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Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine
September 1997
This month's issue of Asimov's features a
Reflections by Robert Silverberg talking about the
Mars meteorite that may offer the first evidence that life may have
once existed on Mars. I found it quite clear in pointing out the
evidence put forward by the NASA scientists is not definitely
conclusive but the idea that life may have existed is what is so
exciting about the discovery.
Stories featured in this issue are:
- "The Apprenticeship of Asabetta di Pietro Cavazzi" by
L. Timmel Duchamp is a story about a young women in a sanctuary who is
pregnant with the child of a lord. But she needs to know that he
loves her and plans to marry her. So, she starts to practice magic
(with the help of an older women) and learns, in the end, that magic
works not only on the person being magicked, but also on the
magician.
- "Call Me Sue" by Aimee Kratts is a wild 'Terry
Bission' like story about a woman who, in the act of being run over by
a bicycle, throwing her things at the phone and answering her mynah
bird, finds that she may have started the collapse of the universe
into her room (sounds familiar, right?)! Populated with characters
popping in from the future, she must repeat the events to stop the
collapse. Only, the mynah bird has died and she needs to train a new
one in only a few hours. Well, talk about your 'fixer-upper'...
- "Balinese Dancer" by Gwyneth Jones is the story of a
family roaming the French countryside in a camper. At one site, they
pick up a cat which is connected with another camper that mysteriously
goes missing. The situation is very contemporary (set in a
deteriorating world) but hints of chilling things to come.
- "Smelling of Earth, Dreaming of Sky" is the flip side
of the 'angel falls to Earth' story. Only this time, instead of doing
good deeds to get redemption, the angel decides to have a good time.
Only her idea of a good time includes having 'road kills' for dinner
and training her children (she got married) to be like the Addams
family! This is a rather fun, but uncomfortable story to read.
- "Poyekhali" by Greg Abraham is set in the future when
we have made contact with aliens (the Noiesni) who just want to help.
A doctor, attempting to locate a patient in order to complete his TB
treatment, runs into one of the Noiesni who is also looking for the
patient. In a wild chance over the galaxy, the doctor discovers how
events from the past and future can be intertwine by a person's
wishes.
- "Vergil and the Dukos: Hic Inclusus Vitam Perdid (or, The Imitations of the King)" by Avram Davidson is probably the last
story he wrote before his death. The story concern Vergil Magus who
gets involved in passing sentence on people who may not be who they
seem to be. In usual Davison style, the story somehow rambles along,
covering a lot of side material before getting to the end.
- "Lethe" by Walter Jon Williams is an interesting
story set in the future where cloning is a fact of life. The story
concerns three pairs of clones each of different ages and different
professions and characters. When one of the clones is killed in an
accident, the other half grieves and finally hatches a plot to
recreate her from the other clones. But, as the story shows, even
then you may not get what you want.
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Copyright (C) 1997-2003 Soh Kam Yung
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