Uploaded May 1, 1996 -- Updated October 4, 1996
Here is the list of stories in this issue. If you have any comments or reviews, send them to jbailey@sff.net. Please indicate which issue and/or story you're referring to in the subject line, and try to keep comments for different stories separate in you letters so I can place them properly.
"Sisterhood of the Skin" by Arinn Dembo
[10/4/96]
"Acheter" by Jacquelyn Hooper [10/4/96]
"Communion" by Gordon Gross [10/4/96]
"Spelunking at the Cavern" by Michael
A. Martin [10/4/96]
"Jonny Punkinhead" by Amy Sterling Casil
[10/4/96]
"Sitters" by Michael Libling [10/4/96]
"The Auschwitz Circus" by Matthew Wells
[10/4/96]
Miscellaneous Comments (on the magazine as a whole, editorials, columns, etc.) [10/4/96]
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
This is a very strong SF story. A factory fishing vessel is plundering the waters of a virgin planet to feed the hungry masses of other worlds. Sci-Med Officer Tso is confronted with the mystery of the native silkies, a walrus-like species that has killed one of the crew. As she investigates the death and performs an autopsy on one of the silkies, she discovers that they may hold the key to her own problems of identity and self-image.
Well written and well drawn images of the world and the culture of the vessel create a strong backdrop to the characters personal story. Arinn Dembo is a writer to watch.
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
In this near-future tale of the struggles of a permanent underclass, Pecola is trying to get by on her daily food rations she earns by clearing debris from the side of the freeway. When she finds a dog that has strayed from a wealthy woman, she receives a windfall reward of $270. With it, she could buy anything she wants at the Unistore, the luxury supermarket for the rich -- if they'd let her in.
They won't, at least through the front door. With the cash comes opportunities and risks she never knew existed. Can she find her way through the maze of dealings beneath the facade of The Way Things Are Supposed To Be? It's an interesting trip to find out. Good story.
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
The author's name is really a pseudonym for husband-and-wife writing team of Harold Gross and Eve Gordon. In "Communion" they create a future society among the stars where the rare telepaths become jurors in the courts. The nature of telepathy creates problems, both with society at large, and with other telepaths. Glim and Jude travel to MON (Middle of Nowhere) to seek out a new, private life for themselves.
There are still other telepaths to deal with on the world, as well a mysterious pool creating psychic disturbances among the telepaths. Could it be the long-gone Ellysians, former owners of the world? This is an interesting, well written tale, but I found it lacking somewhat in focus. Is it the story of the interaction of the telepaths, or is the Ellysian pool the source of the drama? "Communion" doesn't quite make up its mind.
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
A cute little story, but not much substance. What would happen if John Lennon's life was a focal point in history, a nexus from which wildly different futures evolved? What if you were sent back to make sure that the events of your timeline were the ones that occured? What if another you also was sent back to make sure things happened differently? This is well written, and the twist at the end isn't completely obvious, but still nothing new.
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
The highlight of the issue for me. This is an emotional, compelling story. Dr. Hedrick Arlans is the administrator of Southern California Sherman Institute for Differently Abled Children. One ward is set aside for those affected by Webern syndrome, a serious new viral-borne birth defects that causes extreme variations in major body parts. Some children have fins instead of arms or legs, others have no faces, children with tails and scales, a little girl with silver fur. Then there's seven-year-old Jonny, his head swollen to twice normal size, a twisted spine leaving him paraplegic, and a blind third eye on his forehead. Still, Arlan can't help but become attached to the boy's openness and earnest wish to see his "gramma" again. She, and the rest of his family, though, are long gone, having signed Jonny into the institution when he was three.
Arlan risks losing his own family, though, as he finds it difficult to avoid bringing his work home with him. How can he just shed the emotional connection he has with the children of the ward, especially when the only family they have is the staff? His wife Monique and daughter Karen are growing distant. They can't understand why he can't find time for them.
The dilemmas and tragedies of this story are all too plausible and real. The SF premise of this new disease, however, provides the kind of distance that the reader needs to evaluate the situation with a greater degree of objectivity. This is one of the strengths of SF, and the author uses it well. How do we deal with those who are different? How do we treat those who like or even prefer their company? This story points asks these questions with both tenderness and sadness.
Highly recommended.
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
A man, his wife, and their daughter take a vacation on the coast of Maine. Strange and freakish incedents start happening such as a friend being killed in his house by a fish flung from the sea, and their daughter begins to hear sounds and music in her head. It's hard to describe anymore without giving stuff away, so I'll just say that this is a haunting twist on a fairly common theme.
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
This is the cover story, and the raison d'etre for this being a new writer's issue (see misc. comments below).
The SF premise is that there have been "holodecks" (probably the best term for what's happening) that can recreate events from the past, whether they have happened or not. One popular room is on Kennedy's assassination. Nora is addicted to the Hitler room, always going back to kill Hitler at one point or another in his life before he can bring his nightmare to the world. Her husband Louis can't figure out her fascination with it.
Until he tries it himself. He too becomes obsessed, killing Hitler, killing the other German leaders, the soldiers the guards at the concentration camps, etc. It not enough, though, never can be enough in the virtual world because it doesn't change anything.
That's where the Auschwitz Circus of the title comes in. I won't give away the secret, but I have to wonder that if virtual revenge isn't enough, can a virtual redemption take it's place?
Jim Bailey
Jim Bailey: 10/4/96
This was a special "new writers" issue that came about because of the cover picture. As Kris Rusch tells the story in an earlier issue, Harlan Ellison was so smitten by the painting for "The Auschwitz Circus" he said it would be a crime to mar it with words splashed over it on the cover. Problem is, from marketing standpoint, if there were any "big name" authors contributing to the issue, the magazine had to list them on the front to attract sales. Solution? Avoid the dilemma by presenting all new writers. Since their names would be unfamiliar to the vast majority of readers, there wouldn't be any point to printing them over the picture. Moreover, it became its own selling point: Looking for something fresh? Here's an entire issue of it.
Did the experiment work? I think so. It's by no means the best issue of the year (one of Kris Rusch's justifications was that a writer's first story generally has to be of much higher quality than average to break through into print), but it certainly was enjoyable and different. I detected an overall lack of polish to the stories, but that may just be warped preconceived perceptions on my part. If these writers continue with their careers, they are bound to achieve greater skills, both with the prose and storytelling. I hope they do continue. It will be very interesting to pull this issue out every five years or so and ask, "Where are they now?"
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