Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine #35

Issue #35 of Andromeda Spaceways Inflight Magazine begins with an “editorial” with the conceit that the author of it is an alien. Cute, although it doesn’t really say much, and given that it’s my first exposure to the magazine, I don’t know how it compares with the usual editorial style. This issue is a mix of stories, both in type—from those that seem almost as though they’re copying the editorial to standard-fare science fiction to Far Eastern fantasy—and quality. There are two authors with first-time publications, and those, along with “The Jackal’s Waltz,” a military/alien-contact story that does more than that sub-genre usually can, are the standout stories in this issue. ASIM bills itself as publishing “light-hearted, un-serious stories,” but that’s not something that really comes through this time.

“In the Kaladashi Fashion” by Geoffrey Maloney is about aliens, diplomacy, negotiations, and control. While the writing has style and the universe Maloney creates is an interesting one, the story doesn’t work for two reasons. The first is the most common complaint about hard science fiction; there’s not much character development. And the second is that the story only works because the author is withholding information from the reader. Our protagonist, Marlow, knows what’s going on throughout, and “In the Kaladashi Fashion” consists of his plan proceeding as expected, ending with Marlow revealing all to his companion. There’s no one to sympathize with here, and we’re never really surprised by anything that happens. I enjoyed Maloney’s aliens, but I’d have liked to have seen them in a story with more depth.

Lettie Prell’s “Earth for Dummies” is a short piece (possibly flash fiction, although I didn’t count the words) in the form of a treatise on Earth (human) customs written for an alien species. There’s a slight twist at the end, but it wasn’t quite enough to make this work, especially since the formal tone/style of the piece doesn’t hold all the way through. That said, “Earth for Dummies” is well-written; it just fell somewhat flat.

“Johnny Talley” is John Plunket’s first publication, and I hope we see more from him. It’s a nice, tight story that takes place on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. Plunket does a great job of creating atmosphere and painting the characters for us. Without any real use of dialect, he instead relies on language choices to convey both a backwoods attitude and a blue-collar worldview on the part of the narrator—and it works very, very well. This isn’t a major, earth-shattering piece that will change anyone’s views on the genre, but not every story needs that to be considered good. “Johnny Talley” is an enjoyable read that fans of the genre will be happy to encounter.

“The Spirit and the Slave” by Stuart Barrow has a sorcerer and enchantress whose chance encounter one day leads to a complicated feud between their primary servants—or is it a relationship between them rather than a battle? This question is never quite answered in Barrow’s story, which gestures in the direction of making several statements but never fulfills that promise. The skill of Barrow’s storytelling suggests that this may have been a deliberate choice. Although I felt slightly cheated by the ending, I think this is really a matter of personal preference; I enjoy stories with a definite resolution, while some enjoy pondering the possibilities more. Also, as a very minor caveat, there were too many characters whose names began with “S”; it distracted at some points.

Douglas A. Van Belle’s “The Jackal’s Waltz” starts out seemingly as a story about soldiers, becomes a story about how a team functions, and ends as a story about interplanetary diplomacy. Language, plot, characters: everything Van Belle creates comes together beautifully. Again, Van Belle’s piece is not going to challenge the limits of genre. Instead, he’s written a genre story about alien contact that does what science fiction is meant to do: it makes us think about our own society.

“Dragon Feasts” by Aliette de Bodard is, on the surface, about dragons and immortality. On another level, it is about betrayal and the mistakes that parents can make. De Bodard’s writing is lovely, and the tone fits the Far Eastern setting of the piece very well. “Dragon Feasts” has a number of original ideas, but in some ways, it felt like a story I’ve read many times before. This is a matter of personal taste, though; I’ve never been very fond of Far Eastern settings, primarily because of how often such stories seem to have the same themes. The quality of de Bodard’s writing shines through regardless, and for those who enjoy this setting, the story will shine as well.

Katherine Woodbury’s “Devil’s Pet” is, as the title suggests, about a deal with the devil—or, at least, the devil’s minion. While well-written and interesting, it didn’t grab me. The protagonist, Petra, seems to know more than she should, with no explanation for her knowledge, which is plausible enough until she challenges someone else’s stated knowledge. There’s either a little too much or not quite enough here, and some aspects seemed contradictory. I’d like to see something else from Woodbury, or perhaps even more, I’d like to see a rewritten version of this story. Petra’s motivation—the entire reason for her actions—is shoved in partway through with no exploration, and we don’t understand her well enough as a character to see why she would care.

“The Bigglio-Muller Experiment: A paper on the effects of Metaphysical Astrophysics” by Lawrence Buentello is a faux-scientific essay on the nature of time, gravity, and matter. This one didn’t really work for me. One of the footnotes references “the irony of pointless science,” and for me, that was the problem with this piece; there seemed to be no true point aside from an effort to amuse the reader with pseudo-scientific silliness. The absurd isn’t pushed hard enough for that to have an impact, and otherwise, there isn’t very much to this.

Emma Jean-Stewart’s “Interchange” is another first-time publication, a short piece about what life is and what we look for in it, or perhaps one could say that it’s about seduction, if those are different things. It’s a quick read and, more importantly, a good one. The only complaint I have is that in a piece this brief, every word needs to have earned its place, and the ending paragraph was not as tight as it could have been. This is perhaps particularly difficult to ignore when the story is the last one in the magazine, although the issue finishes up with a couple of interviews and some reviews.