Thursday, September 29, 2016

Pompoms And Circumstance, by Esther M. Friesner

Find this book
(Sports SF Humor) KayT means to lead her girls to victory in the cheerleading event at the Galactic games, provided the Snargs don't eat them first. (7,100 words; Time: 23m)

Rating: ★★★★☆, Recommended
Recommended By: RHorton:4

"Pompoms And Circumstance," by (edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt), appeared in Galactic Games (RSR review), published on by .

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

Pro: The main pleasures of this story are KayT herself, as a caricature of the clueless teenage girl, and Azhil, who never really tries to disguise what she is, and shows us that even a bloodthirsty monster has feelings too.

It's pretty obvious that Azhil is going to kill someone before this is all over, and that adds tension to almost every scene. We're devastated along with KayT when BeBe steals the captainship from her, but we almost immediately realize that whatever "gift" the student gives the teacher is bound to be fatal.

The story is filled with funny lines. "With great pompoms came great responsibility." And the bit about Sara-Jenn confusing a participant with a soda machine was hysterical.

Con: The Snarg are a bit hard to believe. You'd think their schools would run out of teachers pretty quickly.

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