Short Reviews: Mike Resnick

"Bully!" [permanent link]. An interesting alternate history story about what might have happened if former American President Theodore Roosevelt had taken up an offer, while visiting Africa, to stay and help to bring Western Civilisation to Rhodesia.
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"The Elephants on Neptune" [permanent link]. An unusual and somewhat fantastic story about explorers from Earth who discover elephants living on Nepture. The story doesn't quite work for me as I am puzzled as to how elephants can live on Neptune and how they can almost instantly communicate with the visitors. The ending does have a slight twist but not enough to offset my perceptions about the rest of the story.
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"For I Have Touched the Sky" [permanent link]. This is the second story in Resnick's Kirinyaga saga. In this story, a young girl yearns to learn more about the outside world by learning to read and write; two things that women (or men, for that matter) on Kirinyaga are not suppose to do. But she is being opposed by the mundumungu who believes that this yearning will lead to the destruction of the 'utopia' that is Kirinyaga. A thoughtful story that leads you to wonder how much freedom is allowed if you wish to keep your community in a utopic environment.
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"Hothouse Flowers" [permanent link]. This is a story set in a future where human life is considered precious; so precious that every attempt must be made to save patients, even against their wishes to die. One hospital attendent taking care of his patients (treating them like precious plants in a greenhouse) gets into a conversation with a old grumpy patient who wants to die but cannot. Can the old man convince him to let him die? What will be the consequences if he does?
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"Hunting the Snark" [permanent link]. In this story, a professional hunter leads a group of people on a planet to do some game hunting. But little did they know that they will get more than they bargained for when they encounter what they can only call a 'snark' (the mysterious creature from Levis Carrol's poem). The ending is somewhat predicatable but is still satisfactory.
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"Kirinyaga" [permanent link]. A story set in Resnick's Kirinyaga series, this one tells the somewhat shocking tale of the mundumungu doing something that we may regard as murder but, to the Kikuyu, it is not. What will happen when outside forces (Maintenance) tries to intervene?
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"The Land of Nod" [permanent link]. In this thoughtful tale of the Kirinyaga series, the Mundumugu has returned to Kenya after failing to turn Kirinyaga into a new Kikuyu utopia. He faces numerous problems , refusing to change his traditional Kikuyu ways to accodate himself to his son and with society. But in the end, the clone of a famous elephant and a strange journey may provide him with some peace.
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"The Lotus and the Spear" [permanent link]. A story set in Resnick's Kirinyaga series, this one tells the tale of the Mundumugu facing a serious problem; the young people on Kirinyga are committing suicide. The reason for it, and the inevitable solution, will make you wonder if Kirinyaga is the Kikuyu utopia it is meant to be.
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"The Manamouki" [permanent link]. In this Kirinyaga tale, the Mundumungu (Kikuyu witch doctor) has to deal with the arrival of two new people to his world. But as with any new arrivals into 'Utopia', problems begin to surface and it is up to him to solve it. But the solution may not be final as the moral tale at the beginning of this story explains.
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"One Perfect Morning, With Jackals" [permanent link]. This story can be considered the first story set in the Kirinyaga series as it concerns the journey of the Mundumungu from his home in Kenya to Kirinyaga. Along the way, he argues with his son who has an European view of Africa before getting one final surprise from his son.
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"Posttime in Pink" [permanent link]. A John Justin Mallory story, this one has Mallory, the detective who is stuck in an alternate New York City where devils and fairy creatures rome, taking up a case for the Devil himself. Somebody has been messing around with the racing elephants(!) and the Devil wants Mallory to find out who.
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"Redchapel" [permanent link]. A fascinating alternate history story about what might have happened if Theodore Roosevelt had gone after Jack the Ripper. This detective story will leave you guessing who the Ripper is until the end when Roosevelt reveals the answer; yet the mystery of who the Ripper is will still live on.
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"Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge" [permanent link]. An impressive story set in the far future where mankind is extinct and all that remains is the memory of Man's tyranny of the galaxy. A group of scientists arrive on Earth to explore and perhaps find out what made Man the way he is. And one of them will discover an incredible secret that will affect their future.
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"Song of a Dry River" [permanent link]. In this thoughtful story set on Kirinyaga, the Mundumugu is faced with a stubborn old woman who refuses to do what she is told (to stay with her children). To make her obey and to uphold their Kikuyu traditions, he orders a devestating drought on the land. But is the ends justified by the means?
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"When the Old Gods Die" [permanent link]. A story set in the Kirinyaga series, it tells the tale of what happens when the people of Kirinyga stop believing in their old gods and their mundumugu. And it all begins with a child who questions the mundumugu about his father's crippled arm and does not accept his explanantion.
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