(Near-Future SF) The narrator visits a reserve in Northern Canada where they’re experimenting with resurrected mammoths. (4,120 words; Time: 13m)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
"Triceratops," by Ian McHugh [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 05-06|17, published on April 20, 2017 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The descriptions of the animals are great.
Con: There’s no plot here. No one is trying to accomplish anything, there are no real problems to solve, and at the end, nothing has changed.
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Con: There’s no plot here. No one is trying to accomplish anything, there are no real problems to solve, and at the end, nothing has changed.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 05-06|17)
Ian McHugh Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Just wondered if I'm missing something. The end doesn't make any sense to me.
ReplyDeleteIn the next-to-last scene, a few days before the final scene, Yellen says the he and the other Thalers are "made from nothing, out of nowhere" and that they've got nowhere to fit, but that "maybe here is a place where we can find a way for us to fit together, find a reason to be a people."
ReplyDeleteWhen the narrator asks, "And are you? Finding something?" He gives a nonspecific answer.
In the final scene, when Kip is carving that Paleolithic Venus figure from a sheep's bone, and the narrator asks "What does she [the carved figure] mean?" her answer of "Something" is an answer to the earlier question.
Does that help?
Ah, that makes sense. I'm surprised I missed that.
DeleteThanks!