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Much of what I read in the major US SF magazines leaves me cold - so cold, in fact, that I skip most stories after reading about a page. (I'm still catching up with what's happening in contemporary SF, but I have read an awful lot of the stuff over the years.) So here I am on the treadmill with the September 2015 issue of Analog:
- First story. We're in space! On a spaceship! Drama, conflict, excitement? One character mildly dislikes another. Zero style. Boost.
- Second story. We're in space! On a spaceship! Drama etc? One character does not get on well with his ex. Zero style. Boost.
- Norman Spinrad's The Crashing of the Cloud. Opening words: "Allah be praised". Explosion. We're where? The narrator is who?! Holy flaming cow! This reads like Hunter S. Thompson! Good gods, this is how it's done. (Story's main flaw: it's too short, revealing it for the parable of warning that it is.)
(In the unlikely event that the authors of the first two stories come across this posting, they can at least console themselves with the fact that they've been published in Analog and I haven't. :)
- First story. We're in space! On a spaceship! Drama, conflict, excitement? One character mildly dislikes another. Zero style. Boost.
- Second story. We're in space! On a spaceship! Drama etc? One character does not get on well with his ex. Zero style. Boost.
- Norman Spinrad's The Crashing of the Cloud. Opening words: "Allah be praised". Explosion. We're where? The narrator is who?! Holy flaming cow! This reads like Hunter S. Thompson! Good gods, this is how it's done. (Story's main flaw: it's too short, revealing it for the parable of warning that it is.)
(In the unlikely event that the authors of the first two stories come across this posting, they can at least console themselves with the fact that they've been published in Analog and I haven't. :)
