiar, yet old, feel to it. Like many sci-fi tales written in the height of the Cold War, the story is an ‘us vs them’ military theme. Mr. Sparhawk spent a good deal of effort showing his protagonist in the thick of battle , a not bad effort at that. However, I found the stories opening needlessly long and thought the ending dragged on longer than it needed to be. That being said, the Space Westerns that were once so prevalent in sci-fi are becoming a rare finds these days.

 

A soldier is confronted by a desperate girl. The Decent Thing by Dex Fernandez (debut 12/23 and reviewed by Frank D) tells the tale of a battle harden soldier coping in a war ravaged land. He just shot a revolver-holding woman who killed his buddy, leaving the cold-eyed little girl standing next to her, all alone. The little girl’s next words shock him more than the sight of the two dead people lying before him.

“The Decent Thing” is a tale of devastation. This short story brings the effect of war on the civilians. Survival has left the small child in an automated state. Her eyes and words show how soulless she has become. The appalling opening and following storyline is a set up for a shocking finale. If you were looking to capture the real horrors of war in a flash length tale, this story is the one for you.

 

A young girl values her security. In a Highest Possible Setting by Em Dupre (debut 12/24 and reviewed by Frank D) the protagonist is a single woman who works on the dangerous streets of an unidentified city. She has the latest in protection software uploaded in her brain. Sentinel will help her, calculating the safest routes, cataloguing suspicious faces, and preparing her for the worst. Sentinel will guarantee that she will be safe, and who needs a social life when you can have complete security.

“Highest Possible” is a tale of paranoia. The software implanted in the protagonists skull, is designed for one purpose , lessen the customer’s chances of become a victim of violence. I found this tale to be visionary. The likelihood of such a product becoming available to the public is all but guaranteed, in my view, and the author accurately predicts the downfalls of its usage.

A perceptive work of science fiction.

Recommended

 

Miracles can happen even for the undead. The Christmas Zombie by Marissa James (debut 12/25 and reviewed by Frank D) is the story of an adolescent turned zombie named Grrg. His undead parents have done their best to care for their family. The alive neighbors have struck a truce with them, even feeding them dog food to keep them satisfied. Fresh kills have become rare and Grrg hadn’t a real meal since the Christmas Zombie brought them live meat last year. Times are getting tough but Grrg believes in the Christmas Zombie, and hopes he’ll deliver another fresh meal to them this year.

This silly story is a demented tale of hope. Aptly debuted on Christmas, Grrg has faith in the mythical creature. Is he real? Or is the urge to believe too important to abandon?

A funny message piece.

 

The evolution of a role model is examined in Child Soldier by J.W. Alden (debut 12/26 and reviewed by Frank D). A shunned soldier stops in at a restaurant. The once patriotic war he fights is now something the public sooner forget. Most avert their eyes from the protagonist but a young child looks up to him with admiration. The child can’t wait to grow up so he can go to the stars and kill bad guys too. The protagonist knows humanity doesn’t need future warriors. He’s fighting for something more profound.

“Child Soldier” is a tale of hope. The author draws upon the experiences of his family and how society has looked upon the soldier in past wars. The protagonist is looked down on by the citizens. He is a reminder of a past and present that most would like to forget. The young child, who immediately sees him as a hero, represents a future the protagonist is fighting for.

“Child Soldier” is satisfactorily profound for the message the author was attempting to convey. The soldier hasn’t forgotten what is important and why he chose to join the military. The young boy who salutes him just wants to help. The protagonist steers him in a direction where he can. Nice job.

 

A tale of a mixed marriage is the theme of The Dragon and the Bond by Mari Ness (debut 12/27 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is a local villager who has been wedded to a dragon. The dragon needs her heart, but he can wait. The two need time to grow into each other. For a pair so unlike, they discover they have more to share than anyone could have imagined.

“The Dragon” is a story about relationships. The dragon will take her heart one day, and nothing will change that. She is left to live her life until the time they are ready. It will take time, but while they wait, the protagonist discovers that such a hard and sharp creature has a soft side indeed.

There is a lesson in this odd tale. Despite their differences, the two gradually start to understand each other. There is a fondness between them that is the sweet to a sour eventuality. The tale reminds me of marriages that are arranged; strangers that learned to first respect then love each other. Although I didn’t see the need for them to be married, I didn’t miss the metaphor of the protagonist giving her heart to her husband.

 

A necessary but thankless job is told in this confession of a 21st Century Dragonslayer’s Lament by Susan E. Connolly (debut 12/30 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist is a veterinarian. Dragons, thanks to enhanced genetic manipulation, are now a reality. Many have become abandoned, abused, and neglected. It is the protagonist’s job to fix this growing problem.

“Dragonslayer” is an anti-hero tale. As we do with stray and abused pets, the slayer of this story is preforming a distasteful task. The slayer’s job is the opposite of the romantic tales of knights defending the countryside against monsters. Instead, the monsters are the irresponsible people who disregard their commitment to care for them.

The tale serves as a commentary on how we treat our loyal companions in our society.

 

Fairy tale endings aren’t always what they’re cracked up to be. And Silver Foundations, Mud by Lisa Nohealani Morton (debut 12/31 and reviewed by Frank D) is a tale set inside the premise of Sleeping Beauty. The princess awakes but her hero is nowhere to be found. The kingdom rejoices and the king is ready to wed his daughter off to a worthy prince. The beauty is less than enthused. She has come to miss her walls of thorns and brambles. The good and justice philosophy of her people has lost its luster. It may be time for a change.

The Sleeping Beauty fairy tale is perhaps the most popular of the Daily SF staff. A lot of tales on the subject have been reviewed here. This one didn’t strike me as a particularly original one, but it is one of its darker variety. A different ending.

 

Three Degrees of Separation

In my closing comments for my June 2013 review that debut on September 16th of last year, I noted Dr Stephen Gordon’s announcement that he would no longer review Daily SF on his daily blog Songs of Eretz. Dr Gordon was the only other committed reviewer who tackled the task of reading, reviewing, and sharing his views on the daily speculative fiction email publication. For a full year he commented on each story that was published but said he would no longer do so. We shared our disappointment with you on his decision, shared his opinions on the stories the Diabolical Plots staff had published in DSF, and made a public offer to the good doctor that he could continue to review DSF on a limited basis for us here at DP. I learned two things after my proposal to Dr Gordon†¦

1) The good doctor doesn’t read Diabolical Plots.

2) But a lot more of you than I ever suspected, do

On October 13th, Dr Gordon made this little announcement on passing an impressive milestone for his ezine†¦

I am pleased to announce that Songs of Eretz recently passed 50,000 views. Even more significant is the geometric explosion of views–11,000 of the 50,000 occurred in the month of September 2013 alone! One day in September, there were over 1,000 views in a single day!

Stephen never said which day marked the big explosion of viewers, but if I were to guess, I would say it was the day the editors of Daily Science Fiction posted a link to our review (which is usually around a week after we post it).

So let me first say to all of you, thank you for reading our reviews. It really means a lot to us. Dr Gordon never mentioned the anomaly again. I would like to ask you two favors, if I may. Give Dr Gordon’s splendid ezine another visit and when he comments on the mysterious spike of viewers , and of the odd attraction to a 6 month old post , don’t clue him on why.

 

The SubmissionQ Grinder is very pleased to announce that the Letter Q has renewed its sponsorship of the writer’s submission guide. Despite the Letter X’s offer to triple Q’s contributions, the staff at the Grinder elected to stick with 17th letter of the alphabet. As SG management stated in a company memo†¦

†¦Q has been with us right from the start, and although we appreciate X’s outstanding offer, being tied to such a salacious and scandalous consonant does not represent the image we envision for the Submission Grinder

So we at Diabolical Plots welcome a return to our partnership with Q as the sole sponsors for the fastest growing writer’s guide website in the industry. It is an honor to be associated with a letter that has supported Her Majesty’s top weapons specialist at the highly classified M spy network for years, as well as lending itself to a superior futuristic multi-dimensional being whose sole purpose is to irritate Star Fleet captains.

Anime Review: Samurai Flamenco

written by Laurie Tom

Samurai Flamenco is a send-up/meta-commentary of the Japanese superhero genre, particularly the various Super Sentai series, which Americans have mostly been exposed to in the form of Power Rangers.

Twenty-year-old Masayoshi Hazama grew up idolizing the televised superheroes of his childhood, so much so that even into adulthood he never gave up his dream of becoming a hero. He lives in a world much like ours, where criminals are handled by the police; a world that doesn’t have or need superheroes. But Masayoshi isn’t like normal people.

He has an uncompromising sense of morality and in his homemade costume as Samurai Flamenco, he decides to make the world a better place, even if it’s just as simple as getting someone to stop littering.

His first attempt at being a hero is downright miserable (Batman he is not), but fortunately he soon meets Hidenori Goto, a jaded policeman a few years older than him. At first all they have in common is a fondness for childhood superhero shows, but as time passes, Goto starts to help out Masayoshi as he gets in over his head. As a vigilante, it helps to have a friend on the police force, and for the audience Goto serves as the straight man to antics that only Masayoshi could possibly take seriously.

Eventually Masayoshi makes allies, rivals, and even enemies. During episode 7 the show takes a huge right turn that is completely crazy and runs against everything that had been set up about how the world works, but it’s just so damn good and completely in the spirit of the show that it’s hard not to just roll with it. Episode 7 is really what sets the tone of the rest to follow.

Once the real spirit of the show reveals itself Samurai Flamenco runs fast and furious, barely stopping to take a breath. Like in a TV series, the hero defeats one enemy only for another to appear, but it does what would be 5-6 seasons in another show in just two (and it works!). There was one point where I wondered just how the hell the series could possibly wrap up in the wake of ever escalating adversaries, but wrap up it does, and it does it in the unexpected and completely off-beat manner that the show has been displaying its entire run.

Samurai Flamenco manages a neat balancing act between the laughs and the drama, sometimes even juggling both in the exact same scene, with a couple teary-eyed moments I just wasn’t expecting.

That said though, this is a series I find difficult to recommend, since so much of the humor hinges around Japanese superheroes. If you watched Power Rangers as a kid and know a little bit about its Super Sentai origins, or if you happen to be a fan of the American comic Kick-Ass, I’d say this is worth giving a shot, but it’s probably too bizarre to be someone’s intro to anime.

Otherwise, if you’re an anime fan looking for something new, there really isn’t anything else like Samurai Flamenco.

Lasting 22 episodes, Samurai Flamenco recently finished its run with the end of the winter 2014 anime season.

Pluses: commentary on the staples of Japanese superheroes is hilarious, story never loses sight of itself, clear that the creative staff loved what they were doing

Minuses: takes a few episodes to get to the real plot, most of the villains don’t last long enough to make an impact, very niche appeal

Samurai Flamenco is currently streaming at CrunchyRoll and is available subtitled. Aniplex of America has licensed this for eventual retail distribution in the US.

 

laurietom

Laurie Tom is a fantasy and science fiction writer based in southern California. Since she was a kid she has considered books, video games, and anime in roughly equal portions to be her primary source of entertainment. Laurie is a previous grand prize winner of Writers of the Future and since then her work has been published inGalaxy’s Edge, Penumbra, and Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction.

 

Daily Science Fiction November 2013 Review

written by Frank Dutkiewicz

The Wrong Foot by Stephanie Burgis (debut 11/1 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) is a fun and lively twist on the Cinderella tale. The initial premise exploring why the prince would need a shoe to fit instead of looking into the eyes of the woman he danced with, is quite clever (and true!)

Initially, “The Wrong Foot” follows Cinderella somewhat closely with too much humor, but as the tale continues this story begins to distinguish itself as its own tale – which is to be expected given where Cinderella ends. But what if the prince found the wrong girl (based solely on the slipper)? Would she even want to get married? Read for yourself to find out.

 

Wolf, or Faith in the Future by Michelle Ann King (debut 11/4 and reviewed by Dustin Adams) reminds me of a condensed version of The Bicentennial Man by Asimov. This story isn’t a typical story but more of a focus on two items that change over a long, undefined period of time: a dog and the weather.

The author notes, in this case, may be worth reading prior to the story as they could give a better appreciation for the meaning of the tale. The story is good but I feel it suffers from being too short. Then again the premise is worthy of a novel so anything less than 300 pages would likely feel too short.

 

The Girl with Flowers for Hair by Elizabeth Shack (debut 11/5 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

Gina paused at Adam’s doorway and took in the room, particularly the crude drawings of a girl with flowers poking out of her head. It had been five years since he disappeared. The police had taken pictures but with no clues the trail had grown cold. She had bought him a new set of colored pencils for his thirteenth birthday just a couple of weeks ago. A silly gesture that Charles had told her to stop; they were both grieving in their own way. A door slammed shut and a voice she could never forget echoed through the empty hallway. “Mom, I’m home.”

This is a nicely told tale of loss and redemption but with a twist. The author does a good job of letting us into the world of Gina and Charles, two parents grieving for a missing child. A sense of loss soon replaced with joy as the missing child returns as if nothing had happened. The fabric of the story is woven well and the ending has a nice little twist. Give this one a read, it’s worth the effort.

 

Just the Facts: A Zombie Story by Cat Rambo (debut 11/6 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)
1. There are Zombies
2. Zombies are not particularly fast. There is even a comic called Late Zombie, where the hero zombie keeps showing up too late to eat the brain.
3. Readership has been declining lately.
4. The author of the comic has decided to visit the zombies, so she has constructed a Plexiglas zombie cage and had it placed in with the zombies.
5. Zombies are really boring.

This is another of the stories that uses a novel approach to presenting the material. I found it interesting and enjoyed the story, but I can see it may not be for everyone either because of format or subject matter. I thought the author did a very good job of building to the surprise conclusion, even though I could see it coming. Read the story and see if you can too.

 

Like Son Like Father by Jed Cole (debut 11/7 and reviewed by James Hanzelka)

I knew Felix was going to be a genius. When he was three he was playing with some garbage. Before the year was out he had built a prototype shelter, a tower that stretched above the oily clouds and debris left behind in the world. Those few of us left could now survive. Using twine, wood and scrap metal he built a bridge across the L.A. rift that nomad tradesmen still use today, five years later. Every day his huge form rises before dawn and he comes home late every night. But today he has shown me his latest work, one that brought a tear to my eye.

This was a really good story with a major twist at the end. Set in a time of post-apocalyptic Earth among a people trying to survive. One man’s child proves to be the savior of mankind, but is he one of us or something else? One of the best of the year, give it a try.

Recommended.

 

A long distant infatuation becomes an obsession for a reclusive woman in Breva by Nicky Drayden (debut 11/8 and reviewed by Frank D). Dr Gianna Nero is the foremost expert on the sSuryn language. The aliens, survivors of a decimated world, have asked for refuge on Earth in exchange for advanced technology. Their arrival was still forty years away when they first contacted Earth. An awkward young student, Gianna quickly picked up on the sSuryn emissary’s (named Breva) inflections and complicated speech until she alone understood all his nuances. The close attachment with Breva turns into an attraction. Anticipation and anxiety grows in Gianna as the sSuryn ships arrival nears, then disaster strikes. The alien ship is adrift and they need help.

“Breva” is a tale of fixation. Gianna is a girl who is an introvert. Breva serves as her online dream man, an ultimate outsider and loner. She is truly the only person in the world that understands him, leading to an odd fantasy she concocts in her imagination. As the day of Breva’s arrival nears, anxiety on her aging appearance and uncertain reception of their first meeting consumes her. All of that goes out the window when the alien ship suddenly goes silent with only a brief call for help as a last message.

“Breva” is told in staggered flashbacks at different points of Gianna’s life. They show a young Gianna as an odd bird trying to fit in at the university when the sSuryn are first discovered, to an early thirties scholar who has surpassed her boss as Breva’s interpreter, to the older expert who is threatened by a younger aide who is exceeding her understanding of sSuryn. The tale is rolled out like a mini epic. Gianna is a mirrored opposite of Ulysses, the monsters she battles are internal and the longing she experiences is not for home but for the adventurous beyond with a man who can never really be compatible. The story’s arc is a twist and its finale is an unexpected conclusion.

I found “Breva” to be an entertaining read. It read quicker than its long short story designation. It is a good work of sci-fi of an odd woman who falls into an odd relationship cultivating into an odd finale. How oddly natural.

 

An instructional guide on how to handle first contact with unknown aliens is the premise of Guidelines for First Contact in Simplified Technical English by Jetse de Vries (debut 11/11 and reviewed by Frank D). This detailed directive covers all eventualities, from the benign to the malevolent. If it doesn’t help, you never had a shot anyway.

This tongue-in-cheek offering is clever and thorough, a very well done work of humor.

 

A fallen god plies a new trade in The Book of Love by Michael Haynes (debut 11/12 and reviewed by Frank D). Angus is a drifter, frequenting bars and taverns as he travels. He carries around a magical book. In it, words about love become true. Pete, Angus’s latest customer is suspicious but agrees to pay the former god’s asking price.

Mike Haynes is a writer who never fails to impress me. Angus’s magic is real but he still comes off as a charlatan. He hesitates with Pete but the man agreed to his double-the-price offer immediately. The tale has a sweet twist at the end. Worth the read.

 

A queen is focused and determined to complete The Machine by Sean Robinson (debut 11/13 and reviewed by Frank D). She is the Mistress of Science and her machine is the pinnacle of her achievement. Nothing will stand in her way to complete it. She can’t be bothered by minor matters like a collapse of the environment. Nor will she let anyone stop her, not even her husband. He will help her, one way or another.

“The Machine” is a disturbing look on obsession. It is the only thing that matters to her. My only objection to this piece is I had no idea what the purpose of the machine was.

 

Life goes on, even when a part of you has died. Die for You by Alex Gorman (debut 11/14 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of a married couple after an alien invasion. Much has changed, including their relationship.

“Die for You” is the aftermath of a cowardly man. He had let his wife down, and can never regain her respect again. A hard but good tale.

 

The stories Kirk tells during bath time take on a life of their own. From Tuesday to Tuesday by Peter M Ball (debut 11/15 and reviewed by Frank D) is the tale of two people existing in their own bubble of a relationship. Every Tuesday, Deanna takes a bath and begs for a story from her boyfriend. Kirk’s stories have an unintended consequence of altering reality. His life changes the next morning – a new profession, a change in scenery, and a different Deanna , for the entire week.

“From Tuesday” is a tale of regret. Kirk tires of the Tuesday changes, and has vowed to never tell another tale again, but Deanna has a way of pulling a new one out of him. The relationship the two have is a dysfunctional one. They are two dysfunctional people caught in a dysfunctional, yet changing, reality. I am frankly puzzled why the two remained together. Kirk frequently reminds himself that he does not love her. Deanna’s own words make it clear she has little respect for him. Much of the tale is less about the different reality that faces Kirk after the Tuesday’s, but of the odd dynamic about the two.

The underlying message in this piece of two people who are caught in a relationship stuck in an endless loop regret. I believe the tale serves as a metaphor for relationships that are bounded by familiarity rather than compatibility. I have a simple solution for their dilemma: seek counseling.

 

The protagonist reflects on When The World was Full of People by Patricia Russo (debut 11/18 and reviewed by Frank D). A familiar face is seen across the street. A man who looks like the protagonist’s brother is loading large bottles of water. He plans to plant a flower the protagonists knows doesn’t exist. But plant he does, and grow they do.

“When The World” is tale of reflection. I confess, the point of the piece was lost on me.

 

The old Omega meets the new Alpha in The First Stone by Wren Wallis (debut 11/19 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist’s ex, hands him an unassuming stone, the first stone of creation, just as time comes to a stop. Creation is ending and the old creator is passing off the job of a new creation to him. The protagonist is overwhelmed and knows he is underqualified for the task, but knows who is qualified to fill it.

“The First Stone” is a religious themed tale. The protagonist is cast as character who is the wrong person at the right time. I found the ending of this tale predictable.

 

A loyal employee underestimates his worth in Final Inspection by Afalstein JD Kloosterman (debut 11/20 and reviewed by Frank D). Wilfrid is an inspector on an assembly line in an automated factory. He has done the job for decades and seeks retirement. His life has been within the plant for years , company policy on contamination making it impossible for him to leave. He has repeatedly requested a leave but the company has said that they are unable to fill his position. The changing products the line produces makes him wonder , the hospital beds and farming equipment that used to be assembled have given way to advanced weaponry. Just what is going on outside anyway?

“Final Inspection” is a tale of complacency. The unseen management is content with Wilfrid and has no intention of making a change, despite the fact his presence inhibits the functionality of the plant. There is a hint of a ‘Terminator’ type of world out there, but the enclosed environment of the plant keeps Wilfrid in the dark.

Inventive tale. I rather enjoyed it.

 

The devil barters to end a man’s pain in Screwtape by Helen E. Davis (debut 11/21 and reviewed by Frank D). All he offers the man is a favor, vowing to leave his soul untouched. An individual soul is valuable to the devil, but with this one customer, he can accomplish a lot more without his.

Timing matters a lot, and the debut of this tale hinges much on its timing. The story has a nice twist for a finale. Very cleverly done.

 

A girl, a kiss, and an invitation to follow is all it takes for a young man to seek The Patient Stars by Ryan Simko (debut 11/22 and reviewed by Frank D). The protagonist has a chance meeting with the girl of his dreams. She teases him to find her in the emerging settlements of space. Thus begins a desperate game of hide-and-seek.

“The Patient Stars” is a chase. The protagonist is in pursuit, searching entire worlds to find the girl he met in a chance encounter on one lonely night. He travels across the stars, aging slowly as he jumps from world to world. Human civilization grows around him and leaves him behind; an old relic of a long gone age.

“The Patient Stars” is more of future history of the rise of galactic man than it is about one man’s search for a woman. Although I did appreciate the view of our future us, the story never had a destination for the reader.

 

A gladiator is near his freedom in Three is a Sacred Number by Carrie L. Cadwallader (debut 11/23 and reviewed by Frank D). Kloth is a blue skinned alien, champion of 99 bouts. One more and he’ll win his freedom. Only one other has accomplished that feat, and that champion doesn’t want to see his record matched.

“Three” is an alien tale. The hero is a slave forced to fight. He doesn’t savor in the glory but the exercise has made him a hard individual. Interesting tale. It left me intrigued.

 

Your right to exist will be allowed once you can claim that I Have Read the Terms of Use by Kenneth Schneyer (debut 11/26 and reviewed by Frank D).

“I Have Read” is a legal document for those about to be born. A very clinical (and humorous) look if birth was a legal agreement.

 

An endless winter grips two lovers in The World Will End in Fire by K. C. Norton (debut 11/27 and reviewed by Frank D). The world is freezing, and for the protagonist and his wife, staving off the inevitable becomes a pointless exercise. Viva does not want it to end this way and prefers to choose a brilliant way to leave the world.

“The World” is a tale of two people faced with the end of the world. The sun has gone out and whatever warmth is left is quickly evaporating. The story is a small slice of two people’s life in the final act of a greater tragedy.

 

Remembrance in Stone by Amanda C. Davis (debut 11/28 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

Fire is pain and air does not quench it. If Gera had lived to teach her air, she’d be prepared. Instead the runes fell on her shoulders. Gera had taught her water, but even when she enters the sea she is swept away by it. Rolled and tumbled until she is nearly dead, then the sea spits her out as if tired of her presence. She starts a fire that does not warm her, calls a wind that does little to dry her. Finally she wanders back to the house and stares at the rectangle where Gera lays. She wasn’t even able to cut the lines straight. If only Gera had lived to teach her.

I found this one a little jumbled and confusing. The writing was so vague that I never did really identify with the character. Then, at the end of the story, the main character makes an abrupt change in demeanor and thought process. It’s almost as if the author said, “OK time to end the story and make the character change her perception.” It simply didn’t work for me. The author spent so much time setting up the conflict that the ending was disappointing.

 

Tell Me How All This (And Love too) Will Ruin Us by Sunny Moraine (debut 11/29 and reviewed by James Hanzelka).

You were screaming when I pulled you from the boat. I’d bound your legs with steel poles and doused you with whiskey. I thought you might die in peace, and I made myself ready for my own death. By the time we reached the island it was sunset, and I pulled the boat ashore. I made a fire from driftwood and wrapped you in blankets. How much of this will you remember? Enough to care? I’ll show you in the most vicious way possible. You may be lucid, but that’s another thing I’ve given up caring about.

We seem to be in a month for strange surreal stories. This is another one I never really understood. The author chose to weave a disjointed tale about two people, at least I think the other being is a person because it is told in a somewhat rambling soliloquy and I was never sure who or what he was prattling on about. About two paragraphs in I wished I’d never started it. So maybe there is a good story in there you can find, I certainly couldn’t.

 

A Year of Outstanding Work

Although we have yet to publish our December’s reviews, I would like to give you my top ten choices for the year. Give them a look. If you like any of them enough, consider nominating one for the upcoming Million Writers Award. I have my pick for the year.

Love’s Footsteps by Cat Rambo

“A Phone, My Heart, and Maybe My Last Shred of Dignity” by Luc Reid

“Five Minutes” by Conor Powers-Smith

“The Bargain” by Henry Szabranski

“Holy Diver” by Gra Linnaea

“Such Days Deserved” by Lee Hallison

Sparg by Brian Trent

The Perfect Coordinates to Raise a Child by Barbara A. Barnett

Highest Possible Setting by Em Dupre

And†¦

Melancholia in Bloom by Damien Walters Grintalis

In my June review, I compared Ms Grintalis’s story to some of the best Twilight Zone episodes ever to debut on TV. “Melancholia” is sad, beautiful, and special. It had an ending that was bitter, but as I pointed out in my review†¦

“†¦(the) Twilight Zone proved that the very best tales don’t have to have a happy ending for them to be enjoyable. In fact, the bitterest endings in that show are where it achieved its greatest accolades, and like those memorable but bitter episodes this story deserves praise reserved for a true classic.”

If there ever was a published Daily SF story that deserved an award, “Melancholia in Bloom” would be it. I will be nominating it for the Million Writer’s Award. It has earned it.

 

On The PremisesFrank Dutkiewicz has put his snooty and pretentious opinions to good work as a full time finalist judge for On The Premises. A guest judge in the past, he will now help decide the winners of the tri-annual online magazine every issue.

On The Premises is a contest publication. Each contest challenges writers to produce a great story based on a broad premise supplied by our editors. Here is their mission statement.

Our Purpose
On The Premises aims to promote newer and/or relatively unknown writers who can write what we feel are creative, compelling stories told in effective, uncluttered, and evocative prose. Entrants pay no fees, and winners receive cash prizes in addition to exposure through publication.

For writers eager for a fair shot in the publishing world, On The Premises is a blind read contest , all entrants are instructed to submit their work without their name on their script. From the award winning authors to first time writers, all have an equal shot.

Review: Wakulla Springs by Ellen Klages and Andy Duncan

written by David Steffen

This was originally going to be a review of the Nebula-nominated novellas of 2013. But my time ran out while I was still reading Wakulla Springs, the first of the novellas I grabbed, so instead this is a review of just that one story.

The Nebulas are one of the two big awards in the SF community, this one voted by members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. You can find the list of all this years Nebula nominees here.

Wakulla springs is the story, or perhaps the stories, that spans more than half a century from (I think) the 1940s to the present day. Most of it centers around Wakulla Springs in Florida, the largest and deepest freshwater spring located near Tallahassee, and the Wakulla Springs Lodge, a real life hotel.

The first section’s protagonist is Mayola Jackson, a fifteen year old colored girl who gets a job working as a maid at the segregated lodge, in a hiring rush when a Hollywood film crew visits the area for taping the water scenes for a Tarzan movie in and around the springs. The other stories follow along with her family members as the decades pass, and as the American society changes around them from the era where segregation was the norm up to today.

The characters in this story were very believable. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this was based on a true family because they felt so real, especially since the location and at least some of the characters were real people of the time, such as Johnny Weissmuller who played Tarzan, and Edward Ball the owner of the lodge.

The story certainly had a lot going for in the way of theme, with the recurring incidents of Hollywood affecting this family’s lives.

It had plenty of conflict. Any story written empathetically in the time of segregation is going to have conflict, of course. The conflict here wasn’t violent, but was ever present nonetheless.

What it really lacked, though, was a cohesive plot arc or character arc. It doesn’t help that it’s split up into four separate stories that are sequential and each person’s story relates to the last, but it makes the story overall come off quite uneven. Even within each individual chapter that follows a single person, I didn’t feel like each one even had a real character arc or plot arc that would take the events or the person from one place to another fully rounded place in the way that I expect a story to take me. Things happened. There was conflict, but it wasn’t that the characters were really major actors in these events, things happened, and then the chapter ended. The parts never felt like a cohesive whole, and each part never felt complete on its own either.

It also really lacked a speculative element at any point in the story that I could discern. There were a couple hints at it, but one was likely a fatigue and stress induced hallucination, and the other was pure imagination on the part of the character. For a story published on Tor.com, and a story that’s nominated for the Nebula, I really am looking for a speculative element.

I enjoyed reading the story. The story was well-written, the characters were very strong, and it had a lot going for it, but I didn’t feel like it really held together as a unit the way I expect a story to hold together. It was good, but not as good as I thought it could be.

Movies Review: Ray Bradbury Award Nominees

written by David Steffen

The Ray Bradbury Award for Outstanding Dramatic Presentation is not technically a Nebula award, but it is announced with, nominated with, and voted with the Nebula awards by the same group of people. These last few years I haven’t made it to a lot of movies in theaters, and I feel sad when I hear about a great SF movie that I never got around to seeing. So this year I’ve used the Ray Bradbury award as a brief guide to what SF movies I really should catch up on from the previous year.

Note that there are two entries in the list that I have not watched. They are:

  • Doctor Who: ‘‘The Day of the Doctor” (Nick Hurran, director; Steven Moffat, writer) (BBC Wales)
    (I have never seen Doctor Who, I don’t know how to find Doctor Who, and I doubt I’d be able to fully appreciate it by watching just this episode in any case)
  • Her (Spike Jonze, director; Spike Jonze, writer) (Warner Bros.)
    (I fully intend to see this but have had trouble finding it. It appears to be in just indie movie theaters around where I live, and I haven’t had time to drive to those theaters and watch, and I don’t think it’s out on DVD yet. Once I find it, I will watch it, and I expect that I will review it separately at that time)

OK, then, on to the list!

 

1. Europa Report (Sebastià ¡n Cordero, director; Philip Gelatt, writer) (Start Motion Pictures)
In 2011, new scientific data suggested that there was a liquid ocean beneath the ice crust of Jupiter’s moon Europa. This movie,formatted as a documentary, tells the story of the five-person manned expedition to visit Europa, and to look for signs that life has existed there now or in the past. En route, a crew member dies, but the other five continue on.

I had not heard of this movie at all before the award nominations came out. It must not have gotten much media attention, and even my SF geek friends hadn’t heard of it. I’m very glad that I sought it out. It is so incredibly good. The writing is solid. The special effects serve their purpose without BEING the purpose. And I can’t say enough good things about the acting. There are some peripheral characters in the documentary, but most of the film is on these 6 characters spending more than two years in tight quarters with each other. There are some major and tense scenes that had me on the edge of my seat with anticipation, wanting to find out how everything turned out. But just as important were the small moments, small inconsequential conversations, a frown or a stare or a cast of the eye that made me feel like I understood on some small level the relationships these characters had with each other over the two year voyage. By showing us just a few of these unimportant moments, the moviemakers did a really good job giving an impression of the millions of moments that we didn’t see.

I can’t recommend this movie enough.

 

2. Gravity (Alfonso Cuarà ³n, director; Alfonso Cuarà ³n & Jonà ¡s Cuarà ³n, writers) (Warner Bros.)

Bio-medical engineer Dr. Ryan Stone (a woman, despite the name) is on an orbital mission with NASA to insert a processing board in a satellite. After a collision with debris from a destroyed Russian satellite, she’s left tethered to astronaut Matt Kowalski with the rest of the crew dead and no contact with Mission Control. Kowalski had been testing a thruster pack at the time of the accident, so they use the pack to head toward the International Space Station with the aim to use their escape pod to return to Earth.

This movie got a lot of Oscar nominations, and won seven awards this year. I can see why, it’s exciting, well written, well acted. And I admit it’s good to see a space movie take such mainstream honors, maybe it’s a sign that the general public is showing some interest in space travel again. This could easily have made #1 on my list, the main reason it didn’t top Europa Report was that the exploration of the farther reaches of the solar system was even more exciting.

 

3. The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Francis Lawrence, director; Simon Beaufoy & Michael deBruyn, writers) (Lionsgate)
This is the second movie in the trilogy, based on the trilogy of books by Suzanne Collins.

The first story (spoiler alert), The Hunger Games, was about Katniss Everdeen taking her sister’s place in The Hunger Games, a brutal Coliseum kind of fight in which a young man and young woman picked from each of the twelve districts under the rule of the dictatorial capitol are placed in a ring to fight until only one survivor remains. Katniss and Peeta broke the rules in a very public way, when they were the only two contenders remaining, by threatening to commit mutual suicide rather than kill each other.

This movie continues where the last one left off. This show of resistance against the Capitol’s rules has caused rebellions to break out in the districts. The media played this out as being due to their hopeless love for one another, but many people aren’t buying it. Katniss and Peeta must tour the districts and show their supposedly undying love for each other, and read the scripts they’re given. Anything they do might cause more rebellion. And then the drawing for this year’s Hunger Games occurs, but only after an announcement that this year the rules are different to mark the 75th anniversary of the games: only previous champions will be drawn. Katniss is the only female champion of District Twelve, so she knows immediately that she will be going back in the games.

This was my favorite book in the trilogy of books, and I thought the movie did a great job of backing it up. Still great casting all around, great writing, great acting, great special effects, good everything. No complaints whatsoever. I would happily have put this at the top of the list, but it was just stiff competition in this group.

 

4. Pacific Rim (Guillermo del Toro, director; Travis Beacham & Guillermo del Toro, writers) (Warner Bros.)
In the near future, giant monsters start appearing from the depths of the Pacific Ocean and destroying coastal cities. The first few are killed by local military forces but when more and more of the monsters (Kaiju as they’re called) appear it becomes increasingly clear that this strategy won’t work for long. The nations of the world band together to face this threat, and invent the Jaeger project. Jaegers are mechsuits as tall as skyscrapers which are controlled by two pilots whose minds are intertwined to distribute the neural strain of the piloting. These are very effective for a time, but the Kaiju are getting bigger, getting smarter, and now the Jaegers have been discontinued in favor of a coastal wall. There are only a few of the Jaegers left, and the project is in its dying gasps, but when the wall turns out to be ineffective the Jaegers are the only option.

Most of the information in the last paragraph is conveyed in the first few minutes of the movie. It seemed like this movie was kind of a sequel to a movie that had never been written–that opening sequence was clumsy, but I guess it served its purpose. The movie as a whole was exactly what is said on the tin. Giant human-controlled mechsuits fighting giant monsters. I heard a lot of hype about this movie when it came out but I admit that seeing it now I don’t understand what all the fuss was about. The special effects were good, but only SyFy makes bad special effects anymore, so that’s not remarkable. The acting was good. The writing was pretty good, though some of the action sequences made little sense (why not pull out the badass weaponry at the start of a fight instead of at the end). But none of it really stands out from all the other effects-heavy SF movies of the last few years.

I did have some plausibility issues, mostly regarding the need for two pilots to distribute the neural load. What neural load? The suits are shaped like humans and move like humans, with the exception of the add-on weaponry. You should be able to pilot them by basic motion capture like the motion capture used to make this movie. It shouldn’t even require a neural interface.

“Wait, wait,” I said as I watched the movie and the computer voice narrating the technical actions spoke, “Is the voice of the computer the voice of GLaDOS? From Portal?” And sure enough, it turns out that moviemaker Guillermo del Toro is a fan of Portal and he sought out Ellen McLain who voiced GLaDOS for a cameo appearance. Of course in this case she really is just a computer voice not a mad scientist superpowerful mainframe AI voice.

 

Anime Catch-Up Review: Guilty Crown

written by Laurie Tom

Guilty Crown debuted as part of the fall 2011 anime season, but at the time it was up against Persona 4 for my viewing time, and being a Persona fan, that pretty much meant everything else, unfairly or not, was getting shut out.

But over the coming years, I’d occasionally see something that reminded me of it. I liked what I had seen of the character designs, there was that odd yet memorable title, and I liked the song “My Dearest” which plays over the first set of opening credits (which, by the way, gives a pretty accurate snapshot of who and what appears in the show).

Otherwise I didn’t know much about it except that somewhere I had read that the middle arc of the story reminded the viewer of the first Devil Survivor game, which I had enjoyed.

So when I found myself completely caught up on my simulcasts and still in the mood to watch more anime, I fired up Guilty Crown.

Guilty Crown is not an anime series that plays all its cards up front. For a near future science fiction series heavily centered around action, it brings up a lot of questions, and, I’m happy to say, answers nearly all of them.

The premise is that ten years ago, there was an outbreak in Japan of what became known as the Apocalypse Virus. It was so bad that foreign forces had to come in and take control of the country in order to keep the virus contained, and they’ve remained there ever since.

Shu Ouma, is the sort of nice-guy high school student protagonist that appears in many anime series, and in the first episode he is unfortunately the weakest element of the show. He accidentally gets tangled up in a resistance group called Funeral Parlor that is trying to overthrow the GHQ, the health organization that now rules Japan. Due to circumstances, he unintentionally absorbs an experimental fluid called the Void Genome that gives him “the power of kings” and allows him to pull objects out of other people that represent their hearts. These manifestations are called Voids.

Fortunately the first Void he pulls turns out to be a gigantic sword, which comes in handy in the action piece that closes out the first episode. Having him take out opposing mecha on foot is an amazing bit of shorthand to show just how powerful his new ability is, and if the story of Guilty Crown occasionally disappoints, the battles do not.

Shu initially tries to continue living a normal life after having gained the Void Genome, but circumstances conspire again and again to show him there’s really no going back; whether it’s the Funeral Parlor member who transfers to his school or a classmate who could sell him out after witnessing Shu fighting alongside the resistance.

In the early episodes Shu is largely pulled along by the will of other people and the shows works in its appreciably large cast, moving between the people in Funeral Parlor, the students at school, and the members of GHQ. After the bulk of the major players have been revealed, Shu starts to mature. The stakes rise and he begins to take ownership of his situation.

The first season in particular has light-hearted moments, such as Shu trying to figure out the identity of the student who was spying on him by pulling out the student’s Void. All he has to go on is the Void’s appearance, so he ends up running around campus randomly pulling things out of other kids (while profusely apologizing) to the entertainment of the viewer.

But the second season takes a much darker turn and nearly all of the levity is gone. At this point, it’s clear that there’s no such thing as normal.

The rest of the large cast varies in depth, though all are fairly distinctive. Aside from a couple of the senior GHQ members early on, I never had trouble telling anyone apart, though there isn’t the time in a 22-episode series for everyone to be drawn out as fully realized people. Still, with a large cast, there’s likely to be someone to root for even when the main characters aren’t pulling their best.

A few of my favorites:

Ayase is unusual in that she is a disabled character, a paraplegic in a wheelchair, but what is really remarkable is that she’s not the brainy hacker character. No, Ayase is Funeral Parlor’s kickass Endlave (mecha) pilot. Who cares if she’s in a wheelchair? She doesn’t need to walk to pilot a giant robot! I love that everyone in Funeral Parlor simply treats her as part of the team and no one comments on her disability until Shu joins the group and opens his mouth (and then she gives him a good tongue-lashing).

I have a tendency to like characters who do the wrong things for the right reasons, and Shu’s classmate Yahiro is that kind of character. His Void is a freakish pair of shears with the ability to sever life, but when we learn why his Void takes that form, the reason isn’t sadistic at all. Being a pragmatist, Yahiro is also the guy willing to make hard choices and present uncomfortable suggestions, and he does it without ever going off the deep end and becoming a monster like many of his counterparts in other anime series.

The last character I’ll mention is Daryl Yan, who is a part of the GHQ. He’s initially presented as a misanthropic villain who gets off on killing, but partway through the series the audience gets to see another side of him that makes him a more sympathetic character. Personally I wish Daryl had more chance to develop, because I liked where his arc was going, but I can understand why for plot reasons the writers ended up cutting that off. It just makes for a weird about-face near the end.

Unfortunately, with a large cast, that also means there are some characters that just never click. Inori, though the main heroine, is one of many emotionless girls popular in anime and her character arc is not anything that hasn’t been done before. I found I cared about her fate more because of Shu than because I cared about her.

Though Shu is clearly the main character with a tremendous special ability, Guilty Crown is pretty good at giving everyone a piece of the action. It never comes to a point where everyone sits back and lets Shu do his thing. The job is too big for a single person.

Overall, this series was a fun ride that only accelerated as it progressed. Though there were still a few “Huh?” moments that prevent the story from being completely coherent, they weren’t enough to ruin the ending. I’d recommend it.

Pluses: Nicely fleshed out world, excellent action set pieces, large cast makes it easy to find someone to like, large number of memorable vocal tracks

Minuses: Occasional bits of fanservice, plot sometimes take a backseat, some of the characters are archetypes we’ve seen before and don’t rise above their predecessors

Guilty Crown is currently streaming at Hulu and Funimation and is available both subtitled and dubbed. The subtitled version was watched for this review.

 

laurietomLaurie Tom is a fantasy and science fiction writer based in southern California. Since she was a kid she has considered books, video games, and anime in roughly equal portions to be her primary source of entertainment. Laurie is a previous grand prize winner of Writers of the Future and since then her work has been published in Galaxy’s Edge, Penumbra, and Solaris Rising: The New Solaris Book of Science Fiction.

Review: Nebula Novelette Nominees

written by David Steffen

And the next category up in Nebula nominees, voted by professional SF and fantasy authors, stories from 7500-17,500 words. As I work my way up in the category lengths I generally enjoy less of the stories because the longer categories could often do with significant trimming.

So I was surprised and pleased after only really digging one of the stories in the Short Story category, that this category did much better.

 

1. ‘‘Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters,” Henry Lien (Asimov’s 12/13)
Suki Jiang, inhabitant of the world of Pearl, has been sent to a boarding school for being willful and disrespectful to her parents. This is the essay she writes about her experiences at Pearl Rehabilitative Colony for Ungrateful Daughters. The main measure of worth in this society is ability to perform martial arts while ice-skating on the surface that is made of pearl.

I found the protagonist of this story extremely entertaining, proud to the point of arrogance and focused on her goals even when she doesn’t take much time for forethought before the things she says and does. The story had my vote from an early moment when Suki faces off in martial arts skating against a team of nuns who want to cut her hair as punishment.

 

2. ‘‘They Shall Salt the Earth with Seeds of Glass,” Alaya Dawn Johnson (Asimov’s 1/13)
No one knows why the glassmen have come, forcing us to follow their rules and their moralities, punishing with sudden violence any resistance against them. Those who survive have little time to concentrate on anything else but trying to eke out a living from the land under the eye of the glassmen. No one has even seen a glassman in the flesh, because they hide behind their remote controlled devices. One of their rules is that no abortions are outlawed, and the protagonist’s sister wants to find a doctor who will give her an illegal aboriton, but they have to travel some distance to find one while avoiding glassmen who will force her to stay at a hospital to carry the baby to term.

The glassmen in this story were scary and strange enough that their presence in the story carried my like for it. I felt for the main characters and very much wanted them to survive their journey, and was kept guessing what the glassmen really were and what they really wanted throughout.

 

3. ‘‘The Waiting Stars,” Aliette de Bodard (The Other Half of the Sky)
This is told as two seemingly separate stories, taking place in a world that will be familiar to her fans, as she has told stories from this world before. One story is about Lan Nhen and her sister Cuc as they go to rescue a damaged mindship that contains the mind of a relative. They come from the Dai Viet culture where ships are controlled by human minds, birthed as mechanical objects from human wombs. The other story follows Catherine, who has been “rescued” from Dai Viet culture by the empire which has tried to give her a new life in the imperial way.

Aliette’s stories have a great deal to say about how cultures interact with each other, not in the war that is often the subject of SF stories, but more in regards to cultural assimilation, imperialism, and the motivations of individuals who are just trying to survive in the boundaries where wildly disparate cultures intersect. She has a real gift for exploring this topic. This is a very good story. It did take me most of the story to guess how the two tales are related to each other, but it was done well. The fact that I placed it as #3 on the list is no insult to its quality, it’s just that this category held some tough competition.

 

4. ‘‘In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind,’‘ Sarah Pinsker (Strange Horizons 7/1 , 7/8/13)
Millie’s husband George is in the hospital, and he might not be long for this world. In a comatose state, he moves his hand in a drawing motion. Given a pen he sketches the rough blueprint of a structure she’d never seen him draw in all his years as an architect, even the more fanciful conceptual projects he’d drawn in his career for the military. What could it be?

As with the #3 on the list, this one’s not #4 because I disliked it–it was just a tough crowd. I felt like Millie and George were real people. They sounded like great people to know and I was especially interested in the sprawling backyard treehouse of motley design that he put together for his children. I was interested to see where it all turned out and I was fully invested in the story. It was a good story, it just didn’t quite work for me as well as the other ones.

 

5. ‘‘The Litigation Master and the Monkey King,” Ken Liu (Lightspeed 8/13)
Tian Haoli, the litigation master, is approached by a man carrying a text which has been forbidden by the emperor, pursued by the emperor’s assassins. The man asks Tian Haoli to hide the book for him, and he must then decide what to do.

This wasn’t really speculative fiction. The Monkey King himself was the only pseudo-speculative element, but it seemed pretty clear that this was just a figment of the litigation master’s imagination. The story is based in real tragedy, but I thought it was a little too heavy on message. It was hard to just go along with the story when it seemed the author was just using it as a medium to tell about a historical event that people might not be aware of. I prefer story to be primary, message secondary. As a documentary, I’d want to read more, but as fiction it left something to be desired.

 

6. ‘‘Paranormal Romance,” Christopher Barzak (Lightspeed 6/13)
“This is a story about a witch. Not the kind you’re thinking of either.” Sheila is a modern witch who specialized in love. Helping a lonely person find new love, helping a person in a fading marriage hold it together, anything along those lines, but she’s never had much luck in love herself.

I didn’t find very much in the story to keep my interest. The opening lines seem to match a pattern I’ve noticed in some recent stories in the last few years which start with some variation of “I’m going to tell you a fairy tale. But not the kind of fairy tale you’re expecting.” I’ve never found this to be a very intriguing beginning, because the format never ends up being much less predictable than the fairy tale it claims to be totally unlike.

In this case, I could’ve used some tension, some goal for the character. She seems content enough doing her everyday work. She’s good at what she does. Her mom continually is trying to set her up on romantic outings, but she doesn’t really seem that concerned about her lack of a relationship. And if she doesn’t seem that concerned, why should I be? But in the end it seems that what the story was about was her finding a relationship, something which she wasn’t looking for at all. Generally a story with a relationship as a major factor shows me that the person really wants a relationship, or perhaps there is other focal tension and the relationship grows from that. This one was neither, and I didn’t think it worked. So, generally, I found the story quite dull and lacking in tension, and I was never interested in the love interest, and it didn’t really matter to me whether a relationship started or not because the character didn’t seem that concerned.

 

Review: Nebula Short Story Nominees

written by David Steffen

You can find a full list of the 2013 Nebula nominees here. This is a review of the short stories nominated this year for the Nebulas, which are chosen by the members of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America.

1. ‘‘Alive, Alive Oh,” Sylvia Spruck Wrigley (Lightspeed 6/13)
The story of an interplanetary colonist from Earth who traveled with her husband with the expectation that they would be able to return in ten years, but a pathogen keeps them from returning. Their daughter, born on the colony, has never seen Earth and has grown up with her mother’s stories of the old world. This story has roots in the experience of immigrants here on Earth, but is all the more heartfelt for the differences rendered by SFnal treatment.

Top notch. Not much else to say, just go read it. This is easily my pick for the category.

 

2. ‘‘The Sounds of Old Earth,” Matthew Kressel (Lightspeed 1/13)
Old Earth isn’t worth preserving anymore, most people say. It should be broken down into its component materials for the further development of New Earth. But not everyone wants to evacuate the planet. For people who have spent their whole lives there, raised their families there, that’s a difficult and painful transition to make.

Not a bad story. I felt for the character, but it was a bit maudlin for my tastes. There is conflict, certainly, but nothing that the character can do anything about so the story just kind of happens around him. Not bad, but just not my cup of tea, I guess.

 

3. ‘‘Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer,” Kenneth Schneyer (Clockwork Phoenix 4)
This is told as though it were one of those audio tours you can sometimes get at museums to walk you through the exhibits in some meaningful order. It steps through an artist’s works from the beginning of her career to her death, examining how her technique changed with events in her life, in particular in the representation of loved ones who had died.

I found the technique for this one served to only increase the distance between me and the character so that she’s a historical figure of little importance to me rather than really immersing me in the story. It was very faithful to its medium–I would enjoy listening to this in headphones as I walked around an art exhibit looking at each of the works as it’s described. But on its own, without the actual art having been created and shown to me in parallel, it reads pretty much like I’d expect a museum tour to read without being able to be there or look at anything–kind of interesting but very prolonged and all of the most interesting stuff is not onstage. I found some of the discussion questions after each painting rather annoying because so many seem to be based around the writer of the audio tour not really paying attention to the quote the author herself gave about why some figures are drawn differently than others. If Mr. Schneyer hired an artist to make the paintings that go along with this story and presented them together, I’d happily buy the ebook for that.

 

4. ‘‘If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love,” Rachel Swirsky (Apex 3/13)
This story starts out with the whimsical hypothetical in the title, as spoken by a woman to a friend she loves dearly, and continues on to give real life reasons why she is pondering this whimsy.

The characters read as real once the story got to the story, but I found all the hypotheticals more irritating than entertaining or illuminating. If A, then B. If B, then C. If C, then D. A story this short shouldn’t feel too long, but to me it does. Eventually the story gets to the actual story behind the hypotheticals, but by that time I was just impatient for it to be over.

 

5. ‘‘Selkie Stories Are for Losers,” Sofia Samatar (Strange Horizons 1/7/13)
A girl’s mother leaves her family behind. The girl thinks the circumstances imply that her mother is a selkie (a mythical shapeshifting creature that could turn into a seal by pulling on her sealskin, but would be trapped in human form if that skin was stolen).

Most of the body of the story is the girl criticizing the tropes of selkie stories, which I wasn’t very interested in, partly because I haven’t seen enough selkie stories to really say whether her tropes are actually accurate or not. While some of the circumstances of her mother leaving match a selkie story, I didn’t see any really strong evidence that that was the case, so it just seemed to be a story about a neurotic fixation caused by family trauma. The family trauma, perhaps I should’ve felt moved by, but it happened before the story started, and rather than confront the real situation she spends all of her time obsessing about selkie stories.

Not my thing, I guess.