3/06 UPDATE: My New Year’s Resolution
This is the March 2006 update of my New Year’s Resolution.
QUICK STATS:
STARTING SF-POINTS©: 62
SF-POINTS© EARNED THIS MONTH: 36 (QUOTA: 31)
YEAR-TO-DATE SF-POINTS©: 98 (YTD QUOTA: 90)
| DATE READ | STORY | YEAR WRITTEN | AUTHOR | SOURCE | RATING | TYPE | POINTS | YTD POINTS |
| 03/04/06 | “The Man in the Mailbag” | 1959 | Gordon R. Dickson | The Good Old Stuff edited by Gardner Dozois |  |
NV | 2 | 64 |
| 03/04/06 | “Mother Hitton’s Littul Kittons” | 1961 | Cordwainer Smith |  |
NV | 2 | 66 | |
| 03/04/06 | “A Kind of Artistry” | 1962 | Brian W. Aldiss |  |
NV | 2 | 68 | |
| 03/09/06 | “Gunpowder God” | 1964 | H. Beam Piper |  |
NA | 4 | 72 | |
| 03/11/06 | “Semley’s Necklace” | 1964 | Ursula K. Le Guin |  |
SS | 1 | 73 | |
| 03/11/06 | “Mother in the Sky with Diamonds” | 1971 | James Tiptree, Jr. |  |
NV | 2 | 75 | |
| 03/12/06 | “Genetopia” | 2001 | Keith Brooke | Infinity Plus | |
SS | 1 | 76 |
| 03/17/06 | “Sergeant Chip” | 2004 | Bradley Denton | Best Short Novels: 2005 edited by Jonathan Strahan |  |
NA | 4 | 80 |
| 03/17/06 | “Under the Flag of Night” | 2004 | Ian McDowell |  |
NA | 4 | 84 | |
| 03/24/06 | “The Concrete Jungle” | 2004 | Charles Stross | |
NA | 4 | 88 | |
| 03/25/06 | “The Gorgon in the Cupboard” | 2004 | Patricia A. McKillip | |
NA | 4 | 92 | |
| 03/25/06 | “The Fear Gun” | 2004 | Judith Berman | |
NV | 2 | 94 | |
| 03/26/06 | “Arabian Wine” | 2004 | Gregory Feeley | |
NA | 4 | 98 | |
| 03/26/06 | “They’re Made of Meat” | 1991 | Terry Bisson | Bisson’s website | |
VI | [.25] | 98 |
KEY:VI=Vignette (.25 points), SS=Short Story (1 point), NV=Novelette (2 points), NA=Novella (4 points)
NOTES:
- Miscellaneous reviews follow
“Genetopia“ by Keith Brooke [2001 short story] (Rating: ) [Read 03/12/06]
- Source: Brooke’s website, Infinity Plus
- Synopsis: Henritt, a Pure human in a world routinely affected by nanotechnology that transforms plants and animals alike, falls for a impure mutt of unknown origin and follows her into the dangerous wilds between settlements.
- Review: I read this as an introduction into the novel-length expansion of the story, Genetopia. Well, that’s not exactly accurate. I read the story after reading 50 pages into the book and the stories between the two differ. I like the ever-changing world of Genetopia and how the definition of human is so precarious. With the bio-engineering capabilities, both environmental and induced by tribes, the definition of humanity is very blurry. This raises some great questions about what it means to be humans, but these areas are left mostly unexplored in the story. Instead, it is a last-page realization for Henritt that the world is not black and white.
- Note: This story appears as chapter 14 in the Genetopia novel.
“They’re Made of Meat“ by Terry Bisson [1991 vignette] (Rating: ) [Read 03/26/06]
- Source: Bisson’s website.
- Synopsis: A race of alien, meat-based beings is discovered. Should we welcome them with open arms or ignore them?
- Review: Not bad, but this short vignette lacked any real impact.
- Note: 1991 Nebula nominee.
