Customer Reviews

Solaris Book of New Science Fiction (v. III)

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4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
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1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a decent collection of science fiction stories. Some really stayed with me for awhile. Some were enjoyable. And at least two I found so unenjoyable that I couldn't finish reading them. I will buy and read more in this series since a few of the stories did turn me on to authors I hadn't heard of before.

A mismatch anthology with only a few standouts, several lukewarm pieces, and a few real duds. Also, though I didn't factor it in the review, the pagination was a bit screwy--especially toward the second end of the book--so that page numbers didn't match-up with the table of contents. Overall grade: C+

"Rescue Mission" by Jack Skillingstead. Sentient biosphere drugs astronaut. Rescue follows. That's pretty much it. D

"The Fixation" by Alastair Reynolds. I'm becoming a fan of his. The Antikythera Mechanism and the many worlds hypothesis. B+

"Artifacts" by Stephen Baxter. Another brilliant piece from this "hard science" fiction writer. What I like about him is that he often infuses his stories with the human element, making them much more than just an extrapolation of a neat scientific idea into story form. Often sad and melancholy (as this is) but always great. A

"Necroflux Day" by John Meaney. A science fantasy piece about the strange power source of a civilization. B

"Providence" by Paul DiFilippo. Sentient robots talking like twelve-year-olds after us fleshy "carnals" have been destroyed and the robots get "high" off of vinyl records. And what an anti-climatic ending. Give me a break! C-

"Carnival Nights" by Warren Hammond. Police procedural/crime noir set in the far future. What happens when you augment someone too much? B

"The Assistant" by Ian Whates. Somewhat like "The Fixation" in that it uses alternate realities to do stuff in this reality. This time it's nano-engineered bugs. B

"Glitch" by Scott Edelman. The glitch is that some robots believe in mythical creatures called "humans." One whiny robot finds that her dead lover (how he dies isn't really clear) believes in these creatures and sends her into an existential tailspin. Robots with gender and the mythical humans constantly being addressed in the second-person "you" highlight this boring (I had to trudge through it in two sittings, despite its short length) and poorly thought-out story. D

"One of our Bastards is Missing" by Paul Cornell. An alternate history story in a setting with future technology? Not too sure. The story did keep me reading, but by the end all I truly understood was that one of their bastards was missing. C

"Woodpunk" by Adam Roberts. It's cyberpunk with trees! Get it? Not really. I guess I was supposed to think it as high-minded but it came across as banal and overly violent. Plus, I couldn't figure out the main character's gender. C

"Minya's Astral Angels" by Jennifer Pelland. Humans still rule human-founded civilization in the far future and post-human "Mods" are slaves. But wait!--there's a legal loophole. There's always a legal loophole. C+

"The Best Monkey" by Daniel Abraham. An investigative journalist investigates the phenomenal success of one company and thus stumbles upon a Big Idea. Maybe I got it. Maybe I didn't. If I did get it, then it left plot holes the size of the Grand Canyon. C-

"Long Stay" by Ian Watson. A quirky slipstream piece that keeps you wondering, "Why is this science fiction?" till the end. B-

"A Soul Stitched to Iron" by Tim Akers. A steam-punk tale set in an alternate world about the horror one family uses in order to achieve greatness and the sad, lonely machine that is that horror. A

"iThink, therefore I am" by Ken Macleod. Funny mock ad about the descendant of the iPod, with philosophy. B