Somehow I managed to read a couple more 1997 stories from the Gardner Dozois anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction, Fifteenth Annual Collection. There's just one novella left after this, and then I get to move on to the next year. But first things first...
THE MASQUE OF AGAMEMNON, by Sean Williams and Simon Brown
In the distant future, I don't suppose that it's a surprise that nanotechnology has combined with artificial intelligence to produce a vastly transformed technology...much to humanity's benefit, I'm sure. But from time to time things backfire, as this tale of a predatory warship manned by mythical characters from ancient Greece demonstrates. I couldn't help thinking of that horrible first Star Trek movie about a space probe gone awry. This story's final line makes an assumption about the reader having read a memorable first line in an equally memorable novel...
GULLIVER AT HOME by John Kessel
It helps to have already read Gulliver's Travels before starting out in this tale surmising what it might have been like for the protagonist's family and home life between and after his illustrious adventures. Having read it myself, I fully comprehend how ridiculous his affection for horses was, based on the super-intelligent and wise ones he encountered (and their equally ridiculous names). A funny story, though maybe you should first read Jonathan Swift's novel...
Next week (hopefully) I'll conclude this protracted look at 1997 in the realm of science fiction with my take on the final story...a novella...in Dozois' anthology...
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