Monday, January 4, 2016

The Abduction of Europa, by E. Catherine Tobler

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(Fantasy Science) Out on Europa, Marius has vanished and Kotto has come to rescue his partner, Bolaji. (5,965 words; Time: 19m)

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ Needs Improvement

"," by (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in issue 112, published on .

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

This story is horrible overwritten. Bolaji's sections are the most purple, while Marius's sections seem hallucinogenic, but even Kotto's are unnaturally fancy. On top of that, there doesn't really seem to be a story here. We never do learn what happened to any of them or why.

The science is really, really bad. Ice on Europa would behave like rock on Earth. It would not be slippery. A sled with runners would not slide. Nor would Europa seem be particularly dark during the daytime because the eye adjusts. Even Pluto is brighter than a brightly-lit office conference room. Nor would it need to feel cold. The vacuum of the atmosphere would be an insulator, for one thing. For another, warming a person from -360 F to 70 F wouldn't be much harder than warming him/her from -260 F to 30 F.

Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 112)
E. Catherine Tobler Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. Regardless of the science, there are too many elements that never come together: the myth of Europa, Bolaji's many-times great grandfather, Marius's Others, Kotto's color blindness, and finally they all melted?

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