Asimov's June 2010

In my never-ending quest to catch up on reading my SF mags, I recently tackled the June issue of Asimov's. Here are some quick thoughts.

Allen M. Steele continues to impress with "The Emperor of Mars," a sweet ode to Mars SF over the years and the story of how a man deals with the loss of his family. This is a complete departure from his Coyote stories but just as engaging. I think maybe I should delve into his catalog a bit further in 2011.

Chris Beckett's "The Peacock Cloak" was an interesting exploration of how people go about helping a brand-new world...by making the same mistakes that humanity has been making for years.

Stephen Baxter's "Earth III" is a continuation of a series of stories but I don't remember reading "Earth II," to be honest. It's a story of power, exploration, and challenging the predominant views of the world. I enjoyed it.

The rest of the stories were solid enough but nothing else jumps out as worth mentioning here.

I have started the next of the now 11 magazines I have stacked up, so I'm sure I'll be writing about it soon.

Reading Rebound

I finished the Dec. 2009 issue of Asimov's last night and I didn't have a positive view of the magazine. I gave up on the final story by Brian Stableford (I keep trying with him but I'm just not a fan) and the rest of the stories didn't do much for me, except for Mike Resnick's humorous high concept, "The Bride of Frankenstein." I was reluctant to pick up the Jan. 2010 issue but I've been trying to wipe out my SF mag backlog, so I did. I read the entire issue today and was glad I did.

It's rare to find any anthology, whether magazine or book, where you like everything but I found that today. Thanks to Geoffrey A. Landis for the mix of hard SF and character, Felicity Shoulders for the gut-punch ending in a story about a world where babies with modifications are abandoned, Steve Rasnic Tem for the uplifting melancholy, Chris Roberson for the birth of a Superman substitute in an alternate world, Robert Reed for the similarities and differences of his alternate world (which includes a never-made movie by Martin Scorcese, Carol Emshwiller for her wonderful oddball characters, and Allen M. Steele for the pulpy thrill of the "true" story of an alien lifeform landing on an exclusive Georgia island.