Friday, May 5, 2017

Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me, by John Chu

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(SF) Charlie’s company does clandestine jobs for the ultra rich. He likes it because they’ve given him the body he always wanted to have. Now if he can just learn to be satisfied with it. (6,609 words; Time: 22m)

Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average

"," by (edited by Lynne M. Thomas and Michael Damian Thomas), appeared in issue 16, published on .

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

Pro: The plot is about Charlie’s quest to find satisfaction, and his realization that he never will. He’ll stay on this path until he dies.

The details of Charlie’s missions are consistently interesting and add some excitement to the story. His friendship with Thom is real enough that we feel sad when he thinks he’s lost it.

Con: For all of his strength, Charlie isn’t doing anything to change his situation. We spend the story learning all about him, and then it ends right when we might have expected something to start happening.

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2 comments (may contain spoilers):

  1. Interesting character study, but feels very unresolved.

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    Replies
    1. Much rarer than the story that's all setting and no action, the pure character study does turn up from time to time. Points to how hard it is to make all the pieces fit and still have a speculative piece.

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