“The Jekyll Island Horror” by Allen M. Steele & The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (Part 1)

This may seem like an eclectic topic today, and it admittedly is, but it worked quite well for me. There are two short pieces for us to look at.

“The Jekyll Island Horror” by Allen M. Steele

I am a huge fan of horror fiction, pulp era fiction as well as pulp era pastiche, and Allen M. Steele, so when I got my copy of the January 2010 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction in the mail, I moved that story to the top of my reading list. While “The Jekyll Island Horror” wasn’t as good as Steele’s Coyote Trilogy, it was still a fun read.

Prefaced by a short introduction that plays the trope of “This tale is true, as handed down to me by [story-teller/witness],” seen in numbers of books including the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs and many other pulp practitioners. We then move into the manuscript that Steele was “given,” which is a tale of a valet to a rich man in the 1930s, who happens to be present to an incident on Jekyll Island that proved to him that aliens have visited Earth.

Written in pulp style, Steele captures that mood quite well. The lead up to the horror of the title is a little long-winded, but the denouement was a lot of fun. Keep an eye out for this novelette.

The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks (Part 1)

The Zombie Survival Guide is a faux-how-to book on surviving zombie apocalypse. As it isn’t a narrative, it is a book that is easy to pick up and put down, and seemed like the perfect thing to dive into when I am in between novels and figuring out what to read next. So, prepare yourselves for the first serial review here at Luke Reviews!

The first section of Max Brooks book, titled “The Undead: Myths and Realities,” covers a lot of ground, working a background primer, under the pretense that you have to know what you are fighting to survive it. The book was quite scientific, surprisingly, yet it still managed to play a number of tongue-in-cheek jokes to the genre, which is easy to do with its vast history. I read the first half of the section, and had a lot of fun hitting all of the characteristics and rationale behind the zombie phenomenon.

Asimov’s Science Fiction—September 2009 edited by Sheila Williams

Originally Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine, Asimov’s Science Fiction holds a powerful place in the industry, regularly putting out award winning pieces in both the science fiction and fantasy categories. A long time subscriber, I fell behind a bit, and so I’m making a clean start on this month’s issue. Starting with a short editorial from Sheila Williams on the 2009 Dell Magazines Award and Silverberg’s monthly column, this one “Building Worlds: Part I,” Asimov’s moves into the stories.

“Away From Here” by Lisa Goldstein: A short fantasy on mysterious beings who arrive at an out of the way motel, and fill a girl’s mind with imagination, only to disappear. This story was artsy at the cost of plot, and left too much unexplained in a very unsatisfying way. One of the weaker stories here.

“Camera Obscured” by Ferrett Steinmetz: A tale of the near future, where a boy wants to find his goal, to be the best at something. After a number of accidents, he lands on the secret to being the “World’s Best Lover (Hetero Male).” This leads him to an encounter with Rosalie Atkinson, and the most meaningful afternoon of his young life. Despite his goal, this is a sex-free story about a boy who is looking in all the wrong places for who he is, and needs the friendship of another to learn the secret. A well-written piece.

“Soulmates” by Mike Resnick & Lezli Robyn: A story of a man that made the choice to let his wife go off machines in the hospital and die, “Soulmates” follows his grief, and his recovery, with the help of his friend MOZ-512, or Mose. A very powerful story, with wit, humor, and deep philosophical underpinnings, this is a must read story, and should be a shoe-in nomination when awards time roles around.

“In Their Garden” by Brenda Cooper: A short piece on a world after a disaster, a small colony trying to rebirth a culture, and one girl who wants to follow a different path. This one felt like one scene from a larger tale, not a tale in and of itself.

“The Day Before the Day Before” by Steve Rasnic Tem: An overly dense tale of time travel, as one man returns to the past to “fix” a “wrong” to make a “better” future.

“Tear-Down” by Benjamin Crowell: When a house’s are given AI, where will their loyalties lie? Crowell discusses this through a series of snapshots, in this well written tale.

“Her Heart’s Desire” by Jerry Oltion: A light, easy, fun story that is a wonderful break after the other more turgid, heavy tales that come before it, be it in their contents or artistic aspirations. A nice change of pace.

“Broken Windchimes” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: This novella, the final story in the magazine, just didn’t excite me, so I gave it a skip. It could be great, but the beginning didn’t do much for me.

Also included are three poems—“Speculative Tai Chi” by Kendall Evans, “Nearly Ready for Occupation” by Danny Adams, and “The Last Alchemist” by Bruce Boston—and “On Books,” written by Paul Di Filippo, covering War Games by Christopher Anvil, The Starman Omnibus: Volume 1 by James Robinson, The Servants by Michael Marshall Smith, Blonde Roots by Bernardine Evaristo, and Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross.

A pretty mediocre issue, all in all. I’ve read better, but this one wasn’t for me.

5/10