#asimov's science fiction

[ilikereadingactually]

Magazine Highlights: Asimov's SF Jan-Feb 24

i have impulsively begun digital subscriptions to a few spec fiction magazines, and though i find starting new routines difficult, i'm trying to set aside a few hours every week to read at least some of each issue and highlight the works i particularly love!

so, from Asimov's Science Fiction, January/February 2024 issue:

"Similar Songs" - Ken Poyner - poetry

premise: robot singers are valued by audiences for their perfect performances, but is perfection everything?

gut reaction: love me a short poem that gets right to the business of kicking me in the chest. the line "When the robots sing / To themselves, it is sedition" really got me.

"To Eat Your Own Head" - Nkone Chaka - short story

premise: a conservation researcher struggles to retain her funding and contain her rage, and her robotic assistant knows her better than she thinks.

gut reaction: metaphor at its best, in the form of a two-headed snake that consumes itself when in distress. this was a big mood in a small package, a really nuanced take on anger and violence, especially women's anger and violence.

"After the Winter Solstice" - Sean McMullen - novelette

premise: a research party in a wintry kingdom make a dangerous journey to take celestial measurements from a distant castle while the rest of their world is "in hiber" to prepare for the deepest unsurvivable winter months. part physics, part camaraderie and interpersonal drama, part murder mystery!

gut reaction: this one was a tough read for me just because the astronomy talk was over my head, but it was fascinating! it has an old-fashioned feel, i think, and the central character was very lovable.

"Augher, Clogher, Fivemiletown" - Ian McDonald - short story

premise: the rise and fall of an acting school dropout-turned-influencer with a special (perhaps magical) talent.

gut reaction: this story was so SATISFYING to me! just the tiniest bit of speculative premise to spice up the otherwise prosaic plot, very subtly done. the real shining gem was the narrative voice, specific and funny and believable.

[that-dinopunk-guy]

Aw yeah, the first issue of my subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction came today, this is gonna be...wait. What's....

OH GOD DAMMIT

[humanoidhistory]

Michael Whelan's cover art for Foundation's Edge by Isaac Asimov, 1983.

[pagingdrmusic]

From a day about town: magazines from Barnes & Noble and vinyl from Block Street Records!

[magic-crazy-as-this]

Damian Wayne starts reading more literature to engage more with the world, Jason suggests Isaac Asimov and the "I, Robot" stories in particular, 'cause robots are cool.

Unfortunately, Damian learns from this that almost murder technically still fulfils "do not murder" rules.

[kosmos-fantastika]

Isaac Asimov - The End of Eternity (Ukrainian SSR, USSR, 1990)

artist: O. Kononov

[noosphe-re]

If you’re born in a cubicle and grow up in a corridor, and work in a cell, and vacation in a crowded sun-room, then coming up into the open with nothing but sky over you might just give you a nervous breakdown.

Isaac Asimov, Foundation, Volume 3

[cristianattolico]

[spacenoirdetective]

Epic Foundation art by Jean Pierre Targete

[wirelessw]

Dr Starline's Three Laws of Kit

* Kit must not harm Surge or, through inaction, allow Surge to come to harm

* Kit must obey all orders given to him by Surge, unless such an order would violate the first law

* Kit must defend his own existence unless such an action would violate the first or second laws

[basicallyanotherwitchesthing]

Isaac Asimov - The Heavenly Host - Puffin - 1979 (cover painting by Lynn Barrable)

[catofadifferentcolor]

“Individual science fiction stories may seem as trivial as ever to the blinder critics and philosophers of today, but the core of science fiction -- its essence -- has become crucial to our salvation, if we are to be saved at all.” 

― Isaac Asimov

[thefugitivesaint]

Frank Borth (1918-2009), ''Asimovs'', Vol. 2, #6, 1978 Source

[humanoidhistory]

German edition of Isaac Asimov's I, Robot with cover art by Paul Lehr, 1970.

[haveyoureadthisbook-poll]

[yoestuveaquiunavezfrases21]

2118- La violencia es el último recurso del incompetente.

(Isaac Asimov)