Customer Reviews

The Retrieval Artist and Other Stories

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The Retrieval Artist and Other Stories (2002) is a collection of nine SF stories. These stories have sometimes led to sequels -- and even novels -- in the same milieus. Others in this collection also may produce such sequels.

"The Retrieval Artist" (2000) was first published in Analog in the June 2000 issue. This novella was nominated for the Hugo award and is the precursor of the Retrieval Artist series. In this story, Miles Flint is older than in the series, having been in the business for a long time. His reputation has brought Anetka Sobol asking for him to find her mother.

"Dancers Like Children" (1991) was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the September 1991 issue. This story and its sequel led to the novel Alien Influences. In this story, Justin Schafer, Ph.D., made a mistake fifteen years ago. Now he is called on to repeat the process that had led to that erroneous judgment.

"Alien Influences" (1992) was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the June 1992 issue. John was one of the Dancer children in the previous story. He is still bearing the social stigmata of that experience. Now he is a bounty hunter and Anita Miles hires him to find a stolen Bodean wind sculpture.

"Flowers and the Last Hurrah" (1999) was first published in Analog in the March 1999 issue. Colin is the publisher of Gossip Hourly. The video coverage on the program always uses short-lived clones -- flowers -- as stand-ins for public figures. Now one of their flowers has been murdered in Trump's Last Hurrah.

"The One That Got Away" (1998) was first published in The UFO Files, edited by Martin H. Greenberg and Ed Gorman, in February 1998. It was blackjack tournament night at the Spirit Winds Casino. All the regulars were there as well as an outsider woman who was very good. All except the regulars and the outsider had been eliminated when suddenly the lights went out and miniature flying saucers appeared.

"Results" (2000) was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the March 2000 issue. Jess lives in New York City and loves it. She is thinking of marrying Bryan. They have even had their DNA tested to determine the type of children they might have. Bryan is waiting to tell her the results.

"Reflections of Life and Death" (1998) was first published in Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine in the January 1998 issue. Sarah's mother is dying of old age. She wants to move in with Sarah, but Sarah doesn't think that would work. Yet her mother refuses to go to the Extended Care Facility.

"Present" (2002) has not been published prior to this collection. Mason Evers is thirty years old and his wife has a present for him. He is not in the mood. Then something starts to rerun his life over and over again.

"Without End" (1994) was first published in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction in the April 1994 issue. Dylan is a philosopher and his wife Geneva is a theoretical physicist. She is onto something very new and very big involving nonlinear time. Then she dies.

This author creates interesting characters and situations. Each story tells something about the human condition, even in some very strange circumstances. Several of these stories include alien creatures with alien worldviews. Others show possibilities within our own society. In each case, humans must learn to cope within their environments.

Highly recommended for Rusch fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of strange situations, unusual societies, and human acclimations.

-Arthur W. Jordin

The Retrieval Artist and other stories is a wonderful collection of shorts that originally appeared in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction - all by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, editor. The title story is apparently a forerunner to a later series of novels involving the gumshoe-styled hero, Miles Flint. If this was an accurate predictor of the style and quality of writing to come later, then I can see why Flint has so many fans.

As much as I loved that retro take on a very futuristic tale, however, it was not the strongest one in my opinion. Dancers like Children and its sequel, Alien Influences struck a stronger chord with me because of Rusch's valiant attempt to create and explain a radically different alien psychology. Many other novelists have tried to do that and only ended up anthropomorphizing them in the end. These two stories contain some of the more original ideas in SF today.

The rest of the selections are worthy, although one or two seem more like filler material. In my opinion the cover price was a little steep for this collection, and it didn't need to be published in trade paperback form. On the whole though I think The Retrieval Artist passed my litmus test: now I want more. And thanks to Rusch's later works, I will have it.
-Andrea, aka Merribelle

I've read two or three of the books in Kristine Kathryn Rusch's "Retrieval Artist" series and thought that reading the original story ("The Retrieval Artist") would give me new insight into the not-too-far-future world of hardboiled private dick Miles Flynt. Having read it, I can now say that it's a perfectly cromulent story (there's no need for Rusch to refudiate it), but it's just the tale of one case among many in Miles' professional history. Probably the only bit that may make you re-evaluate Miles is the (admitted) cruelty with which he concludes his case-gone-wrong.

Two of the remaining stories are precursors to Rusch's novel "Alien Influences." "Dancers Like Children" is another detective story, in which a disgraced psychologist must determine why seemingly-innocent aliens called Dancers are apparently murdering the children of human colonists. "Alien Influences" follows one of the surviving children from the colony, now an adult, who has been hired to perform (you guessed it!) detective work, tracking down a stolen objet d'art.

"Flowers and the Last Hurrah" is the best of the rest, concerning a near-future world in which short-lived clones called "Flowers" are used by gossip magazines to create photographic evidence of celebrities doing naughty things. The editor of "Gossip Hourly" joins forces with a police detective to determine why one of the magazine's (illegally obtained) flowers was murdered -- why kill a creature that's going to die in a week anyway? -- and by whom.

Rusch is a competent writer, and the situations she creates often show real imagination, but nobody is going to accuse her of writing "litrachoor". Mystery writing is clearly her strong suit (outside of her extensive editing experience, of which I know too little to evaluate). On the other hand, although she is skilled at pulling the reader into a mystery, her resolutions are often credulity-stretching and less than completely satisfying.

The 3-star rating I've given the book is probably unfair but I felt that 4 stars was too much; call it 3.5.