UPDATE: My New Year’s Resolution
By John DeNardo |
Saturday, May 1st, 2004 at
12:42 am
This is the April 2004 update of my New Year’s Resolution.
QUICK STATS:
STARTING SF-POINTS©: 117
SF-POINTS©EARNED THIS MONTH: 32 (QUOTA: 30)
YEAR-TO-DATE SF-POINTS©: 149 (YTD QUOTA: 121)
| DATE READ | STORY | AUTHOR | YEAR WRITTEN | SOURCE | RATING | TYPE | POINTS | YTD POINTS |
| 04/01/04 | The Clear Blue Seas of Luna | Gregory Benford | 2002 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction #20 |  |
NV | 2 | 117 |
| 04/02/04 | The Baum Plan for Financial Independence | John Kessel | 2004 | SCI FICTION | |
SS | 1 | 118 |
| 04/02/04 | The Little Lamb | Frederic Brown | 1953 | SCI FICTION |  |
SS | 1 | 119 |
| 04/07/04 | Caught in the Organ Draft | Robert Silverberg | 1972 | SCI FICTION | |
SS | 1 | 120 |
| 04/10/04 | V.A.O. | Geoff Ryman | 2002 | The Year’s Best Science Fiction #20 |  |
NA | 4 | 124 |
| 04/10/04 | Winters are Hard | Steven Popkes | 2002 |  |
SS | 1 | 125 | |
| 04/12/04 | At the Money | Richard Wadholm | 2002 |  |
NV | 2 | 127 | |
| 04/12/04 | Agent Provocateur | Alexander Irvine | 2002 | |
SS | 1 | 128 | |
| 04/13/04 | Singleton | Greg Egan | 2002 |  |
NV | 2 | 130 | |
| 04/16/04 | Slow Life | Michael Swanwick | 2002 | |
NV | 2 | 132 | |
| 04/16/04 | A Flock of Birds | James Van Pelt | 2002 | |
SS | 1 | 133 | |
| 04/17/04 | The Whisper of Disks | John Meaney | 2002 | |
NV | 2 | 135 | |
| 04/17/04 | The Hotel at Harlan’s Landing | Kage Baker | 2002 | |
SS | 1 | 136 | |
| 04/17/04 | The Millennium Party | Walter Jon Williams | 2002 | |
VI | 0 | 136 | |
| 04/18/04 | Turquoise Days | Alastair Reynolds | 2002 | |
NA | 4 | 140 | |
| 04/23/04 | Fermi and Frost | Frederik Pohl | 1985 | Armageddons edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois | |
SS | 1 | 141 |
| 04/25/04 | A Desperate Calculus | Gregory Benford | 1995 | |
NV | 2 | 143 | |
| 04/27/04 | It’s the Thought That Counts | Jerry Oltion | 2000 | Analog Science Fiction & Fact – December 2000 | |
SS | 1 | 144 |
| 04/28/04 | Evolution | Nancy Kress | 1995 | Armageddons | |
NV | 2 | 146 |
| 04/29/04 | A Message to the King of Brobdingnag | Richard Cowper | 1995 | |
NV | 2 | 148 | |
| 04/29/04 | “…The World, as We Know’t” | Howard Waldrop | 1982 | |
SS | 1 | 149 |
KEY:VI=Vignette (.25 points), SS=Short Story (1 point), NV=Novelette (2 points), NA=Novella (4 points)
NOTES:
- Some reviews are yet to be posted (Analog Science Fiction & Fact – December 2000)
- Miscellaneous reviews follow
The Baum Plan for Financial Independence by John Kessel
[Read: 04/02/04]
[Rating: ]
[Source: SCI FICTION]
| Synopsis: A scamming couple, reunited after one serves time, follows a lead to some easy money. They go to a deserted house and, inside a closet, discover a seemingly impossible palace where they ask for a large amount of money and get it. | |
| Review: Good writing here but this was nothing more than a “wonder what’s around the next corner” tale. The plot was a bit too simplistic. The Wizard of Oz References are cute, but not significant enough to mean anything. |
The Little Lamb by Frederic Brown
[Read: 04/02/04]
[Rating: ]
[Source: SCI FICTION]
| Synopsis: A painter suspects his wife of cheating on him. | |
| Review: Excellent, top-notch story where the suspense keeps increasing. Fantastic writing. |
Caught in the Organ Draft by Robert Silverberg
[Read: 04/07/04]
[Rating: ]
[Source: SCI FICTION]
| Synopsis: Concerns a society where government “drafts” young people to donate organs to older people. | |
| Review: Excellent premise superbly executed. A simple idea that makes for a great story. Lots of interesting analyses about the process dictated by the elders as seen through the eyes of one young man intent on draft dodging. |
Filed under: Books
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A lot of reading
I’m finding sfsignal entertaining at the moment. Also very impressive is that one of the guys is trying to read a science fiction short story each day for a year. Here’s his update so far….