★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Near-Future SF) The narrator hunts the best friend he lost at the end of high school, a friend created from an illegal copy of Tom Cruise’s sperm. (9,493 words; Time: 31m)
Although Analog categorizes this as a short story, it's way over the 7500-word limit.
"My Base Pair," by Sam J. Miller [bio] (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact issue 05-06|18, published on April 19, 2018 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: I liked the plot: the narrator wants to find Kenji, but he gets something even better; he successfully breaks his lifetime obsession with him.
The mistreatment of hacksperm kids has a lot of parallels with the mistreatment of black people in America today, but that’s not the central point of the story, which is all about the narrator’s inability to let go. The contrast between the two add interest to the story.
Ironically, Kenji has the same problem the narrators does; they're mutually obsessed. Although Kenji seems to know that actually meeting is a mistake.
Con: The narrator is a stalker who takes advantage of his own position in law enforcement and the vulnerability of his target. It’s hard to like him much or wish him well.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 05-06|18)
Sam J. Miller Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
The mistreatment of hacksperm kids has a lot of parallels with the mistreatment of black people in America today, but that’s not the central point of the story, which is all about the narrator’s inability to let go. The contrast between the two add interest to the story.
Ironically, Kenji has the same problem the narrators does; they're mutually obsessed. Although Kenji seems to know that actually meeting is a mistake.
Con: The narrator is a stalker who takes advantage of his own position in law enforcement and the vulnerability of his target. It’s hard to like him much or wish him well.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 05-06|18)
Sam J. Miller Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Reprinted online at Lightspeed 123 (Aug 2020): https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/my-base-pair/
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