RogerBW's Blog

Clarkesworld 144, September 2018 15 September 2018

Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.

Everything is available in HTML from the magazine's site, and it can be bought in various other formats.

A Study in Oils by Kelly Robson explores a future society with an interesting approach to criminal justice; I can't go into detail without spoiling the pleasure of discovery, but while the core plot is well-worn the variations played here work well. (I wasn't especially impressed with Robson's Waters of Versailles but this is a great deal more to my taste.)

Waves of Influence by D.A. Xiaolin Spires has a world where social media is all; but alas the course of the story is utterly predictable after the introductory scene, and it never manages to be interesting enough to overcome that handicap.

Dandelion by Elly Bangs is a generational story of the effects of discovery of an alien artefact – and I'm afraid the artefact's purpose struck me as criminally irresponsible, so my sympathies weren't tweaked they way they were meant to be. The people are excellent, though.

The Foodie Federation's Dinosaur Farm by Luo Longxiang has dinosaurs being raised for meat. Including intelligent ones. It's clearly not meant to be taken terribly seriously, though it has its moments.

The Mighty Slinger by Karen Lord and Tobias S. Buckell has an aging calypso singer inciting interplanetary revolution, while travelling into the future via cold-sleep. I wasn't fond of the writing style, but the people and plot work well.

Mayfly by Peter Watts and Derryl Murphy has one good idea, but it's a Peter Watts story so everything that happens is pointless and horrible.

How and Why CRISPR Will Change the World by Doug Dluzen is a very basic layman's introduction which doesn't go into any of the interesting possibilities.

Mars, Sextants, and Puppets: A Conversation with Mary Robinette Kowal by Chris Urie is a good author interview; I didn't particularly get on with The Lady Astronaut of Mars but this suggests I might give her novels a look.

Another Word: Softly Dying Darlings, and How to Deal with Them by Alethea Kontis looks at the writer's truism "kill your darlings"… testing the implications of a bunch of meanings, none of which is the only one that I have heard actual writers assign to it (to wit, if you think a particular aspect of your work is the Best Thing Ever, there's a significant chance that it won't work for other people and you'll have to change it). Well, all right, Kontis is an actual writer even if I've never heard of her, but it seems odd that she shouldn't know this.

Editor's Desk: Another Post-Con Crash by Neil Clarke is his report on Worldcon in San José.

Only the Watts really didn't work for me this time, and I may well nominate the Robson for a Hugo (though I'll read it again first).

[Buy this at Amazon] and help support the blog. ["As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases."]

Previous in series: Clarkesworld 143, August 2018 | Series: Clarkesworld | Next in series: Clarkesworld 145, October 2018

Comments on this post are now closed. If you have particular grounds for adding a late comment, comment on a more recent post quoting the URL of this one.

Search
Archive
Tags 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 3d printing action advent of code aeronautics aikakirja anecdote animation anime army astronomy audio audio tech aviation base commerce battletech beer boardgaming book of the week bookmonth chain of command children chris chronicle church of no redeeming virtues cold war comedy computing contemporary cornish smuggler cosmic encounter coup covid-19 crime cthulhu eternal cycling dead of winter doctor who documentary drama driving drone ecchi economics en garde espionage essen 2015 essen 2016 essen 2017 essen 2018 essen 2019 essen 2022 essen 2023 existential risk falklands war fandom fanfic fantasy feminism film firefly first world war flash point flight simulation food garmin drive gazebo genesys geocaching geodata gin gkp gurps gurps 101 gus harpoon historical history horror hugo 2014 hugo 2015 hugo 2016 hugo 2017 hugo 2018 hugo 2019 hugo 2020 hugo 2022 hugo-nebula reread in brief avoid instrumented life javascript julian simpson julie enfield kickstarter kotlin learn to play leaving earth linux liquor lovecraftiana lua mecha men with beards mpd museum music mystery naval noir non-fiction one for the brow opera parody paul temple perl perl weekly challenge photography podcast politics postscript powers prediction privacy project woolsack pyracantha python quantum rail raku ranting raspberry pi reading reading boardgames social real life restaurant reviews romance rpg a day rpgs ruby rust scala science fiction scythe second world war security shipwreck simutrans smartphone south atlantic war squaddies stationery steampunk stuarts suburbia superheroes suspense television the resistance the weekly challenge thirsty meeples thriller tin soldier torg toys trailers travel type 26 type 31 type 45 vietnam war war wargaming weather wives and sweethearts writing about writing x-wing young adult
Special All book reviews, All film reviews
Produced by aikakirja v0.1