Jim Baen’s Universe, Vol 2 Num 3: October 2007

The October 2007 issue (Volume 2, Issue 3) of Jim Baen’s Universe is something of a mixed bag, offering traditionally structured stories that often do not fulfill all the traditional storytelling requirements (e.g., something changes by the end). The ones that do stand out, however, do so spectacularly. Also, be sure to check out Mike Resnick’s article, “Why Carol Won’t Sit Next to Me at Science Fiction Movies.”

In Jack McDevitt’s “Tweak,” we’re above Earth on the bridge of a starship with two touring aliens discussing the effects of gene technology advances. “Tweak” is short—only a couple of pages—more of a scene than a story. McDevitt presents some enticing philosophical ideas, but in the end, nothing happens. Perhaps the reader is expected to conclude something from the ending, but if so, there’s not enough information to do so. The story ends with a suggestion from one of the characters, yet it’s not clear whether they will act upon it.

Rob Shelsky’s “Dreamtime” is another story involving genetic engineering, showing the conflict between a father and son over their disparate views of the genetically superior race of Golden Ones. When they join together to resist the Golden Ones, they are temporarily in harmony, but can aborigines have any chance against superior technology? Again, as with “Tweak,” “Dreamtime” has some interesting concepts, but there’s not much story to it. There’s a little conflict, and people change, but we don’t follow them through that change, nor do we ever get any sense that the characters have choices. “Dreamtime” could be summed up: Some things happen to some people.

“Kether Station” by C. L. Polk is set on a space station where a crowd of religious fanatics worship a nebula. Lana, a spacer who’s run away from her old life because of a tragedy, is confronted with what may be the solution to that tragedy when she sees a kid picking pockets during a worship service. As she tries to figure out what she’ll do if he’s who she thinks he is—and what she’ll do if he isn’t—she begins to build a relationship with a different child. Polk does a great job of worldbuilding, with descriptions so vivid we can almost see the space station, and she wraps the story up nicely with an ending that is both satisfying and feel-good. While “Kether Station” uses genre tropes without really providing a new take on them, the characterization makes it a worthwhile and fun read.

Gorg Huff and Paula Goodlett’s “Badlands” starts out, “Whoa, Porky,” setting the tone for the rest of the story. Sam is a cowboy outlaw type who runs into a long-unused AI system on a planet where wars destroyed almost all technology generations before, and the population views technology as terribly dangerous. When Sam heads into a town, harassed by a bad baron, will he decide to use his technology to help the townsfolk? Will he be able to? While “Badlands” is a fun, light SF western, with likeable characters (including Porky), the ending falls a bit flat.

“The Necromancer in Love” by Wil McCarthy is cast in the framework of a classroom lecture to medical students, a warning about the dangers of attempting to resurrect corpses. The lecturer gives the psychological profile of the potential necromancer, then tells the class a typical story of such an event. To be honest, if someone had described this story to me, I’d have said that it sounded like a dud. It’s a tribute to McCarthy’s storytelling that it is, instead, absolutely stellar. Everything fits. We aren’t provided unnecessary details, we’re never distracted by not being able to figure out what’s going on, and the ending is spot on. “The Necromancer in Love” is tightly and carefully written, with every word being necessary and not a single superfluous one.

In Mike Wood’s “A Better Sense of Direction,” Luke causes a problem with the starship they’re on when he tries to get his daughter—accidentally conceived onboard—to stop throwing temper tantrums after they run out of SpaghettiOs. The tone is light and the idea interesting, but whether readers will enjoy “A Better Sense of Direction” will depend on their mind-set regarding stereotypes. The story’s plot and humor relies entirely on gender role stereotypes, which is something of an interest-killer for me, although Wood does a better job than most could, and the story itself is well-written with a satisfying ending.

In “The Rest of Your Life in a Day,” Elizabeth Bear tells of two brothers, both mages with different talents, and their struggle to outdo each other. Beautifully told with excellent characterization, the world that Matt and Kelly live in, as well as the world they later enter, is described with vivid imagery, and we end up feeling their pain as though it were our own. Bear builds old fairy tales into a new story of magecraft, and the result is very good. The one confusing thing is that the conflict between the two brothers and their images of each other don’t quite seem to match throughout the story, as though the author began it with one intention and then changed her mind partway through. However, this is a minor flaw in an otherwise enchanting story. The ending suggests that there could be more to come, and I hope there is; this setting and these characters would be well-served by a continuing story.

Laird Long’s “Soul Searching” is a fun little hardboiled detective story—except this detective’s dead, unwillingly hanging around as a ghost due to the mandate of forces greater than himself. It may not shatter your world, but what “Soul Searching” does, it does very well. It’s a fast, good read that leaves you smiling. The ending ties everything up neatly and, more important, plausibly. The snarky tone of McCaffrey, the main character, is perfect and also, at times, very funny.

“Palm Sunday” by Ian Watson is both mystical and down-to-earth. Rootha is a woman in an unhappy marriage who finds her soul mate when she can’t escape her marriage. In a world where palm reading is deeply important and a person’s palm pattern changes regularly, Rootha discovers a pattern in her palm that leads her somewhere she isn’t expecting. An enjoyable read, with believable characters, although it’s never clear why or how the event that changes Rootha’s life can occur and how unusual it might be. The faintly alien air makes it easy to accept that the unexplained can and does exist, and that perhaps sometimes no explanation is needed.

David Carrico’s “The Quiet Man” is a touching story about what happens to a man, John, when he does something others perceive as betraying his country for the sake of an alien. The reclusive life he’s been living is suddenly thrown into disarray by a chance encounter with someone who needs his help. Carrico does a good job extrapolating from current events what an alien encounter might cause to happen and how a man involved in it might feel, and the personal interactions are equally plausible and understandable. Mixing characterization and plot well is something that is often hard to find in SF, and I’d like to see more of Carrico’s work.

In “The Waters of Eternity,” Howard A. Jones tells of a quest for the water of immortality in order to save a girl, Lina. And sometimes, immortality is not all we expect it to be. This is a lovely story, well-told, that wraps up nicely—a quiet tale with a consistent tone throughout, even in the title. As the quest progresses, we come to know and care about the characters, and the revelation of the disaster and grief which might have occurred at the end succeeds in conveying a sense of relief at its avoidance. Jones’s choice of a viewpoint character, one who is not a main player in the story, is a good one; it allows us to experience the events without the potential melodrama a different viewpoint character would have required.

“The Monster-God of Mamurth” by Edmond Hamilton is very much a Lovecraftian tale—no surprise there, as this story, in the “Classics” section where old favorites are reprinted, is from 1926. For my taste, I prefer it to H.P. Lovecraft, as Hamilton maintains the tone without engaging in Lovecraft’s obsessive descriptions of the state of the moon or the intensity of the night’s darkness.