Watergirl, by Rudy Rucker and Marc Laidlaw

Find this issue

(SF Surfer Humor; Delbert & Zep) Del and his friend Zep are near-future surf bums living in Hawaii. Zep finds them work with a wealthy developer using nanotechnology to create programmable waves. (12,000 words; Time: 40m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

Recommended By: SFRevu:4

"Watergirl," by Rudy Rucker [bio] and Marc Laidlaw [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 01|15, published on November 3, 2014 by Penny Publications.

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

Pro: This is a murder mystery. It's clear to us, almost at once, that Sable was murdered, and we've got several suspects: Del, who admits he was jealous of her, Zep, who wanted to trade up, Lokelani, who everyone admits wanted to get rid of her, Mr. Bromelian, whom Stella was protesting, and, of course, Chorlkey, who hated all the Banyan people. Sable's revenant knows who killed her, and with Del's help, gets rid of him.

Con: All these suspects, and yet no one actually solved the murder. The water girl just kills him. The story was mostly SF, but then suddenly her ghost inhabits the waves. It's not clear why anyone needs to rescue Lokelani, since it had to be Sable who caused the flood in the first place. Why can't she stop it too?

Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 01|15)
Rudy Rucker Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Marc Laidlaw Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.