Some recent B-fiction (16 May 2010)

I've dropped very crappy stuff, but there is nothing excellent here either; all B-stories, & on the lower side of my B-pile. Better reads tend to come early in list below.

1. Dagoberto Gilb's "Uncle Rock"; download; The New Yorker, 10 May 2010; non-genre: A poor Mexican woman in US receives passes from all kinds of men. Told from the perspective of her 11 year old son.
2. Denise McCune's "Shuffle Up and Deal"; download; JBU, #23 (February 2010); humor: This plot probably has been done 10,000 times in various garbs.
   
   Aliens have landed & one of them requested the government to let him play an about to begin
   
   Poker tournament. Someone overhears an alien delegate as saying the winner takes Earth! So panic sets in, & everyone must ensure the alien loses the tournament!
3. [ff] Duncan Shields' "Shuffler"; download; 365tomorrows, 10 May 2010: Using a teleporting device to make humanity more tolerant of interracial differences!
4. Steven Popkes' "Crocodiles"; download (online only for a couple of months); F&SF, May/June 2010; zombie: Germans, during World War II, have created zombie soldiers that can turn enemy into zombies by biting.
   
   Very nasty & dark story. European & US readers might identify with it in ways I cannot.
   
   Also included are standard prejudices of many US sources: Americans are smart, Germans are evil, Russians couldn't care less for their own.
5. Jacqueline Rochow's "The Truth Will Out"; download; 365tomorrows, 5 May 2010; fanfic: Effectively retells an episode from Pierre Poulle's "Planet of the Apes", but without explicitly naming the original: A few scientists have evidence that their ancestors were merely lab animals of humans, & are debating the social implications of making the information public.

Related: Fiction from 2010.

Shauna Roberts' "The Hunt" (novelette, detective, free)

Nothing original about it, but a good "timepass" read - no boring moments.

Story summary.

A slummy town is visited by a large vehicle. From vehicle are stolen valuable goods. A private detective agency is hired to track down the thief. Cornered thief gets rid of the valuables by paying a fee!

Mixed up with the fun are a bunch of teenagers playing a game that has been terrorizing the town.

Eventually, all ends well - except for thief.

Fact sheet.

First published: JBU, #23 (February 2010).
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: A.

J Kathleen Cheney's "Afterimage" (novelette, murder mystery, free)

DeVane Michaelson, a rich lawyer, is murdered. Suspects include his secretary Veronica he's been having a love affair with, & his wife Manisone. Detective William Greene will unravel the case, with help.

Throughout the story, we see references to "Purists", a terrorist organization opposed to body implants, something common in the universe of the story. But these references are only a minor distraction; this is a proper murder mystery & an easy read.

Fact sheet.

First published: JBU, #24 (April 2010).
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: A.

Stoney Compton's "Trappers" (novelette, free): Man vs alien fight to death

Story it reminded me most, at least early parts of it, was Ralph Williams' "Cat & Mouse" (download), though the plot is much closer to Fredric Brown's "Arena" (download).

Fast light read, but very Cambellian - white man wins over everything, though the win over incomparably superior alien here is not complete.

Readers familiar with US history might see the context better, but it should be accessible to all. Author refers to '20s & '30s assuming reader will know the centuries, & some nouns didn't mean anything to me.

Story summary.

A couple of super-advanced aliens have been studying earth for centuries from orbit. They located a gold mine in the mountains, & are now down to pick up the metal as fuel for their ship.

Their mine will be found by Caleb Pasco too, an old man who has been trapping beaver in the mountains for 40 years. Both want gold - so there is a fight...

Fact sheet.

First published: JBU, #24 (April 2010).
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: A.

Free fiction: 4 stories from JBU, #24 (April 2010)

Three originals at Webscription.

Another story from the issue, a reprint, Stanley G Weinbaum's "Parasite Planet" (download), has been online elsewhere a long time.

Related: Stories from Jim Baen's Universe.

Bud Webster's tribute to William Tenn

In JBU, #24 (April 2010).
Note: This is the last issue for JBU. I'm not sure how long this article will stay online at link above, but I suppose it'll be there for at least 2 months that a typical JBU issue stays current?

Noteworthy parts:

1. Some stories named.
   
   Of the ones I've read among the ones he names, two are especially good: "Child's Play" (download MP3) is in a sort of tribute to Henry Kuttner & C L Moore, & "Down Among the Dead Men" (download text scans as part of a larger package) is an interesting team building story for managers.
2. I used to think that "Of Men & Monsters" was his only novel. Webster lists another one too, "A Lamp For Medusa".
3. A few authors named. I've read all except Goulart - had not even heard his name; Webster says he was a humorist.
   
   PS: Robert Sheckley is often described as a humorist but only one of his half dozen odd stories I've read - "Hunting Problem" (download) - has actually worked for me. Anyone care to suggest a few really funny titles? (I've read that famous story about TV reality show where a man has to escape his own staged killers - that one didn't work for me).
4. There is a Tenn bibliography at end.

Related: Stories of William Tenn.

Free fiction: 4 stories from JBU, #23 (February 2010)

At Webscription. Includes a story by Gregory Benford.

Related: Fiction from Jim Baen's Universe.

John Barnes' "Things Undone" (novelette, time travel, free)

I would not have posted this had this not come with high recommendation both from Rich Horton & from Gardner Dozois. I gave up a quarter of the way through - too much jargon put me off in the first few paras, & too much info-dumping about pseudo-Physics & pseudo-sociology of time travel & too many tired cliches of the genre made me finally give up.

Story seems to be about time cops trying to catch an illegal time jumper. Don't know if remaining 3 quarters of the text changes this theme in some way.

Collected in.

1. Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Seventh Annual Collection" (2010).
   

Fact sheet.

First published: Jim Baen's Universe, Vol 4 No 4 (December 2009).
Download full text from Webscription.
Rating: C.

For authors: "The 2010 Jim Baen Memorial Writing Contest"

Link. [via Bibliophile Stalker]

"Deadline - April 1, 2010."

Rich Horton's "best of 2009" recommendations from "Jim Baen's Universe"

Actually, his post talks of many stories, but I read only two real recommendations here:

1. John Barnes' "Things Undone"; download; December 2009: 'a very long novelette (over 17,000) words, and a stunning one. about an aristocrat (of sorts) and his partner who have a job trying to minimize the effects on history of time travelers. In the end it’s very moving, very involving -- I was reminded of one of my favorite time travel stories of all time, John Brunner’s "The Fullness of Time". Clearly one of the best stories of the year, a definite Hugo contender, and probably the best story Baen's Universe has ever published.'
2. Naomi Kritzer's "The Good Son"; download; February 2009: "about a faery who comes to our world for the love of a woman, and in so doing creates himself a past and a family -- and learns what it is to be part of a family."

I haven't read either yet. On second thoughts, I might have read Kritzer's story, but cannot recollect much off-hand.

Related.

1. JBU fiction.
2. My "best of 2009" list (includes others' "best of 2009" lists at bottom).
3. "best of" lists.
   
4. Horton's works.
   

Free fiction: 3 stories from JBU, #22 (December 2009)

At Webscription.

Free fiction: 5 stories from JBU, August 2009

At Webscription.

Related: Stories from JBU.

JBU is shutting shop

One of the most important genre magazines out there is closing down. Not immediately though. April 2010 will be the last issue. Details in editor's announcement.

[via SF Scope]

Related: Stories from JBU.

A tribute to Eric Frank Russell

By Bud Webster at JBU, #20 (August 2009).

While I'm a fan of Russell, I don't exactly share tastes about his "best" with Webster - I found "Sinister Barrier" boring except for early parts, & "Men, Martians, and Machines" ok but nowhere close to best of Russell. On "Dear Devil", though, I'll go with him.

The article includes many tidbits about Russell.

Related: Annotated & ranked list of Russell's stories (with download links).

James P Hogan's "Murphy's War" (novelette, humor, free): When computer hackers rendered a nuclear war harmless!

US & China have began the process of launching nuclear bomb armed missiles at each other over a silly & minor tiff. Then things begin to go wrong ... er, right! ... in a hilarious & very familiar way...

Notes.

1. Fun really begins about half way through, in the US war room scene.
2. Early parts will likely be more accessible to US readers; but it gets internationally accessible soon enough.
3. Links above on country fetch more stories set in that country.
   

See also.

1. Arthur Clarke's "The Pacifist" (1956): Another funny story of a naughty computer, but ... in a different way.

Fact sheet.

First published: Jim Baen's Universe, #8 (August 2007).
Rating: A.
Download full text from Webscription: Link1, or Link2.
Added to my "best of the year 2007" list.
Related: Stories of James P Hogan.

Free fiction: 4 stories from JBU, #19 (June 2009)

At Webscription:

1. [scifi] David Brin's "Gorilla My Dreams"; download.
2. [scifi] Jay Lake's "Leopard"; download.
3. [scifi] Bud Sparhawk's "Winds of Mars"; download.
4. [fantasy] Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff's "The Resident"; download.

Bud Webster on Henry Kuttner & C L Moore

At JBU, #19 (June 2009).

Whole of his post is not free access, but all the main text is; what's behind paid access is bibliography - something you can probably find at a lot of other sources.

Tragedy of their last writing days is something I only had a vague inkling of. There are some other tidbits also that I didn't know of.

Free fiction: A few stories from JBU 18 (April 2009) at Webscription

Link.

1. Edward M Lerner's "Calculating Minds" (A); download: Software trust issues for interstellar commerce (with aliens) in intellectual property.
   
   It's in my "best of 2009" list. But see the caveats in head notes of my post first.
2. Graham Edwards' "Riding the Drop" (B); download: I found it sort of boring. It's an adventure in the more-than-3-dimensional medium that contains all the worlds, & where many kinds of monsters live, & that has a "river" where all the dead go, etc.
3. Bud Sparhawk's "Primrose Rescue"; download: I used to once like Sparhawk's stories, but now they appear to be just recycling of old stuff, & in stories that are way too long. I've been avoiding him off late, & haven't read this specific one.
4. John Lambshead's "Storming Hell"; download; fantasy: Not read.

PS: Another good story in this issue - Susan diRende's "Unpronounceable" - is not online. It's a light fun read.

[via Free Speculative Fiction Online]

Edward Lerner's "Calculating Minds" (novella, financial scam, free): Software trust issues for interstellar trade in intellectual property with aliens

I've a feeling this story will be taken differently by programmers with an interest in security of data/software/environments, vs others. Others' reaction is likely to vary from boring to excellent, depending on reader's tolerance for cyberpunkish themes.

I'm a programmer, & while I found the story good, the really interesting thing was ideas hat can be extended to describing use cases for down-to-earth software specifications. Nothing earth shattering & unknown, but I've'nt identified with this aspect of a story before (& that too in a generally entertaining way).

Except for aliens & AI, the technology described appears generally plausible. Many of the questions I ask below are based on my reading it as hard sf; may be author didn't intend as such.

Story has its warts - 3 that immediately hit me:

1. Last 10-15% (after arrest of scamster) is redundant. Author didn't realize the story was over.
2. There is a kind of computer password comprising of two parts - with two individuals responsible for it, each holding a certain office. Both must provide their part for operation to proceed. Because interstellar communications are slow, these passwords aren't changed often. What happens when the same person occupies both offices at different times?
   
   I should have thought the security protocol will still preclude him getting the other part. Not so in the story, & it is key to system compromise here.
3. Remote agreement with far-away aliens, where communications time lag is in decades, on system specifications that will enable communication of software that can be run on recipient's system. Anyone who has worked on cross-country software projects knows it's easier said than done, even with earth's instant communications. But this is science fiction, & if I can take AI, I guess I should take this too!

Story summary.

Humanity has found intelligent aliens in star systems a few light years to couple of light-decades distant. And it can communicate with them at light speed, though physical travel is impractical.
Question: How likely are any aliens found at a level of technology development near-enough ours that makes any kind of communications possible - let alone in near earth space?

This has resulted in a kind of interstellar market in intellectual property. To ensure smooth trade, earth has received trade representatives from each partner. Not physical representatives, but AIs. These AIs have legal status of a local person, but do not enjoy diplomatic immunity.

Since the only thing possible between parties is communication, how does an alien partner send its AI representative? Well - first the parties agree on a system specification to run the code of AI; then they beam the AI code & its data. Entire communication has multiple levels of encryption using public/private key pairs - even to instantiate the received AI on a local computer built to agreed specs. I suppose AI itself will run in its own virtual machine which will be loaded by local instantiation procedure.
Question: Will aliens invent digital computers similar in architecture to ours?

Two things are needed to instantiate the AI on earth (apart from its code coming from space):

1. A computer so powerful, no one but the largest corporations or governments can afford it.
2. A private key, heavily guarded & secure with Sol's trading authority.
   Question: Since anyone can intercept communications from aliens, how did the Sol's trading authority come to acquire this password in the first place?

Anyway, an AI called Aareehl that is the trade representative of one of these aliens has put a very desirable technology on the market: if you know you want a protein of a certain physical structure, they have a practical way of telling you the DNA sequence that will encode it.
Question: Do the aliens also have our DNA? How come their native technology solves a very-earthy problem?

There is an auction. Winner gets an exclusive license to this technology.

Only the loser is not about to give up. A scamster is enrolled who can steal the password needed to instantiate the AI to mount a man-in-the-middle attack: instantiate a clone of AI in a simulated environment to trick the AI into handing out its technology to scamsters.

But the AI is smarter than scamsters believed. And there is a pesky reporter who's sensing something fishy in the clues left around the market place...

See also.

1. Murray Leinster's "First Contact": How should the two parties interacting for the first time go about establishing trust, when the cost of misplaced trust is unacceptably high?

Fact sheet.

First published: JBU, #18 (April 2009).
Rating: A.
Download full text from Webscription.
Added to my "best of the year 2009" list.

Nonfic: Kristine Kathryn Rusch clarified "gothic novel" & its descendants

In this somewhat longish post at JBU, #18 (April 2009), she talks of "gothic novel" trope of fiction & its many avatars.

What struck me was the familiarity of the tropes with several Hindi movies. And a personal preference I didn't realize I had: I can stand only those stories of this kind that evokes the emotion of what she calls "understated unease" as opposed to outright horror feature of original form of "gothic novel", & even there I prefer local versions to English ones.
Note: One of better stories that evokes "understated unease" is Eric Frank Russell's "Rhythm of the Rats". But it clearly is not "gothic novel" class.

What she left unstated was that local folklore tends to get mixed in these tropes, & perhaps drives local tastes? In raw unadapted form, these tropes probably don't work as well across cultures.

I don't recall having heard a name attached to this trope in India - at least not at the level of granularity she talks of. Anyone would care to enlighten on local variants?