This is the April 2006 update of my New Year's Resolution.

QUICK STATS:
   STARTING SF-POINTS^©: 98
   SF-POINTS^© EARNED THIS MONTH: 56 (QUOTA: 30)
   YEAR-TO-DATE SF-POINTS^©: 154 (YTD QUOTA: 120)

PREVIOUS MONTHS: Jan Feb Mar

DATE READ	STORY	YEAR WRITTEN	AUTHOR	SOURCE	RATING	TYPE	POINTS	YTD POINTS
04/06/06	"Good Mountain"	2005	Robert Reed	One Million, A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois		NA	4	102
04/07/06	"A Piece of the Great World"	2005	Robert Silverberg			NA	4	106
04/08/06	"Mirror Image"	2005	Nancy Kress			NA	4	110
04/08/06	"The Chiaroscurist"	2005	Hal Duncan	Electric Velocipede		NV	2	112
04/X09/06	"Thousandth Night"	2005	Alastair Reynolds	One Million, A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois		NA	4	116
04/10/06	"Born-Again"	2005	K.D. Wentworth	2005 Nebula Award Short Fiction Reading Project		SS	1	117
04/11/06	"Missile Gap"	2005	Charles Stross	One Million, A.D. edited by Gardner Dozois		NA	4	121
04/12/06	"Riding the Crocodile"	2005	Greg Egan			NA	4	125
04/13/06	"The End of the World as We Know It"	2004	Dale Bailey	2005 Nebula Award Short Fiction Reading Project		SS	1	126
04/14/06	"Clay's Pride"	2004	Bud Sparhawk			NA	4	130
04/16/06	"Magic for Beginners"	2005	Kelly Link			NA	4	134
04/16/06	"The Faery Handbag"	2004	Kelly Link			NV	2	136
04/16/06	"I Live With You"	2005	Carol Emshwiller			SS	1	137
04/17/06	"Singing Down My Sister"	2005	Margo Lanagan			SS	1	138
04/18/06	"Flat Diane"	2004	Daniel Abraham			NV	2	140
04/19/06	"Left of the Dial"	2004	Paul Witcover			NA	4	144
04/21/06	"Identity Theft"	2005	Robert J. Sawyer			NA	4	148
04/21/06	"Still Life With Boobs"	2005	Anne Harris			SS	1	149
04/22/06	"Nirvana High"	2004	Eileen Gunn and Leslie What			NV	2	151
04/22/06	"There's a Hole in the City"	2004	Richard Bowes			SS	1	152
04/24/06	"Into the Gardens of Sweet Night"	2005	Jay Lake	Fictionwise		NV	2	154

KEY:VI=Vignette (.25 points), SS=Short Story (1 point), NV=Novelette (2 points), NA=Novella (4 points)

NOTE: Click the Source link to see the associated review. Miscellaneous reviews follow

"The Chiaroscurist" by Hal Duncan [2005 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 04/08/06]

• Source: Electric Velocipede
• Synopsis: An chiaroscurist - an artist who specializes in monotone pictures which highlight might and shadow - sculpts the face of god in a monastery.
• Review: Duncan's creates a great mood in his writing. There are several touching scenes as we come to know that Iosef, the model for the artist's work, is ridiculed for his dwarfish stature. In the end, we realize that this is not so much a story about the artist as it is of Iosef. A very good story.

"Into the Gardens of Sweet Night" by Jay Lake [2003 novelette] (Rating: ) [Read 04/24/06]

• Source: Fictionwise
• Synopsis: A young man named Elroy, having recently finished a spiritual quest at a monastery, becomes gainfully employed by a talking pug named Wiggles. Together, the unlikely pair embarks on an eye-opening journey to find the fabled Gardens of Sweet Night.
• Review: The first half of this wonderful sf story reads like fantasy. That's a fine line to walk and is not always done successfully, but Lake pulls it off beautifully. I am reminded of the same pseudo-magical atmosphere that was in Silverberg's Nightwings. While the idea of talking animals sounds lame as a first impression, I am again reminded (as I was with Ian McDonald's "Floating Dogs" and also with Bradley Denton's "Sergeant Chip") that quality storytelling can make anything sound plausible with no sacrifice to quality. In Lake's perhaps too-scantily-drawn far-future, nanotech and genetic engineering have give rise to a brother race of animals. (Not to be confused with lowly beasts, thank you!) Wiggles (love the name!) enlists young Elroy to assist him in his return to the Gardens, the religious equivalent of Eden (Eden is, in fact, one of the 6 other Gardens) from which he was cast out. Elroy is surprised to learn that the gardens are not fables but space stations that orbit the Earth and are run by a much-feared Lord, who seeks out Wiggles for taking the forbidden fruit - an apple, natch. Elroy's worldview focuses so much on the definition of personal freedom that he fails to see opportunities to achieve it. All told, this is an excellent, atmospheric story. With dirigibles!
• Note: Nominated for the 2004 Hugo Award for best novelette.

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Posted by John DeNardo at Monday May 01, 2006 at 12:01 AM
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