{"id":569,"date":"2011-12-30T08:58:59","date_gmt":"2011-12-29T22:58:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.markwebb.name\/?p=569"},"modified":"2013-01-11T15:52:47","modified_gmt":"2013-01-11T05:52:47","slug":"analog-december-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.markwebb.name\/?p=569","title":{"rendered":"Analog – December 2011 – review"},"content":{"rendered":"

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My favourite story of this issue was The Impossibles<\/em>\u00a0by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, based on the premise that Earth has entered into a series of treaties with alien races that mean that Earth citizens are subject to alien laws when in alien territory. The story is told from the point of view of a young lawyer serving time as a defender in the InterSpecies Court to pay off her student loans.<\/p>\n

The story was well written, but I particularly liked the premise of attempting to navigate the nightmare that occurs when multiple, fundamentally different legal systems intersect. The idea that Earth governments would give up on fringe citizens in order to get advantageous trade deals was sadly plausible. The story gave a good sense of the frenetic pace required to operate in that world through the eyes of the protagonist, Kerrie.<\/p>\n

I also enjoyed Not for Ourselves Alone<\/em>\u00a0by Charles E. Gannon. Humanity is in retreat, attacked by a species known as the Arat Kur. The Arat Kur have a super weapon that is cutting through Earth based defences like they weren’t there. The story is about a group of military specialists who have been tasked with intercepting the Arat Kur fleet at Jupiter and trying to get enough data to understand the weapon so that humanity can formulate a defence.<\/p>\n

I liked the premise and the multi-national nature of the military force (there was even a New Zealander!). The story is told from the perspective of a Russian tactical specialist. Very interesting mystery and the story was constructed well – without a schmaltzy ending.<\/p>\n

Also in this months edition were:<\/p>\n