Tuesday, November 22, 2016

Dogfights in Olympus and Other Absences, by Ryan Row

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(Military SF) Diego flies fighter missions above planet Olympus, and he's good at it. It's the rest of his life that sucks. (4,827 words; Time: 16m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

"Dogfights in Olympus and Other Absences," by (edited by Andy Cox), appeared in issue 267, published on by .

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

Pro: This is the story of how Diego found something more important to him than cloud fighters. The proof of that is that when Diego realizes his daughter is fighting for another company, he immediately resigns for fear of killing her. From that point, he starts to find other worthwhile things in life, starting with dating his ex-wife.

Con: The science whoppers are painful and copious. E.g. the family live on an "artificial moon" 0.2 light-years from Olympus. Black smoke pours out of a damaged fusion drive.

The prose is very purple.

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1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. In many ways this was a very ordinary story, but I found the element of him being changed by the arrival of his daughter quite affecting, but it needed concentrating on. I think there was a real missed opportunity in this story.

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