Alien Contact. edited by Marty Halpern. 2011
Alien Contact is rated 84%.
AVERAGE STORY: 3.80
4 great / 15 good / 4 average / 1 poor / 1 DNF
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Marty Halpern, in his introduction for this collection, describes the Alien Contact story as one of the classic tropes of Science Fiction. His purpose for this collection was to collect great “recent” alien stories, (1980-2010.). He certainly accomplished that goal. Using the mixture of well established and lesser-known authors, Alien Contact stories offer many different takes on the subject matter.
This is a very strong collect with 4 stories rated as great and only 2 stories rated as poor. Even the stories rated ‘merely’ good are well worth reading.
My favorite are "The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick, which explores the melancholy of tourism to a place where the glory as collapsed but the people remain. "A Midwinter's Tale" by Michael Swanwick is a brutal and suspensful tale that works as a first contact, animal uplift story, wildness survival, and cozy holiday reminisce. In "Laws of Survival" by Nancy Kress, a woman must train feral dogs to appeal a simple robot and the alien masters. Style is substance in "Exo-Skeleton Town" by Jeffrey Ford, which combines a crime story, Hollywood glamour and despair, alien bugs, and romance into a very compelling story.
Definitely recommended. Almost everyone will find something to like here.
Alien Contact is rated 84%.
4 great / 15 good / 4 average / 1 poor / 1 DNF
How do I arrive at a rating?
"The Thought War" by Paul McAuley. 2008
Good. A zombie outbreak story wrapped in the SF container of an alien invasion tale.
"How to Talk to Girls at Parties" by Neil Gaiman. 2006
Good. Two young men go to a party to meet girls, but what they find is a little offbeat and strange.
"Face Value" by Karen Joy Fowler. 1986
Good. An artist and a scientist see their relationship fall apart during a study of nearly unfathomable aliens.
"The Road Not Taken" by Harry Turtledove. 1985
Good. An alternative path of human development is revealed when spacefaring ‘teddy bears’ attack.
"The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything" by George Alec Effinger. 1984
Average. Aliens give earth superior technology just be allowed to hang out with us.
"I Am the Doorway" by Stephen King
Missing from the e-book version due to ‘contractual limitations’
"Recycling Strategies for the Inner City" by Pat Murphy. 1990
Good. A woman scavengers her city for pieces of destroyed alien tech. Eventually she’ll find a metallic hand that seems to have its own mission.
"The 43 Antarean Dynasties" by Mike Resnick. 1997
Great. A modern-day native must give ungrateful tourists a tour around the majestic ruins of his ancestors. A superb SF commentary on the tourist industry in formerly great countries.
"The Gold Bug" by Orson Scott Card. 2007
Average. A small tale set in Card’s Enderverse that, while well written, doesn’t amount to much.
"Kin" by Bruce McAllister. 2006
Good. A young boy tries to hire an alien to kill the man who plans to kill his sister.
"Guerrilla Mural of a Siren's Song" by Ernest Hogan. 1989
Good. A graffiti artist is hired to attempt to understand an alien “siren” through art.
"Angel" by Pat Cadigan. 1987
Good. A human and alien navigate a strange relationship while pursued by a woman that the alien fears.
"The First Contact with the Gorgonids" by Ursula K. Le Guin. 1992
Average. Obnoxious tourists stumble across aliens in the Australian Outback.
"Sunday Night Yams at Minnie and Earl's" by Adam-Troy Castro. 2001
Good. Charming fable of Americana on the Moon and the astronauts who spend time there.
"A Midwinter's Tale" by Michael Swanwick. 1988
Great. A brutal, layered, and visceral tale of first contact between humans and wolf-like aliens. Very well written and intense.
"Texture of Other Ways" by Mark W. Tiedemann. 1999
Good. Telepaths - well telelogs they call it - are brought to attempt communication with aliens that music be sequester in a completely difference atmosphere. Only one problem, the telepaths must touch to communicate.
"To Go Boldly" by Cory Doctorow. 2009
DNF. Badly written Star Trek pastiche.
"If Nudity Offends You" by Elizabeth Moon. 1988
Average. Life in a trailer park with a neighbor who is stealing your electricity. Then a hint of a Sci-fi element.
"Laws of Survival" by Nancy Kress. 2007
Great. A young female scavenges within the Dome that aliens placed to imprison humanity. She stumbles into a facility where she, with a simple robot companion, must train dogs or face her own destruction. Compelling, charming, and with solid suspense.
"What You Are About To See" by Jack Skillingstead. 2008
Good. A human interrogator is sent to examine an alien who is trying to fine the only timeline that lets them both survive, but the consequences may be too high.
"Amanda and the Alien" by Robert Silverberg. 1983
Average. A young women discovers an escaped shape-shifting alien and decides to have some fun with it.
"Exo-Skeleton Town" by Jeffrey Ford. 2001
Great. On a planet where bug-like aliens trade aphrodisiac dung for old Hollywood movies. on man down on this luck in a exoskeleton of an old actor is sent on a mission to steal an item from an aging actress.
"Lambing Season" by Molly Gloss. 2002
Good. A woman caring for a flock of sheep has repeated contact with a single alien and its spacecraft.
"Swarm" by Bruce Sterling. 1982
Good. A special agent from a branch of humanity that is bred for intelligence arrives on a symbiotic space station with a mission that will secure victory in an ongoing war. The Swarm is very well described and there is more than enough here for a novel.
"MAXO Signals" by Charles Stross. 2005
Poor. I think this is some SF version of a Nigerian Scam joke?
"Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter. 2007
Good. Tender story of a mother and daughter contemplating the end of the universe from the vantage point of their garden.
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