Arrant Nonsense

I received my copy of this in the mail awhile back, and it shames me deeply that I'm only now getting around to blogging about it.

The first story was "Fullbrim's Finding," by Matthew Hughes. It's one of two novelets, and it seems to take an awfully long time to say, essentially, that life and creation have no meaning and anyone seeking "enlightenment" will have their hopes cruelly dashed--and go insane. Which is...kind of a downer. And not congruent with my own philosophy. So, yeah. Maybe I'm missing something, but I really can't be arsed to go back and re-read it to find out.

The next story was "Reader's Guide," by Lisa Goldstein. This was hilariously brilliant. It starts out asking questions, high-school style, about a (presumably fictional) book. The beginning questions are pretty standard fare, but then it veers sharply off with "6. How would the story be different if the characters were lemurs?" and goes from there. And there is actual story here as well, told from the POV of an acolyte of the Lord of Story. I thoroughly enjoyed this one.

After this was the cover novella, "The Roberts," by Michael Blumlein. The cover doesn't actually seem to have much to do with the story, but it's pretty, so I forgive it. It's okay, but I didn't love it, and it was interesting to see how the main character fell into old patterns of doing things and screwing up in precisely the same way as he did before. This is very much human nature.

Next up is "Enfant Terrible," by Scott Dalrymple. It's told in second person present tense, which makes it interesting and unusual, because most stories told this way kind of suck. This one doesn't, however, and the last line really makes it. I wish I could end all my stories on a note like that.

"Poison Victory," by Albert E. Cowdrey, is next, an alternate "what if the Nazis won WWII" history told in diary form. I really like this one. The things we do for love...

Finally, we have "The Dinosaur Train," by James L. Cambias. Dinosaur circus! Count me in! OMG. Why, yes, I'm a sucker for dino stories. Stop looking at me that way.

So, we have half the stories in this issue told in non-traditional formats. Interesting.

Also, funny classified ad is funny and refers to not only a story in the magazine, but also a cartoon. Good stuff. I'm fascinated by the fact that my initial impression of this issue was kind of "meh," but on re-reading it, there's a lot to like here. I'm glad I'm subscribing.

and so I am. What is "this," you ask?

The September 2007 issue of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction.

I read all the stories and most of the articles. Some of the stories were "meh," one was hysterically funny, and a couple were really, really good.

Of course, the "Books to Look For" article jumped out at me, because it mentioned the Buffy comics! And in a positive light. Charles de Lint is a Buffy fan, and he likes them, says they "feel right," unlike Nancy Holder's Queen of the Slayers, which he felt fell flat. I know that a lot of people will disagree with his assessment that the comics feel right, but a mention like this in a magazine like this is a good, right? At least, I think it is.

Episode Seven: Last Stand Against the Pack in the Kingdom of the Purple Flowers, by John Langan, is a fabulous look at a post-apocalyptic world. The storytelling device is non-traditional, very stream-of-consciousness and surreal, but it's all too real to these two characters, who find themselves on the run from a pack of alien hyena-like predators with no other living humans around. Excellent story, really top-notch.

The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate, by Ted Chiang, is another really good story about a man who has been haunted all his life by the fact that his wife died in an accident, after they had an argument. He's been tearing himself up for twenty years because he was afraid that she didn't know how much he loved her, and that she was still angry with him. He discovers a man who has a time gate which can send him back twenty years to the past, but first he's told a couple of cautionary tales about using it wisely.

He goes ahead and uses the gate, but he's too late to reach his wife. However, he intercepts a message meant for his younger self that his wife wanted him to know that her life, while short, was made happier by his presence in it.

Of course, the irony is that if his older self hadn't been there to get the message, it might have reached his younger self, and he wouldn't have been tearing himself up for twenty years about the incident, but whether the irony was intentional or not, I don't know.

Requirements for the Mythology Merit Badge, by Kevin N. Haw, is a list-fic of an apparent future Boy Scout merit badge. One of them is:

What is a god? What is a hero? What is a Hero? Why is capitalization so important to your personal safety in making these distinctions?

And it goes on in similar vein for the rest of the story. Funny stuff.

One thing that strikes me about this magazine is: NO ADS. At least, no ads in the interior. It's all story, man. And the ads they do have (inside the front cover, first end page, inside and outside the back covers) are for books. SF/F books. A couple of which I'm intrigued enough about to add to my "I should get these out of the library" list. They also have a page of classified ads--but that's it for ads. I just find this terribly cool.