[Home Page][Index of Reviews][October 1997][December 1997]
|
ISFDB Content Listing |
Analog Science Fiction & Fact Magazine
November 1997
Schmidt's editorial takes a look at risk taking this month. He
find its ridiculous that people are willing to take risks but not to
take the consequences, leading to situations where people are not
willing to do anything for fear of getting hit with lawsuits.
Stories featured in this issue are:
- "O Pioneer!" (Part Two of Three) by Frederik Pohl.
The story tells of a world occupied by various alien races who try to
live in peace. Into this walks the new mayor of the terran colony who
slowly comes to realise that the whole truth may be hidden from
him.
- "Last Exit Before the Final Frontier" by Jeffery
D. Kooistra is a story about a family about to leave for the stars.
But their son is adamant about not leaving his job in the solar
system, causing a rift within the family.
- "Cosmological Darwinism" by Richard Meisner is a
science article about how the current universe came into existence.
One of the greatest puzzles about the universe is how the physical
constants seem to be 'fine-tuned' to allow us to exist. A few percent
change in some of the constants would be enough to make a universe
inhospitable to life like us. He looks at a theory that tries to use
Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection to explain how the
universe cam into being.
- "Sufficiently Un-Advanced" (Probability Zero) by Mark
Rich is an entertaining short about a world where technology is so
advanced that the simplest things we take for granted has been
forgotten. The ending is not exactly word play but still enough to
get a groan out of me.
- "WWW: The Web We Wove" by Arlan Andrews, Sr. takes an
entertaining look at alternate universes that make contact via
sufficiently large telephone networks. The world he imagines is
dramatic and gives a twist on the alternate-history tale.
- "Trial by Ordeal" by Grey Rollins is an impressive
story about a man who accidentally kills a member of an intelligent
race. The person decides to accept whatever punishment the aliens
propose and, as he waits his punishment, he holds a conversation with
his jailer that may well affect the relationship between their
races.
- "No More to the Dance" by Amy Bechtel is an
impressive story about a dancer who a difference: she has a form of
autism that renders her unable to feel emotions. But the main point
of the story appears to be about relationships. How one gets
developed by continued communication and how one can be lost by not
communicating sufficiently.
[Home Page][Index of Reviews][October 1997][December 1997]
Copyright (C) 1997-2003 Soh Kam Yung
All Rights Reserved
Comments to author: firstspeaker.geo(at)yahoo.com
Generated: Thu, Apr 10, 2003