With Fones, by Todd McCaffrey

[Anthology]

★★★★☆ Recommended

(SF Humor) If Liz can just get a few more species to participate, she can get bowling added as an event in the Intergalactic Games. It's a bad time to have fone problems. (6,200 words; Time: 20m)

"With Fones," by Todd McCaffrey [bio] (edited by Bryan Thomas Schmidt), appeared in Galactic Games (RSR review), published on June 7, 2016 by Baen Books.

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

Pro: Liz's struggle to make the games work is fun to follow, but what makes this piece special is that the humor actually works. Things like Liz's attempt to talk to the fone and to the other person on the fone at the same time, or when Isla Flight wants to be called "Your Eminence" and Liz thinks "Not another one of those!" or when Isla asks why promoting Inter-species harmony is desirable. Even that most new species make the mistake of thinking that winning a competition in the Intergalactic Games means they're now in charge of the government.

The mystery of what's wrong with the fones and the mystery of what Isla Flight is up to both get resolved together. In fact, the mystery of the missing fones and why Isla Flight kept getting bigger was also resolved

Con: There's very little character development in the story. We really learn nothing about Liz other than the fact that she's super competent, keeps her cool, and is really desperate to keep her job.

Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Todd McCaffrey Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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