Short Reviews: Ian Watson

"Slow Birds" [permanent link]. An interesting story set in an alternate future where strange metallic creatures seemingly appear from nowhere, glide slowly over the countryside and then vanish. But some don't vanish but explode, making circular wastelands. Some boys want to find out where they go and when one of them finds out what they are and reveals their origins, he comes into conflict with his brother who has a radically different viewpoint of what the 'slow birds' are.
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"A Speaker for the Wooden Sea" [permanent link]. An interesting look at a very different world whose 'seas' are literally made of wood. Into this world steps an explorer who hopes to become rich by making an exotic drug found on this world. But events take an unexpected turn when the wood of the sea turns out to be not so inert after all.
Found in March 2002 Asimov's Science Fiction