Asimov’s Science Fiction – December 2011 – review

The novella All About Emily by Connie Willis is a well written piece about the introduction of artificial life into a near future world. The themes were well trodden (humans fearing the new lifeforms they have created, artificial life yearning for a more human existence) but the quality of the prose was excellent, with an interesting point of view through which the story was told.

I also enjoyed the novelette Surf by Suzanne Palmer, which started off feeling like a “scientific research gone wrong” style of story, but quickly turned into a fun adventure where I was happy to go along for the ride.

“Run,” Bakri Says by Ferrett Steinmetz had an interesting premise, of a woman trying to rescue her brother from prison with the aid of a “save point” – a device that let her consciousness slide back in time whenever her heart stopped to a pre-determined save point. Obviously very influenced by modern gaming, but I thought the idea of what that kind of bloody repetition would do to a person’s sanity was very interesting.

Also in this month’s edition was:

• Strawberry Birdies by Pamela Sargent
• Ephemera by Steve Rasnic Tem
• The List by Tim McDaniel
• The Countable by Ken Liu (warning: lots of maths, but I enjoyed the point of view character)
• Variety of editorials and reviews