★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
(First Contact) Kaityn is exploring a dwarf planet in deep space when they come across what might be an alien lifeform. (5,073 words; Time: 16m)
"The Frequency of Compassion," by A. Merc Rustad [bio] (edited by Dominik Parisien), appeared in Uncanny Magazine issue 24, published on September 1, 2018.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.507 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: Kaityn leaves a good impression on the aliens and presumably earns some reward from their superiors.
I hadn’t heard “nu/nur” as pronouns before, but they’re very euphonious.
Con: Too many things spoil suspension of disbelief. No one who ever played Mass Effect (a 21st-Century game) is ever going to be 1 light year from Earth, much less 1,000. A dwarf planet has very little gravity, so a rockslide shouldn’t be that hard to avoid (being a very slow-motion event) nor to escape (the rocks being very light). Such a planet isn’t going to have an atmosphere, so nothing will be in a “decaying orbit” around it.
The ZeroGen people are pure cardboard villains. They’re mean because they’re mean because they’re mean.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 24)
A. Merc Rustad Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: Kaityn leaves a good impression on the aliens and presumably earns some reward from their superiors.
I hadn’t heard “nu/nur” as pronouns before, but they’re very euphonious.
Con: Too many things spoil suspension of disbelief. No one who ever played Mass Effect (a 21st-Century game) is ever going to be 1 light year from Earth, much less 1,000. A dwarf planet has very little gravity, so a rockslide shouldn’t be that hard to avoid (being a very slow-motion event) nor to escape (the rocks being very light). Such a planet isn’t going to have an atmosphere, so nothing will be in a “decaying orbit” around it.
The ZeroGen people are pure cardboard villains. They’re mean because they’re mean because they’re mean.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 24)
A. Merc Rustad Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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