Monday, September 14, 2015

Ashfall, by Edd Vick and Manny Frishberg

Analog Science Fiction and Fact, July/August 2015; ~3,000 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

Beekeepers threatened by volcanic ash discover new things about their robotic bees.

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Given the "what if robot bees developed some emergent intelligence," this is a nice story. The family's deep concern is very real, and we're rooting for them on every page. The father's desire to thank the hive mind is touching.

We expected more from the volcano than just to kick off the story. It's awfully convenient that the hive intelligence automatically wants to help its human owners--complete to figuring out the needs of natural bees. The kid's meddling with the software has no negative consequences at all.

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