As my reviews of short sci-fi stories from 1988 continue to the fourth week, I switch my focus to the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Sixth Annual Collection. There is a small overlap of stories with the Donald A. Wollheim anthology I had been covering for the previous three weeks: Peaches for Mad Molly (Harry Turtledove), Schrödinger's Kitten (Howard Waldrop) and Skin Deep (D. Alexander Smith) are in both books. As I've stated before, I can't believe Dozois didn't pick Ripples in the Dirac Sea (Geoffrey A. Landis), but I suppose there's no accounting for taste, sigh. And now, here are my reactions to the first (non-overlapping) tales in Gardner's anthology...
SURFACING by Walter Jon Williams
On another planet presumably in a future of human space exploration and settlement, a man with a cynical, angry attitude toward life and others is using humpback whales that he transported into its seas to detect and understand the deep-dwelling, intelligent indigenous beings there. Meanwhile, a shape-shifting alien has landed there and then presumably left...but then suddenly a woman scientist arrives on the scene, alternately competing with the man over his project and seducing him. I was frustrated reading all this and felt the author stuck too many diverse elements into the story, which could have been simpler and shorter...
HOME FRONT by James Patrick Kelly
Will is an American teen in the near future (from 1988), putting up with his two loser friends and trying to do well enough in high school to stay out of the military draft and be sent off to fight in one of the never-ending wars abroad. One of his friends is playing the lottery to see if he can't become the next "Johnny America", the starring soldier in a TV show glorifying war and actually serving in it. And then there are the Selective Service sweeps through high school to pick up fresh soldiers. Pretty cynical, but at least nowadays Will's dismal situation would be less applicable to Americans...but much more so to Russian teens, sadly...
THE MAN WHO LOVED THE VAMPIRE LADY by Brian Stableford
Gardner Dozois must have thought that every alternative history tale automatically belongs to the science fiction genre, because he has so many in his collections...here's another. This "time" it's 1623 and vampires not only really exist, but they are the dominant ruling class. A "normal" human, a mechanist corresponding to our notion of a scientist, has made a discovery that could threaten the vampires. He suspects mortal danger for himself as his old vampire lover is paying him a visit, not good...
THE LAST ARTICLE by Harry Turtledove
Ditto with this story regarding my previous comments about Dozois, alternative histories, and sci-fi. This one is set in the late 1940s as the German Nazis, winners of World War II, are replacing Britain as the new occupying power in India, setting up a confrontation between their ranking officer there and peaceful resister Mohandas Gandhi. But Gandhi is in for a rude awakening as he has believed that all occupiers are essentially the same and susceptible to nonviolent resistance...
STABLE STRATEGIES FOR MIDDLE MANAGEMENT by Eileen Gunn
This brief story reminded me of Kafka's Metamorphosis as a future business executive, having consented to bioengineering on her body to further her career, wakes up one morning to discover the many insect-like features she is growing. I guess this was supposed to be a funny satire on human failings and overdependence on science...I did like how the protagonist handled her boss problem at the end, though I would never recommend it...
IN MEMORIAM by Nancy Kress
It's discovered in the future that our own accumulation of memories is a major factor in our aging and eventual death. But a method...the memory wipe...can restore lost youth and create a longer, more active life to those who choose this path. An aging woman, faced with the pressures of her flagging health and her own family's urging, must soon make the crucial decision. The ending was sad, profound and surprising...
Next week: more reactions to 1988 stories in the Dozois anthology...
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