Hi all,

I do not see a thread for this issue (December 2007), so I shall deposit all my comments here. (If Geoff wishes to distribute them later, by story, that is fine with me.)


"Icarus Beach." A very human situation, almost an Action Romance of a tale -- in the least hospitable, and very science fictional, environment imaginable. Their dire personal situations could've taken place in some Emperor's court. Reminded me of James Clavell's Shogun, in that respect.
Just one question, about the scale. Inside the 'final' star, they are meters apart, lost at a kilometer 'downhill,' and nearly 'out of sight' at several kilometer's distance. They do swoop away, then find each other again.
But hey, this is a star! On a linear track, they've covered hundreds of thousands of kilometers. Even within a narrow cone, many millions of cubic kilometers.
Ah well, I am happy to overlook this puzzle, for the sake of a wonderful story.

"Kukulkan." I've read so many First Contact stories that I have lost count, but not like this one. Aliens that are pretty darned alien! But with a bit of Von Daniken thread. A brave and worthy protagonist.
My obligatory lone gripe . . .
IMHO, the various world leaders pitched in much too quickly. The word 'hoax' didn't appear once in the text, with or without a question mark appended.
Could it be that, off screen, the orbiting 'clutch' was doing some additional high-tech convincing?

"Planemos." I hadn't realized so many 'free floating' planet sized bodies had already been discovered. Not much a starship can do, if it smacks into one! Or an accompanying asteroid belt!
Needs somebody to poke around, out along the interstellar routes, to mark these cold cold shoals. Maybe someday, this will be a paying job?

"Anything." A great, deeply heartfelt, short story. Someone's been paying close attention to John Cramer's AV columns!
Makes me wonder: need the person be aware of quantum physics? Must a personal death, and only such a dire situation, be involved, to skew the time/wave interactions?
Not at all sure . . .

Speaking of which, the AV column. Prof. Cramer is certainly on the bleeding edge.
Brain overload! Both simple and way, way over my head. But it sounds like some potentially *very* consequential experiments are going on these days . . .

"Domo Arigato." A clever near-future story. Reminded me of Mike Flynn's heroic/tragic asteroid scenes, in his 'Star' novels. The part of 'Right of Contract' is interesting. These days it's called Rule of Law. More complicated, but the same basic concept. Can you trust someone, and the entire social milieu, to back you up?
The big robot makes me wish I read more manga comics.
Okay, the gripe: It says the hero already set up his ion engine. Meanwhile, the robot set up his racetrack-mounted solar sale. Will the 'enemy' companies cooperate, or will these (very different) devices bollix each other?


"Salvation." A good time travel/alt-history story, and it should appeal to moderates on every 'side' of the whole Believer/Materialist thing. Interesting how the ending is left a mystery. A literary gesture -- or a cliffhanger?
Call that my gripe: now I'll never find out, or if I do, I'll have to wait. (No wait . . . does anyone have Mr. Oltion's email address? )
I won't even try to get into the specific theological aspects, or to extrapolate the plot on my own. OTOH, forum regulars are familiar with my own quirky heresies.

Some readers may wish to skip over this next paragraph:
He Who Must Not Be Named [a certain Analog Forum participant] actually took me more seriously than most! Speculated that, should Jesus have met with a better reception, that eventually he'd have walked into the Temple, laid himself down, and died as the necessary sacrifice. To this I quote Luke 5-24, which IMHO, has a pretty obvious meaning. Imagine, if you will, that Jesus had gone to Rome, and taught there, on Vatican Hill.

"Reunion." An excellent 'rough colony' story. Rough, at least, for the many who aren't part of the elite, city-slicker rulers. I've read enough SF with this type of setting to proclaim it a sub-subgenre on that big list. That being said, it's a very clever story, with plenty of plot twists and misdirection and surprises.
Good extrapolation on that 3D/gesture-based interface made famous by Minority Report. The individual customization is a good touch.
One gripe? I figured all along that the heroine would get tracked, and by everyone who cared to. I'd assumed her bike (scooter?) was also bugged, and the actual method was more clever.
But hey, that's not much of a gripe, it's actually some good characterization. Next time, she won't be fooled so easily!

A great, and appropriately thematic, Brass Tacks letter and response. It is an almost creepy idea, that Science could outdo itself; overrun its accustomed course, so to speak. But as Mike F responds, that is unlikely, and for several reasons.

-Paul C