Mysteries!

Most of my reading the past few years has been on a Kindle. I try to read a chapter, or two, from a book each night before I retire. Kindle Unlimited has really helped keep me in books without breaking the bank. I just wish some of the big publishing houses...I'm talking to about you Penguin!...would put their books into the Unlimited list.

I still read SF & Fantasy, but lately I've been reading a lot of mystery novels. Kindle Unlimited has many, many, mystery books available. Yes, a lot of them are of the "cozy" variety and not up to the quality of Sayers, Christie, or Marsh, but they are entertaining and light enough so I can read a chapter and then go to sleep rather than having to stay up all night to finish.

Consequently, I'll now be including reviews of mysteries here on Sword & Blaster to go along with SF & Fantasy.

Analog June 2010

June's issue contained 3 Novelettes and 4 Short Stories, along with the various usual features. This was a good issue, run out and grab a copy!

"The Anunnaki Legacy", by Bond Elam was the lead and cover story this time. Suppose we discover that humanity was the result of genetic manipulation by an "ancient race", and suppose that ancient race was long gone leaving behind only tantalizing hints at their existance, much less their technology, culture...or very nature? That's the Anunnaki and we are their legacy...maybe. In this story, humans were being human, aliens were being alien, puzzles needed solving and a sense of wonder was everywhere you looked. Yep, this novelette was good enough to carry the entire issue and good enough for you to run out and grab a copy all by itself.

"Space Aliens Taught My Dog to Knit!", by Jerry Oltion & Elton Elliott kept me laughing. I guessed the ending early, but that didn't matter because it was so much fun for the authors to get me there. Suppose the "crazies" are right and it really is all a great big conspiracy? Even so, with bumbling, stumbling, and all too humans running this great big conspiracy you know that sooner or later the National Inquirer is going to break the story...right? Read and enjoy!

"Heist", by Tracy Canfield was a detection/puzzle story with King Solomon thrown in. Take nanotechlogy and 3D fabbers and now just what makes a rarity a rarity? And how do you tell the original from the replacant when there is no difference, except in the mind of the owner?

"At Last the Sun", by Richard Foss wasn't about the BP spill, but it came out right in the middle of that disaster and how could I not make the connection? Another First Contact story inside an environmental tale inside a slice of Gulf Coastal life. I live here, the BP disaster is my people's disaster. This story isn't about spilling oil, but it is about the ruination of a people's culture...maybe two people's culture...

"Cargo", by Michael F. Flynn asks the question, "What makes a Dark Age?" Flynn is one of the authors you go to for "alternate past" fiction, but here he gives us an alternate future story. This is truly an idea story with a very slim...but very attractively shaped...wrapper of plot around it.

Analog July/August 2010

Every year Analog combines their July and August issues into one big "double issue." They do the same with their January and February issues. I'm sure they do it to save on costs...paper, mailing, etc...and that's okay with me. With more pages to fill, we typically get some longer form stories and I like longer form stories! This issue had 3 Novellas, 4 Novelettes and 3 Short Stories...as well as the typical features (Editorial, Science Fact, Alternate View, Reference Library, etc.). Following are comments on a few of the stories/articles therein.

"Doctor Alien's Five Empty Boxes", by Rajnar Vajna was the lead and cover story. Doctor Alien is the "psychologist to the stars"...stars as in aliens, not as in movie...and here he is dealing with a number of interesting cases. Some of the cases aren't at all what they seem. Humor, action and puzzle solving! What's not to like? Read this!

The science fact article this month, "Artificial Volcanoes: Can we cool the Earth by Imitating Mt. Pinatubo?", by Richard A. Lovell. I've read about this before, didn't like the idea then, don't like it now. Let's pump the upper atmosphere full of particulates, reducing the Earth's insolation, and cooling us all down! Yeah, let's do that...:(...not! Do read the article, do some study, and decide for yourself.

"The Long Way Around", by Carl Frederick is a nice little story set on the moon with a nice little puzzle solving ending. Interesting read, but certainly lightweight...oh, about 1/6th Earth gravity light.

"Fly Me to the Moon", by Marianne J. Dyson almost made me cry. Alzheimer's has hit my family hard. As good as this story was, and it was very good, any story like this was bound to make me very sad. This was an upbeat story wrapped around a very, very, downbeat disease. To be clear, it is worth reading.

"Bug Trap", by Stephen L. Burns was fine, but overshadowed by other stories in this issue. Read it if you have a few hour to waste.

"The Android Who Became a Human Who Became an Android", by Scott William Carter was a good read. Underlying a "detective story" was an interesting little idea about what is it to be a human. As it turns out the Android was much more human than one of the humans and why the android became a human and then became an android again was all human.

"Project Hades", by Stephen Baxter was great! As good as Dr. Alien was, this was better, and, IMO, deserved to be the lead story. If I had been the editor I'd have given the cover to the good doctor, but give Stephen Baxter's "What if this had happened?" top billing. Atomic bombs, first contact with creatures from inner space, shoot outs between US and British forces, heroes and villians left and right, and puzzles to solve...what more could you ask!

Lots of juicy stuff in this issue. Go find it!