The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, July 2002 | |||||
A review by David Soyka
Well, it's that time of year for "beach reading," a cultural indulgence focusing on light entertainment that doesn't
divert you from the more important thoughts of putting on sufficient sun screen and imbibing the next alcoholic
beverage. Whether by editorial intention or not, the July issue of Fantasy & Science Fiction would be a good choice
to put in your beach bag for that purpose.
What makes me think this might all be by design is the fact that the one story that rises considerably above the standard
of mild distraction isn't listed on the cover. "Droplet" by Benjamin Rosenbaum is an erotically charged fable of romantic
love and fidelity to your mate, concerning a pair of centuries-old androids, originally designed as pleasure slaves who:
Albert Crowdey's "The Posthumous Man," is another one of his supernatural tales of New Orleans, this time concerning
the comeuppance of an antiques dealer who trades in purloined cemetery statutes. Though predictable, it nonetheless
offers some nice characterization, such as this one about an ill-fated underworld lawyer: "The man's large belly
preceded him into the shop like the nose of the Hindenburg, and his tread set the bangles on fifty chandeliers tinkling."
Robert Loy's "You Can't Get Turnip Juice Out of an Aorta" may win the prize for most amusing title. While there are points
of levity in this tale of an ancient and infirm vampire who gets rejuvenated from sucking on the neck of a vegan animal
rights activist and health freak, the ending is no more clever or original than the subject matter.
The conceit of Robert Onopa's "Geropods" is that the decrepitly aged have the legal right to "break out" of institutional
care if, by banding together as a collective entity, they can replicate all the sense of a single individual, e.g., a
blind man who can walk with a guy in a wheelchair who can hear, with a deaf person who can talk. One such geropod
embarks on a mission to show the daughter of one of the members what a no-good bum her gold-digging husband is, and
in the course of which discovers love with a female geropod. While the story has its moments, it does get a little
old a little too quickly. Maybe that's the point.
Thomas Disch contributes a bit of throwaway fluff with "The Flaneurs of Mars," concerning a religious proof that arises
between a philosophical discussion between a machine and some self-styled alien with delusions of godhood. I think
the unrelated cartoon that appears at the end of the story is funnier than this.
R. Garcia y Robertson's novella, "Princess Aria," is yet another one of his pulp homages, this one part of a series of
tales based in the medieval setting of Markovy. I found the predecessors to be a bit more interesting than this,
which relies on a literal deus ex machina to resolve what plot there is. Because the story features a
strong woman who mocks the simple-minded barbarity of men,
it is not as overtly misogynist as some of his work -- though, admittedly, if you're working in the
pulp tradition, you can't avoid it. Still, scenes in
which the main character and her allies romp about in the nude serve no conceivable purpose beyond mild titillation
for those 12 year old boys who have blocking software on their Internet connections. Again, that's part of the
tradition, though I wonder why that's a tradition worth carrying on. Except maybe as something to do until someone
makes another round of strawberry margaritas.
David Soyka is a former journalist and college teacher who writes the occasional short story and freelance article. He makes a living writing corporate marketing communications, which is a kind of fiction without the art. |
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