Sunday, October 4, 2015

Day Job, by Tom Purdom

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, April/May 2015; ~8,800 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story

Len has empathy problems, so after losing yet another job, his girlfriend gets him to go to a clinic where they can fix things like that--most of the time.

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

Pro: The concept is nice, but this piece is about tension. It builds a bit at a time. Hints that law enforcement worries about guys like Len. That is treatment isn't working right. Meanwhile Toni keeps irritating him. He comes close to using force in bed. We know he's got the sword.  At the end, it's super intense when we wondering if Len is going to kill Toni.

Con: But the ending is a letdown. All the energy goes out with a whimper, not a bang. We're left wondering if the story was really meant to be about Rafe (as the title suggests), but in that case, what is it trying to say?

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