Ted Chiang's "The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling" (novelette, auxiliary memory, free): On the fallibility of human memory

Just how reliable is our memory? How much of it is fabricated to make us feel good about ourselves? These & implications of confronting the documentation that contradicts our feel-good memories are the topic of this beautiful story.

It looks at two documentation technologies - written word because we understand it well, & "Remem", an imaginary video search engine of the lifelogs created by the equivalents of Google Glass. In two different settings - European colonization of imaginary(?) Tivland, & a modern man reacting to Remem.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean, Fall 2013.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2013" list.
Related: Stories of Ted Chiang.

Some short fiction

I haven't been posting often recently because there haven't been too many good stories I've read recently. Here are 3 I read this week:

1. [ss] Mike Resnick's "Treasure Island" (B); download; Subterranean Online, Spring 2011; non-genre, humor: Conman priest, Lucifer Jones, "helps" sea pirates recover treasure hidden on a Pacific island by one of their own.
2. [novelette] Winston K Marks' "Backlash" (B); download; Galaxy, January 1954: A rather contrived alien invasion.
3. [ss] Alan Cogan's "In the Cards" (B); download; Galaxy, June 1956: Future-viewer kill free will.

Robert Silverberg's "The Tomb of the Pontifex Dvorn" (novelette, free): Bringing history to life

I haven't read a lot of Silverberg, but what I've read so far has been grim. This, by contrast, is a very light read - latest in author's "Majipoor" series. Appears to move slowly, but actually is moving pretty fast.

Story summary.

On a world called Majipoor, colonized thousands of years ago by humans when it already had its "aboriginals", & over the years supplanted by other space faring alien colonists, two young university teachers get a job of a life time: Simmilgord, the historian, to authenticate that a mythical hero of antiquity actually lived in a certain town, & his friend Lutiel Vengifrons, an archaeologist, to excavate the artifacts allegedly associated with this hero.

We get to see the contrasting characters of the two, plus some other realistic characters.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: A.
Added to my "best of 2011" list.
Related: Stories of Robert Silverberg.

Mike Resnick's "King and Mrs Kong" (novelette, non-genre, humor, free)

Lucifer Jones, the conman priest, "helps" trap a giant gorilla on a Pacific island...

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Voyages".

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2011.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Mike Resnick; Lucifer Jones series.

Mike Resnick's "Weekdays" (short story, non-genre, humor)

Lucifer Jones, the conman priest, saves 4 young ladies on a Pacific island from a bad man, & gets some enlightenment of his own in the process...

This story is part of the Lucifer Jones series set in the Pacific.

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Voyages".

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Fall 2010.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Mike Resnick; Lucifer Jones series.

Subterranean Online, Summer (July-September) 2010 (magazine, free): Annotated table of contents & review

Whole magazine is online here - fiction & non-fiction. I only cover fiction below.

Table of contents (7 stories, best first, unread last).

Links on author fetch more of author's fiction. My rating is in brackets.

1. [novelette] K J Parker's "Amor Vincit Omnia" (B); download; magic: What's most threatening to authority, government? A citizen who's beyond the government's power to hurt. This story is of a government going after a man who's beyond hurt, not resting till he's destroyed. Man himself is a monster, but that's not why the government will destroy him.
   
   Humanity is divided into two: mostly normal humans, & some wizards. Wizards have an institution - Studium, where fresh blood with talent is educated. Studium, or a larger body it's part of, is also the wizard government. They've just found out about an untrained wizard equipped with the ultimate defense against every form of attack. That's why he needs to be destroyed.
   
   Caution: Initial parts use far too much of ... is it Latin? I don't know the language, but almost gave up. Those funny words cease to be an issue once the story picks up.
2. [novella] Mike Resnick's "Six Blind Men and an Alien" (B); download: This is really a collection of half dozen independent alien visitation stories. Mostly mundane, but two may be worth a look: "What the Sound Man Saw" & "What Nobody Saw".
3. [ff] Lawrence Block's "A Burglar's-Eye View of Greed" (C); download; non-genre: A rant on why money is bad.
4. Lucius Shepard's "The Taborin Scale"; download: Not read.
5. Jay Lake's "Dream of the Arrow"; download: Not read.
6. Cory Doctorow's "Ghosts In My Head"; download: Not read.
7. Rachel Swirsky's "The Lady Who Plucked Red Flowers beneath the Queen’s Window"; download: Not read.

Related: Fiction from Subterranean Online.

Kage Baker's "The Bohemian Astrobleme" (novelette, steampunk, free): Discovery of a new kind of battery

Fast moving & easy read.

Title comes from a meteor impact site ("Astrobleme" or "star wound") in Bohemia that plays a key role in the story.

Story summary.

Gentlemen's Speculative Society is an ancient secret society developing gadgets way ahead of its time. Now, in this year 1845, one of its London establishments has accidentally discovered a new way of making an electric battery - by bring in contact a gemstone, a kind of glass called tektite, with acetic acid.

They'll soon find that this specific kind of tektite is a very rare material, & comes from Budweis in Bohemia. So four agents set out to locate & secure their supply...

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2010 (January-March 2010).
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.
Related: Stories of Kage Baker.

Mike Resnick's "Heads and Tails in Paradise" (short story, non-genre, humor, free): When Lucifer Jones was god!

As corrected by author, this is really the first story in the new Lucifer Jones series set in the Pacific rather than "Harboring Pearls". It's a variation of "The Lost Continent of Moo", but still a good read.

Lucifer Jones lands in Easter Island, & promptly sets him up as "Makemake", the local god, to counter the threats of the already established (& apparently-Western) local High Priest!

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Voyages" (coll).

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Fall 2009.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Related: Stories of Mike Resnick (only Lucifer Jones series).

Mike Resnick's "Harboring Pearls" (short story, non-genre, humor, free)

This appears to be the first in a new series featuring the conman priest Lucifer Jones. This story is set in Hawaii in 1939; series, I suppose, will be in the Pacific set over next 3 or 4 years.

Story summary.

To save the Pearl Museum in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, from robbers, Lucifer Jones robs it for himself! As usual, there is someone smarter than himself around...

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Voyages" (coll).

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2010.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Rating: B.

Related.

1. Stories of Mike Resnick (only Lucifer Jones series).
2. Several stories from "Hazards" (buy @Amazon.com), recently published Lucifer Jones collection set in South America, are online; check the "Hazards" post.

Subterranean Online, Spring 2009 (magazine, free)

This is a special issue of Subterranean, edited by Gardner Dozois. Less non-genre fiction & less fantasy than is usual here, though there are some.

Nothing really outstanding in the issue, though there are a few adequate stories, depending on personal tastes:

1. Resnick's is ok, but is among the weaker Lucifer Jones' stories.
2. Kosmatka's requires a taste for stories about petty gangs & slums.
3. McAuley's & MacLeod's might feel ok to space opera & cyberpunk junkies, respectively.
4. Lansdale's will probably make more sense to US readers than others.

Link on a story title goes to my post on story, if there is one. Link on author or series name fetches more matching fiction. My rating is in brackets.

Table of contents (fiction only, 8 stories, best first).

1. Mike Resnick's "Mother Scorpion's House of Fallen Flowers" (B); download; humor, non-genre: Lucifer Jones gets accidentally associated with a prostitution cum smuggling enterprise in Valparaiso, Chile.
   
   Ending indicates this is the last Lucifer Jones story set in South America, & that next ones will be set in Australia.
2. Ted Kosmatka's "The Ascendant" (B); download: Hard life in a society that is essentially an anarchy.
3. Paul McAuley's "Crimes and Glory" (B); download; space opera: Abrupt conclusion, often illogical, & crammed with jargon.
   
   Jackaroo are aliens that have made a deal with humans: in return for rights to occupy outer worlds of Sol, they gift us a network of wormholes containing a lot of worlds ready for occupation. As they were occupied in times past by other alien races of which there are remnants.
   
   Niles Sarkka, a human, keeps smelling something fishy, & suspects Jackaroo have agenda not exactly in humanity's interests. So he ends up falling on the wrong side of law & of Jackaroo, & is being chased by cops.
   
   He will eventually find a network of wormholes unknown to humanity, & will hopefully find something interesting there.
4. Ken MacLeod's "A Tulip for Lucretius" (B); download: Revolt of enhanced & reengineered humans who're treated as subnormal by normal humans in a society on Mars.
5. Joe R Lansdale's "Hide and Horns" (B); download; non-genre: A violent while man/black man story set a couple of hundred years back in Texas.
6. Lucius Shepard's "Sylgarmo's Proclamation" (C); download; fantasy: I'd read it when it first appeared a while back, & don't recollect a lot of details. Hero magician must recover something from evil magician - something that promises hope of escape to an alternate realm since the Sun is about to go nova & will kill earth.
   
   This story is set in supposedly well known "Dying Earth" universe of Jack Vance. I assume Vance's originals must have been stronger tales.
7. Carrie Vaughn's "Conquistador de la Noche" (C); download; dark fantasy: A magician is turning men into some sort of vampires; the hero will fight back his newly instilled vampire instincts for the good of humanity.
   
   The story also talks of some of the darkest things about the European conquest of Americas. And ideas that will be seen as double standards - native Americans aren't men, only the Europeans are. Some of the religious "virtues" also sounded like "convenient" to me.
   
   I've a feeling the take here might vary a bit by reader's affiliations & religion. Going by my own early reactions to this kind of fiction: If you haven't had some exposure to fiction that uses biblical idioms & some Western lore, you'll probably find parts very confusing.
8. Liz Williams' "Under the Honey" (C); download: I'd read it when it first appeared; don't recall a lot of details.
   
   Some humonoid mutants or made beings from an alien world or alternate universe have escaped from their alien prison to earth, one of them is training a (human?) child for some nefarious purpose on his world, & some of them fight an evil feudal lord of earth.

Mike Resnick's "Chartreuse Mansions" (short story, humor, free): Lucifer Jones in love, then not, with the "Bird Girls"

Note quite among the better Lucifer Jones stories, but still readable.

Story summary.

Lucifer Jones fall in love yet again, with option to choose between two beautiful sisters. Only they have a speech defect - so he wants to opt out, but their dad has a gun & insists he marry one or the other.

Of course, gods always smile at Jones eventually.

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Hazards".

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean, June 2007.
Rating: B.
Download full text from Webscription.

Ken MacLeod's "A Tulip for Lucretius" (novelette, free): Rebellion of the downtrodden

A colony on Mars - mostly normal humans, plus some enhanced humans engineered by some combination of mind upload & possibly genetic tweaking. Only the normals are citizens; supers are slaves. Revolution of slaves only needs a leader, which they will get in the story.

Has some incomprehensible jargon. Later half - after the hero arrives in the colony - is more interesting than early parts.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Spring 2009.
Rating: B.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Related: Stories of Ken MacLeod; Fiction set on Mars or its moons.

Ted Kosmatka's "The Ascendant" (novelette, anarchy, free): A less interesting variation of Heinlein's "Coventry"

Ruthless anarchy prevails in "prison", a part of the "world" cut off from civilized parts. This is the story of two children born in prison who survive to grow to their teen years & are tough enough to fight their way back through the gates to civilization.

"World" itself is an immense tower - part of many such in what must once have been a city. But that is ancient history - no one here has been through the bottom floors which are charred, let alone to ground.

Civilization is in upper floors where they grow food & have some sort of semi-tribal society. Below that are "prison" levels - a one-way street for convicts of civilization, convictions themselves apparently of an utterly degenerate society.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Spring 2009.
Rating: B.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Related: Stories of Ted Kosmatka.

Mike Resnick's "Spring Training" (short story, non-genre, humor, free): Lucifer Jones conquers Uruguay for Hitler's Germany!

In the year 1937, Lucifer gets himself recruited by a 3 man advanced guard of Hitler in Buenos Aires; 3 Germans are here to conquer South America with a rag tag "army" of 6 locals!

Of course, with his great ingenuity, Lucifer wins Uruguay on behalf of Germany, only there is a local group of Uruguans also out to win their country. So Lucifer will get himself recruited by them to help them win their country back from Germans...

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Hazards" (collection). Due sometime 2009, Subterranean Press.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Fall 2008.
Rating: A.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Related: Lucifer Jones series.

Mike Resnick's "A Four-Sided Triangle" (novelette, humor, non-genre, free): Lucifer in a multi-sided love relationship

Lucifer Jones falls in eternal love - oops, tries to fall in eternal love - with a millionaire heiress to a cocaine empire in Bolivia, South America. But there are other suitors too, & crooks.

Lucifer Jones in South America series seems to have picked up again recently - two most recent stories have been pretty good, after some forgettable ones.

Collected in.

1. Mike Resnick's "Hazards" (collection). Due sometime 2009, Subterranean Press.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2009.
Rating: A.
Download full text from publisher's site.
Related: Lucifer Jones series.

Mike Resnick's "Kilimanjaro: A Fable of Utopia" (novella, free): A primer on organizing a society afresh

What if a community were to be handed over a virgin world, & asked to build their ideal society? That's what this story is about.

This is really a collection of stories - some very short - that share common background & some characters. I read it in a single sitting, but may be it would feel less draggy if read a chapter at a time. Chapters are fairly independent - so serve as good markers; but must be read in order.

Stories themselves are about various aspects of social organization & citizen issues: women's rights, citizenship, immigration, interacting with other societies, democracy, reinventing a profession in the face of technological change, evolution of social customs, ...

There are few issues & solutions here that haven't been debated to death in most societies. I've a feeling I would have liked it more if I was in my early teens - less exposure & less cynicism.

Also, story addresses familiar issues often in a very simplistic way - mostly well meaning politicians (when did I last hear of one?), generally rational citizens, ... This is obviously done intentionally - or this would have become a good sized & very colorful novel!

Society is exotic - for me at least. Maasai tribe of Kenya, originally from the region of the mountain Kilimanjaro; their virgin world is also called Kilimanjaro.

Narrative is spread over the first decade of this world - a little before mid twenty third century. Story is narrated by David ole Saitoti, a historian.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean magazine, Summer 2008.
Rating: B
Download full text.
Related: All stories of Mike Resnick.

* John Scalzi's "Missives from Possible Futures no 1: Alternate History Search Results" (short story)

First half is a hard selling ad of a future paid search engine! Later half is a collection of several very tiny stories - ostensibly about how history would have been shaped had Hitler died in different ways; to me this felt like arbitrary alternate history scenarios. General mood is humorous, but I'm unfamiliar with some of the situations - those from West can probably enjoy it a little more.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean Online, Winter 2007.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Michael Bishop's "The Pile" (short story, non-genre)

Generally readable description of the life in not well off housing society. Title refers to a location on society premises where households can dump junk that may be useful for someone else - like a TV set that doesn't work. This location serves as a kind of place to socialize.

Fact sheet.

First published: Subterranean magazine, Winter 2008.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* David Prill's "Show of Hands" (short story, non-genre)

One of those unfathomable stories!

A farmer in US in mid twentieth century follows an annual ritual - of watching the annual passage of a circus train through his small community! Develops a fetish for clean hands. Loses one of his hand in an accident. Ends up envying everyone's hands.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: C
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Jay Lake's "The Fly and Die Ticket" (short story, science fiction)

"Rajamurtha drive" aka "r-drive" is a spaceship engine that can move vessels faster than light - making interstellar travel possible for humans.

Only it sometimes does something to matter surrounding it - including the vessel itself & the human tissue. This something makes the affected matter extremely dangerous to normal matter - means all matter infected, including infected humans, needs to be dumped to some secret sterile world where no normal human will ever go.

Story is about the fate of Manny - a veteran of many voyages who has now caught this matter sickness. He is now isolated & banished from humanity forever - to die on this secret world.

I found the plot utterly flimsy, & narrative rather casual.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Kealan Patrick Burke's "The Acquaintance" (short story, non-genre)

A violent criminal returns to his home town in small town Ireland after spending many years away - in prison & hanging out at many places.

Most of the story is set in a bar he stops over before going home. Ends up in a hospital with paralyzed legs after being hit by a speeding car when finally walking home drunk at night.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: C
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Chris Roberson's "Fire in the Lake" (short story, non-genre, politics)

Palace intrigue & a Royal's murder investigation in imperial China.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: A
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Stephen Gallagher's "The Blackwood Oak" (short story, fantasy)

Much of the story is of the life of a forest warden, Damien Ryan, & of his chase of an apparently evil ghost that has escaped.

Ghost is "Sylvanus Roscoe, of the genus Sylvani" - a kind of "nature spirit" & "an Elemental". Roscoe was trapped trapped under water in the stem of an ancient oak tree for a century; the tree stem was buried by a dam, & is now exposed after dam was emptied for repairs - giving Roscoe the chance to escape.

Last third is where we learn the Roscoe's end of the story - how his people were hunted & kidnapped to satisfy a megalomaniac's quest for scientific knowledge, & how the maniac was helped by ancestors of the Damien.

I got a feeling the author was either talking about the fate of animals that end up in labs, or of American Indians killed when Europeans were occupying Americas. This part is essentially about the empathy Damien feels for the wronged, but no one now living was responsible & since nothing can be done about it, it's best to leave buried what was buried till now.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Daniel Abraham's "The Support Technician Tango" (short story, non-genre)

I suppose you could call it science fiction, but you would have to stretch the definition. Key thesis of the story is: few people are immune to superstition.

David Osgood is a computer sysadmin at a law firm. There has been a computer virus outbreak overnight; David spent the night at office patching systems with the result that his firm is operational next day while its competitors' operations are badly affected. There is a rumor that a competitor is looking to hire David. As a defensive move, Mr Elms, a partner at the firm, offers David a week's salary as bonus plus a pat on the back.

But just before David was called to office of Mr Elms, he happened to look at one of those dime-a-dozen self-help books with generic advice indistinguishable from astrology. After hearing of the reward, he is kind of feeling superstitious about the contents of that book - which has vanished from where he left it, & seems to be destined to infect many minds in the office.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: B
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* Joe R Lansdale's "Coat" (short story, non-genre)

A monster of a man kills a stranger because he is wearing an out-of-fashion coat! Takes away the coat. We learn the coat reminded him of his own humble beginnings. Kills himself in his madness during the night.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Summer 2007.
Rating: C
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

* C S E Cooney's "Stone Shoes" (short story)

A piece of fantasy/horror. A society of very violent humans with unfamiliar morals, & of magical creatures, among them shape shifters. A mother who physically sews up the lips of her little child because he speaks too much, & leaves him sewed for 3 days! Forces her other child to wear shoes made of solid granite so he won't go wandering off when she is not looking! And where kids kill their mother & eat her!

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Summer 2007.
Rating: C
Download full text.

Note: Why is this post so short?

Brief posts: 5 stories, 1 free, none particularly good

Non-download links are to lists containing actual posts.

1. John Scalzi's "Missives from Possible Futures no 1: Alternate History Search Results" (B); download; Subterranean Online, Winter 2007: First half is a hard selling ad of a future paid search engine! Later half is a collection of several very tiny stories - ostensibly about how history would have been shaped had Hitler died in different ways; to me this felt like arbitrary alternate history scenarios. General mood is humorous, but I'm unfamiliar with some of the situations - those from West can probably enjoy it a little more.
2. Playboy, 2007 issues: Stephen King's "Mute" (B); Woody Allen's "This Nib For Hire" (B); Edward Falco's "Winter Storms" (B); Denis Johnson's "The Starlight on Idaho" (C): All are non-genre. Allen's story is humorous, & very slightly scifi - protagonist is a writer with one published story that involves traveling past in time. Other 3 are dark. Falco's is about US presence in Iraq; Johnson's describes a family of criminals; & King's is a story involving embezzlement, extra-marital relations, & murder.
   

Ted Chiang's "The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" (novelette): Four time-travel "folktales"

This extremely readable story is written in the style of ancient framed folktales - story within story, & with a moral. It covers a theme I've already seen in at least two stories by Chiang - "What's Expected of Us", & "Story of Your Life" - interaction between events happening in different times.

And yet it offers a very different plot - ability to change yourself as well as history by influencing events of the past (in spite of constant denials by author that past cannot be altered by visitors from future).

Full text of this story is available for free download (text, MP3 (via teaoodle)). This note is based on text version.

Story summary.

Outermost story frame is tiny - Fuwaad ibn Abbas (the narrator) is pleading why he is innocent & should be released by the Caliph (English distortion of "khalifaa", sort of a king) in Baghdad.

Next frame is the protagonist's story - how Fuwaad ended up getting arrested by Caliph's cops. This is the story to which the title applies. This frame includes 3 related but independent stories, each with its own title - "The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker", "The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole From Himself", & "The Tale of the Wife & Her Lover". I summarize each in its own section below.

The main story.

Fuwaad is a merchant of "fine fabrics". One fine day, he is taking a walk through the "district of metalsmiths" in Baghdad to buy a gift for a business associate, & enters a shop with amazing gadgets. During his conversations with the Bashaarat, the shop owner, he will learn that Bashaarat is an "Alchemist". But the term "Alchemist" is used very liberally - Bashaarat is actually a prolific inventor of fantastic gadgets.

One the gadgets he will be shown is the gate - a kind of time travel device. A "stout metal hoop ... mounted upright" where whatever enter from right ends up T time into future, & whatever enters from left ends up T time into past! T is a spec of the gate - there are gates of "several seconds" & there are gates of 20 years - later will play a key role in the story. Reminded me of Bob Shaw's "Light of Other Days" - but you could only see pictures of another time in its "slow glass", not actually go there as in this story.

Among the many cool demonstrations at "several seconds" gate, one I really liked was where Bashaarat gets to future, pulls out the ring from the hands of Fuwaad, comes back to past, & shows it to him - two rings for a time! After the requisite time has passed, a hand comes & actually pulls the ring from his hand - so he is only left with his ring with Bashaarat!

A key aspect of these Gates is - if you cross 20 years into future, you won't age - only the rest of the world would have aged! So you can meet your own older self!

Bashaarat invites Fuwaad to travel 20 years to future. Fuwaad is reluctant - that is when Bashaarat narrates the other 3 stories - of other time travelers that used his Gate.

Eventually, Fuwaad is willing, but wants to go 20 years back in time - not future. Not possible, according to Bashaarat, since this Gate was built only weeks back - you will be able to go back here only after 20 years have lapsed.

But Bashaarat has an older 20 years Gate still in operation - in Cairo, & run by his son. Fuwaad tarvels there, goes back to past because of a guilt he is carrying - blaming himself for her death 20 years back. He won't be able to save her even after time travel, & will get arrested for violating curfew - that is how he ended up the court of the Caliph.

The Tale of the Fortunate Rope-Maker.

Hassan, a poor rope maker, used the 20 years Gate at Cairo to meet his older self. Found he was very rich. Older self gives him minor tips but lets him actually experience the major events; he won't even get to see the wife of his older self - so courting can be fun.

He will eventually get rich after digging up a chest of precious gems hidden by thieves, on a tip from his older self. Sort of a loop here!

The Tale of the Weaver Who Stole From Himself.

Another loop story in the tradition of looping pictures by Eicher included in Douglas Hofstadter's "Godel, Escher, Bach"!

Moving story of Ajib, a poor weaver. Hearing of Hassan's tale, he will travel to future to discover that his future self is as poor, & stays in the same house with same lock! On investigating the house when older self is away, he will find a chest of gold.

What is miser this future self is! So he steals the chest from his own future & returns to present - living lavishly. Spends a lot, marries his lady love Taahira. Gets notices by bad elements who kidnap his wife, & take away all the remaining fortune he brought from future as ransom!

When asked by his wife, he will tell her someone gave him money & he need not return. Wife will have none of this - he must return the money. So he will spend next 20 years saving the money so his younger self can steal it!!

The Tale of the Wife & Her Lover.

This is where travelers from future tinker with the past - to change the course of history.

This is the story of Raniya, wife of Hassan the rope make who got rich.

While she was never introduced to younger Hassan, she was intrigued by the young visitor to her home. Pestering her husband, she learns the time travel story. When older Hassan is away for a while on business, she travels back in time to younger Hassan, & lusts him. Younger Hassan is yet to meet his lady love.

While tailing him, she will follow him to a jewelery store where Hassan is trying to sell one of the necklace from fortune he dug up - sale is agreed for next day. As it happens, two of the thieves whose fortune Hassan stole are also in the shop - she overhears their conversation about looting Hassan after he sells the necklace, & will also force him to give up rest of the stuff. Sounded a bit like the story of "Alibaba & 40 Thieves" from a school text book - original is probably from Arabian Nights.

She knows no harm will come to Hassan - since he lives in future & had actually given her the same necklace. She decides to take care of thieves. Goes back to her own time, & then another 20 years into future - to meet her even older self. The "two" women will both come to shop next day when Hassan is visiting with thieves waiting with their chief. They will come with their own & the same necklace - trying to sell when Hassan is selling. Multiple copies convinces thieves & shop owner it's common stuff. Hassan's deal goes sour, but thieves are off his back.

+40 version will return to her time; +20 will spend some time in this past. She will befriend Hassan & teach him the joys of sex - before eventually returning to her own time.

Collected in.

1. Gardner Dozois (Ed)'s "The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection" (2008).
   

Fact sheet.

"The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate", short story, review
First published: As a short book by Subterranean Press, July 2007. Immediately after that, republished in F&SF, September 2007.
Rating: A
Winner of Nebula Award 2007 in novelette category.
Winner of Hugo Award 2008 in novelette category.
Among the finalists for BSFA Award 2007 in short fiction category.
Added to my best of year 2007 picks.
Related: All stories of Ted Chiang.

Subterranean magazine, Winter 2008 issue

Looks like they fill out the online magazine's table of contents slowly. When I checked on 5 January 2008, it only had one complete written story. Plus sundry other articles.

Here is some commentary on what I found interesting enough to actually bother reading; will likely add to it as the issue gets filled out over the quarter. My rating is in brackets (ABC: A = time well spent; C = don't bother).

1. [non fiction] Elizabeth Bear's "Congratulations" (A); download: 15-point advice for artists on how to handle fans & critics. Very readable.
2. [ss] Michael Bishop's "The Pile" (B); download: Non-genre. Generally readable description of the life in not well off housing society. Title refers to a location on society premises where households can dump junk that may be useful for someone else - like a TV set that doesn't work. This location serves as a kind of place to socialize.
   

Legend: ss = short story.

John Scalzi's "Pluto Tells All": What Pluto feels - about its "demotion" from the status of a planet!

This very short & somewhat humorous tale is told in the form similar to some school essays (Hindi word is aatmkatha - "self story"; I don't know the English word for this kind of story): own story of Pluto told by itself. There are some references to people that I didn't catch because of lack of familiarity - presumably those in appropriate country will find them humorous.

Readable but not a great story. Full text is available online.

First published: Subterranean magazine, Spring 2007.
Rating: B

John Scalzi's "The Sagan Diary": Cyborg soldier falls in love, & decides to become an ordinary human

While my first Scalzi, this story is apparently part of a larger collection of short stories & novels by Scalzi set in the same "universe".

While nominally science fiction, this is of the softer kind of science fiction. No ghosts etc, but no science either. But great prose, & far too many quotable quotes. I didn't get bored at all, but there is nothing worth remembering either.

Full text of this story is available for download.

Story summary.

This is a frame story. Main story is narrated in a "diary" - a collection of computer files produced by "BrainPal" dump of the brain of Lt Jane Sagan of Colonial Defense Forces (CDF)! She was created (rather than born, as we all are), & was immediately as competent as an adult human - much like a robot. Narration is at her age 9 years - already a veteran of many wars on different worlds & an efficient killer.

She has fallen in love with Major John Perry, also of CDF, & wants to retire from military. Military rules require a dump of her consciousness before retirement. Because she wants to lead an ordinary life, her brain dump will be transferred to another soldier body!

Frame is in the form of a complaint from one department of military about another to a high official - with the diary attached as a case in point.

Diary offers glimpses of the life of Jane, her violant nature, empathy (but not remorse) she feels for her victims, her discovery of "born" kinds of humans & how she is different, her love affair, etc.

Fact sheet.

"The Sagan Diary", short story, review
First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: B

"Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007 issue: 11 stories, 8 read, 2 good

Here is the list of stories, ranked on quality (best first). My rating is in brackets; a short summary follows along with a rough classification of genre of story. Link on title takes you to my commentary article - if I've posted one. Download link is provided here as well as in my commentary article.

Among the 7 I've read are 2 science fiction stories, 1 fantasy, & rest non-genre.

1. Mike Resnick's "Merry Bunta!" (A); download: Non-genre. Humor. Part of Lucifer Jones in South America series. Lucifer falls in love, & goes through a lot of trouble to win his lady love over.
2. Chris Roberson's "Fire in the Lake" (A); download: Non-genre. Politics. Palace intrigue & a Royal's murder investigation in imperial China.
3. John Scalzi's "The Sagan Diary" (B); download: Science fiction. A cyborg warrior woman falls in love & decides to become a normal human.
4. Stephen Gallagher's "The Blackwood Oak" (B); download: Fantasy. Much of the story is of the life of a forest warden, Damien Ryan, & of his chase of an apparantly evil ghost that has escaped.
   
   Ghost is "Sylvanus Roscoe, of the genus Sylvani" - a kind of "nature spirit" & "an Elemental". Roscoe was trapped trapped under water in the stem of an ancient oak tree for a century; the tree stem was buried by a dam, & is now exposed after dam was emptied for repairs - giving Roscoe the chance to escape.
   
   Last third is where we learn the Roscoe's end of the story - how his people were hunted & kidnapped to satisfy a megalomaniac's quest for scientific knowledge, & how the maniac was helped by ancestors of the Damien.
   
   I got a feeling the author was either talking about the fate of animals that end up in labs, or of American Indians killed when Europeans were occupying Americas. This part is essentially about the empathy Damien feels for the wronged, but no one now living was responsible & since nothing can be done about it, it's best to leave buried what was buried till now.
5. Daniel Abraham's "The Support Technician Tango" (B); download: Non-genre. I suppose you could call it science fiction, but you would have to stretch the definition. Key thesis of the story is: few people are immune to superstition.
   
   David Osgood is a computer sysadmin at a law firm. There has been a computer virus outbreak overnight; David spent the night at office patching systems with the result that his firm is operational next day while its competitors' operations are badly affected. There is a rumor that a competitor is looking to hire David. As a defensive move, Mr Elms, a partner at the firm, offers David a week's salary as bonus plus a pat on the back.
   
   But just before David was called to office of Mr Elms, he happened to look at one of those dime-a-dozen self-help books with generic advice indistinguishable from astrology. After hearing of the reward, he is kind of feeling superstitious about the contents of that book - which has vanished from where he left it, & seems to be destined to infect many minds in the office.
6. Jay Lake's "The Fly and Die Ticket" (B); download: Science fiction. "Rajamurtha drive" aka "r-drive" is a spaceship engine that can move vessels faster than light - making interstellar travel possible for humans.
   
   Only it sometimes does something to matter surrounding it - including the vessel itself & the human tissue. This something makes the affected matter extremely dangerous to normal matter - means all matter infected, including infected humans, needs to be dumped to some secret sterile world where no normal human will ever go.
   
   Story is about the fate of Manny - a veteran of many voyages who has now caught this matter sickness. He is now isolated & banished from humanity forever - to die on this secret world.
   
   I found the plot utterly flimsy, & narrative rather casual.
7. David Prill's "Show of Hands" (C); download: Non-genre. One of those unfathomable stories!
   
   A farmer in US in mid twentieth century follows an annual ritual - of watching the annual passage of a circus train through his small community! Develops a fetish for clean hands. Loses one of his hand in an accident. Ends up envying everyone's hands.
8. Kealan Patrick Burke's "The Acquaintance" (C); download: Non-genre. A violent criminal returns to his home town in small town Ireland after spending many years away - in prison & hanging out at many places.
   
   Most of the story is set in a bar he stops over before going home. Ends up in a hospital with paralyzed legs after being hit by a speeding car when finally walking home drunk at night.
9. Caitlín R Kiernan's "In the Dreamtime of Lady Resurrection"; download: Not read. I seem to have either missed it out when I originally downloaded this issue, or this story was posted after my download.
   
10. Livia Llewellyn's "The Four Hundred Thousand"; download: Not read.
11. Charles de Lint's "Promises to Keep"; read by Yanni Kuznia; download: Not read because it's MP3 audio & I'm not very comfortable with US accent.
    

Charles de Lint's "Make a Joyful Noise": A woman finally prepares to grow out of her past

Something about this story touched me.

It's a very well told motivational story: don't let demons from your past spoil your present. But presented as a fantasy - with ghosts & shape-shifters.

While fantasy is not my genre, this story changed my mind. Fantasy need not be stupid & meaningless.

Actually, last 10% could have been dropped from the story - it just drags it senselessly. But first 90% is great.

Full story text is available for download.

Story summary.

Story is narrated by Maida - a "corbae" - a kind of angelic shape-shifter that can assume human body or of a crow, & can magically appear from spaces inaccessible to ordinary humans. She has an inseparable companion, her "sister" Zia who is not her sister!

They are very nosy. Once, at night, Maida enters a home via an open window as crow; then begins exploring inside in her human shape.

This is the home of Quinn family. Only a sad old woman now lives there - alone. She had lost both her children decades ago when they were young - an athletic girl Madeline ("Maddy") who received much affection, & her neglected brother Donald ("Donnie"). Woman apparently has completely forgotten about her son, but continues to mourn her daughter.

Ghost of Donald still moves through the house. He makes Maida promise she will make his mother remember him. Zia will help Maida & Donald through the project.

As the story unfolds, we learn that old woman's husband Ted had walked out on her, leaving her responsible for two kids. She thought the son was emotionally mature enough to take care of himself, while daughter needed a lot of hand-holding.

Son grows up a sad boy, thinking mom doesn't love him. One fine day, aged 15, he will die alone at home after getting bitten by a bug, while mom is out with sister. Sister will later die in a car accident.

When confronted by Zia (posing as daughter) to old woman, we learn the old woman has always felt that she is somehow responsible for the death of her son. She just cannot get rid of the guilt. Talking things out, with son's ghost present, finally prepares both the mother & son's ghost to let bygones be bygones.

Logically, this is where story should have ended. But it goes on dragging for a while. I didn't like this later portion.

Quotes.

Several quotes in the story caught my attention.

1. "We all carry around other people’s expectations of who we are, and sometimes we end up growing into those expectations."
2. "you’re usually way too focused on past wrongs and the like to be any fun."
3. "Why is it so easy to spread sadness and so hard to spread happiness?"
4. "if you pretend you’re happy, you can trick yourself into at least feeling better."
5. "There’ll always be sadness, but try to remember that it wasn’t always that way."
6. "Life’s not very tidy, ... so I suppose there’s no reason for death to be any different."
7. "We have to go mad and dance and sing and do cartwheels along the telephone wires like we’re famous trapeze artists... Because it’s better than feeling sad."

Fact sheet.

"Make a Joyful Noise", short story, review
First published: Subterranean Press, Summer 2007.
Rating: A
Added to my best of the year 2007 picks.

Mike Resnick's "Carnival Knowledge": A conman gets too greedy during Rio Carnival

This is a very readable story, though the plot is a well used one. And there is nothing sf about it. One of the Lucifer Jones on South America series.

Apart from easy language, there was some education for me - some details of Rio Carnival in Brazil. Sounds a lot like India's Holi - if you replace fancy costumes with colored powder & colored water. And, in its Bombay avatar, replace Samba with much louder but equally tuneless drums.

Download full story text here.

Story summary.
Lucifer Jones, the conman hero of the story & also the narrator, is posing as a priest - "Reverend Doctor Lucifer Jones". He has just been kicked out of some city, & is looking around for a place where his skills are unknown. That is how he lands in Rio, & during the Carnival.

On entry, he learns of a heist in the city. Some expensive diamonds called "Pebbles of God" have been stolen - something he was banking on stealing himself. No matter, at least there will be girls during Carnival. And he is quickly being chased by Conchita's brothers, first willing girl he found & rather well known one around the city.

While on run, he will meet his old friend & nemesis, Erich von Horst. They have been involved in several con jobs together - Lucifer always turning up the poorer. Erich tells Lucifer he is the one who stole the diamonds, & cops are behind him; he gets Lucifer to agree to smuggle diamonds out of city in return for a 50% share.

There is a very filmy set up to smuggle them. A fancy costume, a chariot, some stinking fish to keep nosy cops at bay, & a crown Lucifer will wear that actually is studded with stolen diamonds. He will become part of a Carnival group while in city; then get out while still dressed up, & the two will meet at "a tavern named Carlita’s two miles south of the city limits".

Lucifer doesn't believe crown is diamonds. Erich is too smart an operator. So he looks through the stuff, & finds that rotting fish contain the diamonds. He hides them in the city, replaces the fish by buying new one, & heads out at rendezvous point.

The two meet. Erich's contact that will buy diamonds is due soon. Lucifer hands out the costume & other stuff to Erich, & slips off.

In city, Lucifer will recovers the diamonds & go find a cheap hotel while he figures out what to do with them. Only, when he is about to pay for the stay, he finds the note from Erich - who had already foreseen this behavior. Diamonds were indeed studded in the crown.

Related.

1. All stories by Mike Resnick.

Fact sheet.
"Carnival Knowledge", short story, review
First published: Subterranean magazine, Summer 2007.
Rating: A
Lucifer Jones series.

Rachel Swirsky's "Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind": Last days of humanity

This is actually a very readable doomsday story. Only I don't like negative stories - where everyone gives up, & lets the world go to dogs.

Download full story text here.

Story summary.
A good sized asteroid is going to hit earth. When it is detected, there is no way to deflect it, because space travel has long been underfunded.

There is technology to absorb shock at city scale - "pressure shields". Only there are budget issues. And self-serving politicians decided to save their own city, & let other be the inevitable casualties.

Only some of the others don't like it. Men at a biology lab in a place that won't be saved release a dangerous virus into the atmosphere. Most people will be killed long before asteroid hits. When it does hit, it hits at a place where nuclear waste is stored - contaminating the atmosphere, & killing pretty much everyone. Only a few isolated tribes survive with primitive technology; they will die out in a few generations as pathogen reaches them.

Story is primarily told from a human interest angle. Which is what makes it readable.

Fact sheet.
"Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind", short story, review
First published: Subterranean magazine, Summer 2007.
Rating: B

Charles Stross' "Snowball’s Chance": A criminal cons the Devil

This is either a particularly bad piece by Stross, or he writes only for audiences that have English as their first language. How else can humor be such a tedious read, from one of the supposedly better modern authors of the genre?

Thing I found most irritating was dialogs that are phonetizations of some dialect of spoken English, rather than in normal English. And somewhat liberal use of less common words. While I could follow the gist of the story, there were portions that just went over my head.

You can download the full text of the story here.

Story summary.
Global warming has made life miserable at many places on earth. "collapse of the West Antarctic ice shelf" has sunk many former lands under the sea. But resulting changes to some ocean streams has made England a much colder country. US has deployed a large parasol in space to reduce some of the solar heat reaching earth.

Davy, a criminal, is visiting Deid Nurse, a bar, somewhere in Edinburgh, England. That is where he is visited by the Devil! Looks like Devil owes Davy a debt - because Davy's criminal activities would normally have been Devil's job. Devil grants Davy a boon.

After some negotiations, Davy demands removal of US parasol in sky - so his place will warm again. Granted. Devil has arranged a "rock about the size of this pub, traveling on a cometary orbit" in space, to hit the parasol & destroy it. Apparently, it will not actually come closer to earth to cause direct harm, because there is no further talk of it.

That is when Davy gives his nasty smile & demands further boons. Devil doesn't think any further boons are due. Until Davy reminds him that he got the first boon by making life miserable for only a few thousand people; how many billions' lives will be made miserable by destruction of the parasol?

Fact sheet.
"Snowball’s Chance", short story, review
First published: Subterranean, Summer 2007.
Rating: B

Elizabeth Bear's "Black is the Color": Monster hunting girls

Dark fantasy; full story text here.

Kelpie is a race of sea-dwelling shape-shifting horse-monster predators. Story is of hunt & killing of a young girl, already sexually abused by her dad, by Uisgebaugh, a member of this monster species.

First published: Subterranean, Summer 2007.
Rating: C

Gene Wolfe's "Unrequited Love": For admirers of Asimov's robot stories

This has the flavor of an average robot story by Asimov, though not with his rigor. An ok read.

Full text of this story can be downloaded here.

Story summary.
We don't know the name, sex, or age of narrator - though I got the impression it's an adult human rather than a robot.

Narrator's neighbors are Dan & Tamara Robinson. For whatever reason, they don't want to have a real child; so they get a little robot girl! She is Roberta.

Roberta is just like any other girl. Looks like she is not of metallic skin; not sure. She goes to school, though of course, she knows far more than her colleagues, & loves helping them. She shows expected emotions - jumping up when happy, crying, sadness, ...

Julianne is human, & is Roberta's classmate & friend. One fine day, they get their dog pets. Roberta's pet is a real dog; Julianne's is robot dog.

On encouragement from narrator, they exchange their dogs for a while. And then things go a bit sour, as dogs show their preferences for their own kind!

Fact sheet.
"Unrequited Love", short story, review
First published: Subterranean, Summer 2007.
Rating: B

"Subterranean" magazine, Summer 2007 issue: 8 stories

List below is of stories in the online magazine, ranked by quality - best first. My rating in brackets. "Download" link fetches individual stories, & is also found in my review articles. Full issue of magazine available here.

1. Charles de Lint's "Make a Joyful Noise" (A); download: Very good motivational story, presented as a fantasy. An old woman finally prepares to outgrow the demons of her past. Added to my best of the year 2007 picks.
   
2. Mike Resnik's "Carnival Knowledge: A Lucifer Jones Story" (A); download: Not sf. A conman gets too greedy during Rio Carnival.
   
3. Gene Wolfe's "Unrequited Love" (B); download: An Asimovian robot story.
4. Rachel Swirsky's "Dispersed by the Sun, Melting in the Wind" (B); download: Well written story about the last days of humanity. But rather pessimistic.
   
5. Charles Stross' "Snowball's Chance" (C); download: Humor. A criminal cons the Devil.
   
6. Elizabeth Bear's "Black is the Color" (C); download: Not sf. A monster hunts & kills a young girl.
7. C S E Cooney's "Stone Shoes" (C); download: A piece of fantasy/horror. A society of very violent humans with unfamiliar morals, & of magical creatures, among them shape shifters. A mother who physically sews up the lips of her little child because he speaks too much, & leaves him sewed for 3 days! Forces her other child to wear shoes made of solid granite so he won't go wandering off when she is not looking! And where kids kill their mother & eat her!
   
8. Joe R Lansdale's "Coat" (C); download: Not sf. Easily the worst story in this issue. A monster of a man kills a stranger because he is wearing an out-of-fashion coat! Takes away the coat. We learn the coat reminded him of his own humble beginnings. Kills himself in his madness during the night.