(Image by Daniel Dociu)

“Night creeps over the forest and the frogs begin their mating calls in earnest. The croaking rises to a din, and the kids pause and listen. The glorious stars emerge, and I’m not sure if it’s my imagination, but the frogs seem to plead to them, over and over again, “Save us, save us, save us!”

In Matthew Kressel’s “The Sounds of Old Earth” we are introduced to Abner, one of the remaining holdouts on a decayed and dying Earth. Abner lives in a small wooded area behind a protective screen of his devising in an ancestral home listening to the frogs croak on the nearby pond, reliving memories from when Earth was a vibrant place. Most of Earth’s inhabitants have been transferred to New Earth, while some of the less fortunate live on corporate-owned orbital platforms. Abner wants nothing to do with New Earth and aches as he sees his children and grandchildren so easily abandon the home of mankind. Matthew Kressel’s short story visits the small tragedies and triumphs that make up a life and in the process presents a touching narrative on what it is that makes a home.

If you haven’t taken the time to do so, please read “The Sounds of Old Earth“, and then come along after the jump for a more detailed discussion of the story.

Continue reading The Sounds of Old Earth ~Matthew Kressel →

I wrote in my review of “The Back Channel” that it was roughly the mid-point of Scalzi’s novel and that I felt like he was giving the reader a bit of a breather. After reading “The Dog King” I can clearly see how wrong I was. The Human Division is being released episodically with each of thirteen chapters released individually, one every Tuesday. This being the seventh episode it sits poised with six stories preceding it and six to come after and though this story continues the alternating theme and returns us back to the crew of the Clarke, it is a light, comical story that I suspect is meant to act as a break, that brief moment of peace as the roller coaster crests the hill before it goes screaming back down the other side. Given that John Scalzi is by all appearances a writer who has a specific plan in mind I am curious about the direction the episodes will be taking from here on out.

All that I can say sans spoilers about “The Dog King” is that in this episode the reader is treated to Harry Wilson acting as a dog-sitter while the diplomatic team meets with an alien race willing to allow a negotiator to help them end a two-hundred-year-long civil war.

For those of you who have read the story or don’t care about being spoiled, please follow on.

Continue reading The Dog King ~John Scalzi →

Today’s Short Fiction Friday over at SF Signal is a review of the latest issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction. I have been reading Asimov’s off and on for the last few years and am excited that this weekly short fiction venture will help me keep up with it consistently this year.

This month’s issue was not one of my favorites but there was one stand out story and a couple of good ones by established authors. As always Robert Silverberg’s Reflections column and Sheila Williams’ editorial were worth reading.

You can click here to be taken to the full review over at SF Signal.

As a preview for next week, I will be reviewing the 7 short stories nominated for this year’s Nebula awards. Links to all seven stories can be found in this post if you are interested in reading along.

And don’t forget that Sunday I will be posting a discussion on Daniel Abraham’s entertaining fantasy short story, “The Cambist and Lord Iron: A Fairy Tale of Economics“. You can read the story by clicking on the title. I do hope you’ll join in the conversation.