Magazine Review: Asimov’s Science Fiction May/June 2021 edited by Sheila Williams
Back in 1977, Isaac Asimov was one of the top three or so science fiction writers in the world, and had a very strong personal brand. So when Davis Publications wanted to create a “name brand magazine” for science fiction like Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine was for crime-related fiction, they approached Dr. Asimov. He agreed, but became “editorial director” rather than editor for Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine. He contributed editorials, articles and stories, and in the earliest years, his picture was on the front cover. The title was shortened in 1992, shortly before Isaac Asimov’s death, and it is now a bimonthly publication.
I picked up the most recent issue as of this writing. “Transitions” by Sheila Williams is the editorial, welcoming new employees Carly Iwanicki (art director) and Sheree Renee Thomas (book reviewer) and bidding farewell to longtime author James Gunn (1923-2020.)
“The First Encyclopedia” by Robert Silverberg talks about Pliny the Elder’s Natural History, which is a compendium of everything known in the Roman world in the first century of the Common Era. There’s a lot in there that’s considered wild and wacky, but also plenty of solid facts.
“Digital Heroes” by James Patrick Kelly talks about three science fiction database websites that take accuracy seriously. Important, in these times of not being able to trust what you see on the internet.
“Religion and Science Fiction” by James Gunn is an essay on how science fiction writers use and are influenced by religion in their stories. This leads into how he came up with the idea for his “Against the Stars” series of stories, the last of which appears further on in the issue.
“The Metric” by David Moles takes place in the far, far future. The oldest city on Earth, unthinkably ancient Septentrion, was founded after starlight no longer reached the planet. So it’s a bit of a surprise when a starship crashes nearby. It turns out that the Metric, a sort of artificial hyperspace structure that allowed interstellar travel despite the slow heat death of the universe, still exists, just barely.
The messenger from the ship, Tirah, brings dire news. While the Metric used to be a good thing, it’s long since outlived its purpose. It’s keeping the universe from naturally ending and becoming the next universe, and can only be destroyed from Earth. The catch is that if the Metric is destroyed, the end of the universe will happen right then, killing all remaining life as they know it.
Twins Petal and Piper (the story carefully avoids gendered pronouns) must weigh in on what the remaining peoples of Earth should do, and they have differing opinions.
This novella feels even lengthier than it is, and is heavy on the sense of wonder.
“Among the Marithei” by Mary Anne Mohanraj is about a former child soldier that was taken in by plant-like alien missionaries. He’s largely healed from his traumas, but still doesn’t fit in well with his fellow humans. Change happens, and it is time for Sergey’s mentor to move to another mission field. Content note: terrorism, suicide.
“Reclaiming the Stars” by James Gunn is the conclusion of his “Against the Stars” story series (look for the collected version coming out soon.) It’s been discovered that an ancient alien artificial intelligence has been controlling life on Earth for eons. Now, many years later, two robots who have the memories and personalities of characters from the earlier stories are attempting to terraform Mars to relaunch the human race there. But they might not be done with the ancient A.I. after all….
I felt like this story could have used another editorial pass for redundancies; we’re reminded over and over that our protagonists are robots with human memories rather than humans themselves. While the conclusion of this series, this is Mr. Gunn’s penultimate story; his last one will be appearing in Asimov’s in the near future.
“Ready Gas and Pills” by Dominica Phetteplace is in a much nearer future. It’s now possible to “print” drugs from convenient vending machines. But those machines still need inspection, so an inspector has come to a small convenience store in one of the less hospitable areas of California to check for tampering. This one’s pretty grim. Content note: homophobia.
“Año Nuevo” by Ray Nayler involves aliens on a Pacific Coast beach. They just showed up one day as though they’d been washed up like seashells. And then they did… absolutely nothing. They’ve just been lying there for decades, long enough to become a tourist attraction. Until one night they disappear. The mystery of what happened and how it affects those who were near the aliens drives the story.
This is, as the title suggests, a more hopeful story.
“Super Sprouts” by Ian Creasey is a relatively light-hearted tale about a British plant geneticist and her entrepreneur husband who are facing a couple of crises. The first is that Parliament is considering a bill to make genetic engineering of plants illegal. This would put them out of business, but their local MP (member of Parliament) wants them to do something to prove the worth of their work, like, say, getting kids to eat their vegetables?
Second, the couple is finally ready to have a child, but the prospective mother has become entranced with the idea of a designer baby, and since she’s a geneticist herself insists on doing all the planning, which leads to decision paralysis. Exactly what is the perfect genetic combination?
The geneticist’s approach to motherhood may be grating to some readers, especially conservative ones. Still, a fun story.
“The Chartreuse Sky” by K.A. Teryna and Alexander Bachilo takes place in a Moscow where augmented reality is the norm. An inspector is assigned to find a missing child; this is made more difficult as his Luddite mother has chosen not to have him implanted with the technology that makes AR possible and also allows tracking. He’s joined by an agent from the Architectural Bureau, which is more relevant than he first thinks.
“My Heart Is at Capacity” by T.J. Berry is told from the perspective of a “model”. Models appear to be some sort of human-looking robots designed to be servants/companions to humans. To do his (he’s male-presenting) job well, the model is constantly learning, both about his current employer and humanity in general. He’s currently getting an upgrade that will allow him to love his employer even more. A bittersweet tale. Content note: discussion of abuse and sexual assault.
“Tin Man” by Rick Wilber and Brad Aiken is a story about baseball. Specifically, about a pitcher who gets a prosthetic hand and wrist that allows him to throw especially effective screwballs. He’s about to be banned from professional baseball when other bad things happen that are even more important than sports. But these many years later, he still loves baseball. Content note: terrorism.
“Phosphor’s Circle” by Annika Barranti Klein is a short about a zoo tour guide discovering the zoo’s dark secret. Even that may be too much information.
“Flattering the Flame” by Robert Reed fills out the issue with another far future novella. A world-sized starship is about to pass through the general vicinity of an isolationist “proud warrior race” and both sides scheme to come out on top. One side wins, but at what cost to both?
“On Books” by Sheree Renee Thomas is the book review column. This month, it’s all books she liked.
Oh, and some modern poetry. Jane Yolen did one.
I liked “Tin Man” and “Super Sprouts” the best, but the quality is generally good. It’s important to read new stuff in the field every so often, no matter how fond I am of the old.
