Saturday, October 17, 2015

Rattlesnakes and Men, by Michael Bishop

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, February 2015; ~12,000 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended

Wylene Godfrey, her husband Reed, and daughter Celeste move to Wriggly, Georgia, where everyone owns at least one rattlesnake.

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

Pro: The prose is clean, and the story really does have a plot: the .

Con: The anti-gun political message goes on and on and on. For a shorter story, this might be sustainable, but at 12,000 words it just seems endless. It makes its point, after a fashion, but it lays it on so thick that suspension of disbelief is impossible to sustain.

2 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Now that this is a Nebula Award finalist, here are some other reviews (from the "Other Reviews" link): LTilton SFRevu Tangent

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  2. Overtly satire that bents way more on parody than any realism. Plot is not too bad and it’s kinda amusing that the world has no gunpowder and does not progress beyond archery. But yes it goes on too long

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