Thursday, April 13, 2017

Bring the Kids and Revisit the Past at the Traveling Retro Funfair!, by Seanan McGuire

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(Space Opera) Nora and Doc bring their show to a Dyson Sphere, but their lack of funds forces them to sell some attractions to people they probably shouldn’t be dealing with. (5,251 words; Time: 17m)

Rating: ★★★★☆ Fun and Exciting

"Bring the Kids and Revisit the Past at the Traveling Retro Funfair!," by (edited by John Joseph Adams), appeared in (RSR review), published on by .

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

Pro: Nora is a great character, determined to do the right thing, but not above breaking the rules in a pinch. She really deserves to succeed, and it’s gratifying to see her end up better off than she started.

There’s plenty of action and plenty of tension. Watching Nora under stress makes us like her more and more. Even Rona has a cold-blooded logic to her. She’s evil, but not irrationally so.

The story plays well with implications of technology. Like the fact that gravity in a Dyson Sphere is “indecisive.”

Con: Not all of the details add up here. The coincidence of bumping into one of Rona’s contacts on something as huge as a Dyson sphere is really hard to credit. Also, why would they sell attractions before giving their show? You’d think they’d wait until after.

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Seanan McGuire Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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