Project Blue Book

So, I watched the first episode of Project Blue Book on the History Channel, a program that claims to be based on real events in the life of J. Allen Hynek. I'm a moderately big fan of UFO stories and theories and love reading about sightings, so a show about Hynek's decades-long journey from total skeptic to someone who felt there is more to investigate sounded just up my alley.

Well.

I know they have to jazz up the story a bit in order to make it more interesting. But this is so far from reality that you could have put anyone's name on the main character and had just the same story. Attaching Hynek's name was just a way to draw in people who actually have some real interest in actual facts.

It wasn't a horrible show. The acting was fine, there's a great bit of set-up for future run-ins with mysterious entities... but claiming it's based on facts is stretching the truth beyond the point of breaking. I have a lot of interest in the real story, but apparently reality isn't interesting enough for a television show. Instead, this one starts from the premise that UFOs are intelligent alien lifeforms and works from there. In real life, Hynek genuinely thought UFOs were mistakes and misperceptions, and took many years working with first-hand reports before he began to believe there was something beyond our current understanding involved.

There was one very familiar face. General James Harding is played by Neal McDonough (who played Damien Darhk in the CW superhero shows and Wyatt Cain in Tin Man). He feels villainous in this show, as well.

Overall, I think I'll give this one a miss, since I don't need another drama - even one based very very loosely on one of my interests.

Random Reviewlet 5

Goddess, Worm by Cassandra Khaw, published in Uncanny Magazine.

Warning: some spoilers may be ahead.
A goddess tries to get justice.

Wowsa. It took me a second read before I really understood what was happening, but it was worth the reading. The main character is all burning hate - mixed with memories of horrible torment. But she's still someone. All the other gods and goddesses are not. They have no reality, no depth - and that's how they prefer it.

I've spent a great deal of time thinking about ancient pantheons of gods and wondering about how they are structured and so forth. This story takes that to its natural conclusion. How does one punish a god who committed an act that a human found horrible, but the gods just found normal?

The ending is sharp but perfect. She cannot change the past, cannot get justice - but she can be the goddess that she herself hoped for but didn't find. Instead of a story just about revenge, which this could have been, it becomes a story of progression, of dealing with the problem and moving past it and becoming something greater both despite and because of the pain that came before.

Conclusion: Yeah, I liked it.

Random Reviewlet 4

A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad, published in Clarkesworld.

Warning: some spoilers may be ahead.
A specialist in forging foodstuffs gets a new client.

I love the founding concept of this story - that food can be printed to order, and people are willing to forge types of food so they don't look like they've been printed. Even better, this particular food is being made from cloned cells, so it's really the same food - just not from living animals. Honestly, I find the idea of printed cloned meat being so much cheaper that people claim it's the "real" stuff to be very hopeful for the future.

As for the story, it starts out as a standard blackmail type tale, then twists into a buddy film sort of thing. I love it. Honestly, the concept alone was great, but after Lily comes on board and Helena has someone to help her, I'm just happy with the whole thing. The characters are both great, with Helena's world-weariness more than offset by Lily's checkered history and happiness with herself.

The way the issue is resolved also makes me happy. I spent a little time squeeing at the totally obnoxious trick, which was kinder than the victim deserved. I would probably write a lot more about this story if I disliked it, but I really did enjoy it, so I guess this is enough.

Conclusion: A fun little story that does a great job world-building.

Random Reviewlet 3

Monster Girls Don't Cry by A. Marc Rustad, published in Uncanny Magazine.

Warning: some spoilers may be ahead.
A woman who spends her life hiding herself finds out what acceptance really means.

Well, if that isn't a giant metaphor, I don't know what is. However, it's so nicely done that I can't help but enjoy it on the surface level as well as the underneath. Oh, I suppose it's a bit clumsy in some respects with the metaphor - almost going overboard - but it's a story about literal monsters.

I usually don't like second-person narrative... but this story needs that little push into the personal space, and that's what the narrative does. The reader isn't really a monster, are they? But the narrative insists that for the length of this telling you see the world as the monster girl.

Of course, this story is about how good intentions aren't always positive, but it's also about finding people who don't mind the monsters and see the real people behind what others would call deformities. This metaphor could mean any group of people that are abused or shunned - from those with visible disabilities to those who can "pass" for normal.

I think my biggest problem with it is how it feels like a metaphor, even though it doesn't have to be. I feel like I have to think of who the monsters might be representing. That feeling is a result of our society. If I read this as a child or teenager, I would probably have understood the metaphor less, and because of that I would have enjoyed the story more and probably found it something to think about for a long time after. Coming to it as a jaded adult, I don't know if it works the way it should.

Conclusion: I really liked it, but can't shake the feeling that its message comes on too strong.

Random Reviewlet 2

Bodies Stacked Like Firewood by Sam J. Miller, a short story published in Uncanny Magazine.

At a funeral, two people make a connection. Warning: some spoilers may be ahead.

I understand why this story is in Uncanny Magazine, as it's about an uncanny event between two people who were dealing somewhat poorly with grief and life choices. But most of the story is about relationships, with only the slightest connection to fantasy/science fiction.

The main character is a bit of a sad sack, going through life listless and unhappy because he is unwilling to commit himself to joy. The woman he meets at the funeral is equally messed up, but for reasons we aren't really all that clear about. The decision they make to honor their dead friend's wish to be cremated was both frightening and amusing - frightening because they were drunk, and amusing because they couldn't, in the end, go through with it the way they wanted to.

This is very much a story about knowing who and what you are - couched around a slightly mystic story of a young trans man who believes some people can see the future. The only one in the story who I find at all appealing is the dead man, and we only see him through his writing and the viewpoint of the main character.

I couldn't decide if the ending was supposed to be about the dead man setting up the others to be together, or if he was just sending a message to them. Either way, the ending had a nice impact, but seemed terribly slight for such a heavy subject matter. Was it a dream? Was it the alcohol? Had they had a bit more than just alcohol? Or was the ending literal?

Conclusion: A surprisingly slight story, a decent read, but nothing that's likely to stick with me.

Random Reviewlet

Concessions by Khaalidah Muhammad-Ali, a novelette published in two parts in Strange Horizons.

The story concerns a doctor living in rough conditions and her choices regarding survival versus her faith. Warning: some spoilers may be ahead.

The idea of a society that banishes anyone who professes to any religion isn't as abhorrent to me as it could be. I've always felt that faith is something people ought to keep close to their hearts, despite growing up in a religion that is all about proselytizing. Maybe it's because of that background that I feel faith should be something kept to oneself unless asked about. That said, I know some people who get great comfort from the rituals of their religion, and I would be uncomfortable with a society that refused to even allow the signs of that religion, which is what that society seems to be.

Admittedly, we don't see much inside the society itself as most of the story takes place among the banished folk. There's a careful layering here, present in all good stories, that first gives us an idea of the way life is being lived, then why it's being lived that way, and of the dangers of this life (beyond just starving to death). The real action, when our main character goes to find tech to help her with a case, has been set up in such a way that the reader knows something is going to happen.

As for the concessions... well, this whole story is about making concessions to one's faith in order to live. It's made clear early on that the main character uses a bit of magic, which is forbidden in her religion. She also is allowed into compounds controlled by other religions - a concession on their part in order to get good health care. Her final concession doesn't really seem that great compared to the sacrifice she makes... but then, I'm speaking from the point of view of someone who believes religion cannot be taken away from a person even if the trappings of that religion are stripped away.

If I have any complaint, it's the way the guilt of the main character is presented. While the science of what went wrong seemed clear enough, I couldn't quite figure out how it related to everything else, particularly the Creed War. She's clearly feeling a great deal of guilt, but the timing seems off. I guess I couldn't make the connection between the Creed War and the science issue.

There's also a very strange sense of survivor syndrome. Just how many people did the Creed War affect, and what happened in the rest of the world? Are these people all that's left, or are there enclaves with people banished into the wilderness all over?

Conclusion: A good story, one that makes me think.