★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
(Space Adventure) The first mission to Titan is threatened by conflict between the ship’s Captain and the mission commander. (13,375 words; Time: 44m)
"El is a Spaceship Melody," by Maurice Broaddus [bio] (edited by Scott H. Andrews), appeared in Beneath Ceaseless Skies issue 244, published on February 1, 2018.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: Most of the fun in the story is figuring out what’s going on. It’s clear that Marshall is up to no good, but it’s a puzzle exactly what he’s up to, and whether the Overseer is part of the problem or not.
Con: Although we know the story is meant to be fantasy science, it comes across as SF with bad science. For example, the power source you have to sing to is “explained” in terms of fusion using deuterium and lithium, which is quite reasonable as hard SF--except for the singing part. Or the discovery that the ship was threatened by an asteroid 10,000 km away and they decide to shoot missiles at it rather than just moving out of the way. There are enough things like this to spoil the story.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 244)
Maurice Broaddus Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Con: Although we know the story is meant to be fantasy science, it comes across as SF with bad science. For example, the power source you have to sing to is “explained” in terms of fusion using deuterium and lithium, which is quite reasonable as hard SF--except for the singing part. Or the discovery that the ship was threatened by an asteroid 10,000 km away and they decide to shoot missiles at it rather than just moving out of the way. There are enough things like this to spoil the story.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 244)
Maurice Broaddus Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
This story probably works better if you realize it's full of references to Sun Ra.
ReplyDeleteAh, that part I missed entirely because I never heard of him. Thanks!
DeleteA pioneer of Afrofuturism. Here's an article which mentions that in relationship to things like The Black Panther movie:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-43991078