Analog Science Fiction & Fact – April 2011

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“A Seasonal Dilemma” (editorial)
by Stanley Schmidt

Stanley Schmidt opens this month’s issue with a pretty interesting examination of a surprisingly common debate these days – year-round schooling. I am sure many of you are like me that dismiss the idea out of hand when you hear it – I mean, can you imagine not having summer vacation as a kid? Schmidt kind of takes the same position – but then takes a step back to really look at the problem in a refreshing way. So often with education, “more” is always the only given solution. More money, more teachers, more time in the classroom, so on and so forth. For several decades we have been giving more and more, and the situation gets worse and worse. While Schmidt doesn’t address that situation, he does break the usual “Less or more” argument and explores different options, and different aspects of the problem that are normally ignored. I did not agree with all of the conclusions he drew, but it was a short examination of the problem and I appreciate the open-minded manner in which he approached the problem.

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“Hiding Place” (novella)
by Adam-Troy Castro

This one is actually part of a three-novel series featuring Andrea Cort. I think the best way to sum up what I thought about this story is to tell you that immediately after I publish this, I am going to order my copy of Emissaries from the Dead, the first novel in the series. I am even more gratified to report that despite it being a part of this series, it stands completely on its own. Castro deserves some praise for this.

In this universe, people seem to be able to form linked collectives of 2 or 3 people, in which all participating members meld their minds into a single being that operates each member body individually. In this story, prosecutors are faced with a dilemma – one such trio is in custody, one of its member’s guilty of murder. But since the murder occurred prior to the union, they are faced with the problem of deciding how to charge their prisoner in a way that any capable defense attorney would rip to shreds. As if that wasn’t interesting enough, Andrea Cort is struggling with her own decision to join such a union, and the circumstances of this case make her face her own motivations for doing so.

This novella is strong – a fantastic lead for this issue. It set the bar very high for the stories to follow. A preview of this outstanding story can be found on the Analog website here.

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“Smart SETI” (essay)
by Gregory and James Benford

In another interesting analysis that challenges “the way we do things now,” Smart SETI looks into the guts of the way we do SETI (Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence) now, points out all of the flaws in the current system, and makes some simple and very common-sense suggestions about how we could be doing it more efficiently. SETI is a somewhat controversial topic (by controversial, I mean you either think it is foolish not to do it, or you are a fool for looking for them), and this article really exposes the fact that sometimes scientists really are very thick when it comes to their methodology. I suppose its human nature to refuse to challenge your ideas though – so I can see why it never occurred to the fine folks at SETI to honestly assess their methodology. Anyway – if you have any interest in SETI at all, you will find this article very interesting.

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“Ian’s Ions and Eons” (novelette)
by Paul Levinson

The best way to describe this story in three words is “liberal wet dream.”

To sum this story up – the protagonist travels back in time to the year 2000, in order to somehow sideline the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court so he can’t participate in the Supreme Court Ruling that ultimately ended the Florida recount, thus producing a President Al Gore. The fundamental difference between science fiction and fantasy is the element of fact that science fiction brings to the story. In a fantasy, you can make facts up whole-cloth. In science fiction, changes in the natural order of things need to have a plausible explanation. This story’s credibility is completely shot out of the gate, because it makes two erroneous assertions.

First – that the recount of the Florida votes would give Al Gore the 2000 election. The recounts he requested were actually completed by a group of newspapers (lead by the AP and the New York Times) that determined that in the counties Gore asked for recounts in, Bush still won no matter what standard was used to count under-votes.

Second – that Bush was the sole cause of the current economy, and eliminating him would have prevented the downturn. This ignores the fact Congressmen from both parties were promoting the economic policies that directly lead to the initial downturn. Bush was one of many, and his party affiliation had nothing to do with it.

I want to try and avoid this review getting too political, but the facts in this story aren’t based on any kind of reality – they are based upon political talking points and obvious left-wing demagoguery. I am perfectly fine with an author using a character to express a political opinion, but a time travel story of this nature relies on some credibility. You are telling me that an agency advanced enough to determine all of the possible outcomes of a change in history wouldn’t know little details like the recount results, and the fact that not only was Bush not solely responsible for the recession (nor was Obama blameless in its length and severity). The icing on the cake was the big reveal at the end – the heroic Democrat was successful, but though the Democrats had long ago vanquished the Republican party in his future, some evil Republican sympathizer went back and undid all his work. This story is an absolute Liberal fantasy piece beginning to end, and the editors of Analog should have noticed that the political autoeroticism going on in this story was an entirely different creature than simply a politically motivated protagonist.

The story might have been salvageable if there was something inherently interesting in the premise. Sadly, it was just your basic time travel scenario, with a little “fine print” trope at the end. I am amazed this story was published – but then, Levinson’s got a Hugo nomination, so maybe this got in on name alone.

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“The Flare Weed” (flash fiction)
by Larry Niven

Of course, there are a few names big enough that deserve to be published no matter what they write – and Larry Niven is on that list.

This short piece tells the story of an alien race asking to plant an unusual alien seed in Earth’s Ocean . The story is so short it’s kind of difficult to say anymore without spoiling, suffice to say that why that seed should be planted on Earth is an unsettling question. The story is decent – but if I were to be honest, it feels more like an abandoned fragment of a story idea than a complete story.

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“Small Penalties” (Probability Zero, flash fiction)
by Alastair Mayer

Oh, this is one of those that I wish wasn’t “Probability Zero.” This short but sweet story gives us a snapshot of an email spammer being taken to serve his sentence. Needless to say, it is quite interesting. Mayer does a great job with this one – in just under two pages, he establishes the characters, the crime, the sentence, the excuses – everything right up to the panic and despair of the convict. Great stuff.

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“Author Falls In Love With E-Reader” (The Alternate View, column)
by Jeffery D. Kooistra

Jeffery Kooistra? Oh no… I guess we are getting another- wait, no Jefimenko? I don’t know what to make of it, but I like it! Actually, kidding aside, this is a solid installment of The Alternate View. Kooistra is a reader – like I am, and like many of you are. And I think just about every reader has looked at a Kindle or a Nook and said “no way, I like real books way too much!” with our elitist, purist noses stuck straight up in the air. The thing is, I haven’t met a reader who has given an ereader a try who hasn’t changed their tune after getting the thing in their hands and seeing the perks. Kooistra appears to be no different.

If you still haven’t made your mind up about ereaders, or even think they are nothing but a fad, I strongly recommend checking this article out. Thankfully they have posted it online for free.

The Alternate View: Author Falls In Love With E-Reader

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“Two Look at Two” (short story)
by Paula S. Jordan

This short story is obviously (and admittedly) based on the Robert Frost poem of the same name, but instead of a pair of deer, the couple in question come face to face with a pair of aliens. Actually, this could have been titled Three Look at Three, since both couples involved had their dogs with them.

As first contact stories go, this one is a little dry. Jordan is clearly going for the poetic here – and the style is a little sleepier than the content in an Analog usually is, so it makes it a little difficult to get into. She tries to spice things up by playing up a mystery involving animals with obvious stitches and scars that couldn’t be natural, but those seem like an afterthought. Not a terrible story, but kind of a slow one,

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“Blessed Are the Bleak” (short story)
by Edward M. Lerner

What is this, the politics edition of Analog?

I do think that this is a better case of politics in fiction than the last story. Ayn Rand and even George Orwell showed that far-future extrapolations of political ideas could be quite compelling, and I think this one falls in that camp. The premise begins with Universal Health Care – and what shape it takes decades down the road as technology advances. Lerner does some good research on this one, and the story he presents is very similar to the actual evolution of programs like Social Security and Medicare, so it does feel very believable.

Despite what happens in the story, I don’t actually think Lerner makes the call whether Universal Health Care itself is bad. He just presents one bad possible future involving it – which is food for thought in today’s debate. Some might read this and think that I just think it is ok because it is more in line with my personal politics. I maintain that this story provides food for thought, while the other one just bashes inaccurately. And I am sure I’ve enjoyed enough stories where corporations in the far future are evil monstrosities that take over and destroy everything to balance this out.

Anyway – this one is a decent one. I’m not thrilled with the amount of politics in this month’s issue, but this story was passable.

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“Remembering Rachel” (short story)
by Dave Creek

The fiance of a negotiator trying to negotiate peace between the Earth and the Moon is murdered, and the negotiator is the prime suspect. Yeah, this story is filled with several cliches – but I have to admit the entire package is a decent one. It’s basically a brief murder mystery with some sci-fi trappings, and is ultimately entertaining. There is much else to say other than it is a solid filler story.

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“Quack” (short story)
by Jerry Oltion

There is only one part about this story that stuck out as off to me – if what they uncover in their study were true, then wouldn’t all placebo patients everywhere in the world in any study manifest similar results?

A minor nitpick, but I do love what Oltion does with this story. There is so much pseudoscience out there – and the reason that there is pseudoscience is because scientists are often as close minded and dogmatic as theologians. If they believe something is impossible, then anyone who produces any evidence to the contrary, or anyone who even suggests looking into it is an absolute loon, and instantly loses credibility in the scientific community. I love science – and I agree that some of the kinds of things we hear on Coast to Coast are absolute nonsense. But if experiments and observation are conducted using established scientific standards, who cares what the research is? In my eyes, you are never crazy if you are honestly trying to see the truth for yourself.

Oltion does a great job conveying that point with this story. A solid read.

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“Balm of Hurt Minds” (novelette)
by Thomas R. Dulski

opulation by giving them incredible advances, only to exterminate them in the end by slipping an infertility drug to the whole population. While the motives of the aliens in this story aren’t so clearly evil, it does call to memory the old saying “Beware of Greeks bearing gifts.” The story kind of bounces around a little bit – introducing a few characters that kind of give a hint of what is really going on, but these asides from the main plot were a little more drawn out than they needed to be. Three different side characters experience the same sorts of things – when I think half as much of that would have made the story a lot tighter.

Still – it was very interesting and thought provoking. A good closer for the issue.

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And as usual, the issue wraps up with the always informative Reference Library along with Brass Tacks.

As usual, I enjoyed the issue as a whole. There was a disturbing amount of politics – which probably wouldn’t have been a problem if Ian’s Ions and Eons wasn’t so obviously flawed and borderline insulting. That story really hurt the issue as a whole, because it made me as a reader a little overly sensitive about any politics that followed. Usually Analog does a good job of keeping that in check, or at the very least presenting controversial issues in context, but that story was just blatantly bad. Still – not an issue killer.

Overall Rating:

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