Update, Commentary on F+SF Magazine
Mood:
Contemplative
Last week I started to read the June 2002 Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine. I've gotten through five stories and one department piece and overall I'm disappointed. Of the six pieces, five are flighty and/or irrelevant. Even worse is the roles that female characters play.
In "Our Friend Electricity" the role of female as magical, whimsical and existing only to enlighten the male was reprised (at least she wasn't a "Magical Negro" character). Not only did I not understand why the woman was an elephant, but also I had no idea why she helped the main (male) character. In the end, the woman disappears and the man gets a good job contact. Great friggin' story line. I've always been harsh on stories whose focus is returning to a "cherished childhood memory." "Electricity" did exactly that by placing itself smack dab in the middle of pig shit, sappy sentimentalism for Coney Island.
"Dating Secrets of the Dead" didn't illuminate my brain on any level except in the end where the author toyed with the idea of necrophilia, which would've earned my high praise, but the people having sex were both dead and decaying already. Also, the dating rituals enacted were so anachronistic that the necrophilia had no resonance with me. If you're idea of a date is to act in self-emasculating high-chivalry, and a don't-hold-hands-on-the-first-date attitude, then you'll love this story. I might have enjoyed this story if I were 12 years old or if I lived in the 1920's.)
Also disliked "Miles to Go," hated "When Bertie met Mary," and I was left unmoved about "Plumage from Pegasus."
On a good note, "The Black Abacus" by Yoon Ha Lee scored a 7.5 out of 10. It was what my and Sumner-Smith's "Tank Girl" story was aspiring to: intelligent speculation about the horrors of future warfare combined with science that I didn't understand enough to explain, but followed well enough to read. My sole complaint about the story was the female lead, she wasn't quite human enough for me, a cold-blooded, viscous killer but except for the romantic interest of the male executive officer, her gender didn't enhance the story.
Mayhap I'll drag myself through the rest of the entries.
HELLO OLD FRIEND
In "Our Friend Electricity" the role of female as magical, whimsical and existing only to enlighten the male was reprised (at least she wasn't a "Magical Negro" character). Not only did I not understand why the woman was an elephant, but also I had no idea why she helped the main (male) character. In the end, the woman disappears and the man gets a good job contact. Great friggin' story line. I've always been harsh on stories whose focus is returning to a "cherished childhood memory." "Electricity" did exactly that by placing itself smack dab in the middle of pig shit, sappy sentimentalism for Coney Island.
"Dating Secrets of the Dead" didn't illuminate my brain on any level except in the end where the author toyed with the idea of necrophilia, which would've earned my high praise, but the people having sex were both dead and decaying already. Also, the dating rituals enacted were so anachronistic that the necrophilia had no resonance with me. If you're idea of a date is to act in self-emasculating high-chivalry, and a don't-hold-hands-on-the-first-date attitude, then you'll love this story. I might have enjoyed this story if I were 12 years old or if I lived in the 1920's.)
Also disliked "Miles to Go," hated "When Bertie met Mary," and I was left unmoved about "Plumage from Pegasus."
On a good note, "The Black Abacus" by Yoon Ha Lee scored a 7.5 out of 10. It was what my and Sumner-Smith's "Tank Girl" story was aspiring to: intelligent speculation about the horrors of future warfare combined with science that I didn't understand enough to explain, but followed well enough to read. My sole complaint about the story was the female lead, she wasn't quite human enough for me, a cold-blooded, viscous killer but except for the romantic interest of the male executive officer, her gender didn't enhance the story.
Mayhap I'll drag myself through the rest of the entries.
HELLO OLD FRIEND
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