★★★★☆ A Most Delightful Alien Visitor
(Alien Visitor) Humanity knows there was an alien attack a few years back, they don’t know the government is hiding one. That gets harder when he insists on learning to drive a car. (16,375 words; Time: 54m)
Recommended By: 👍RSR+1 👍STomaino+1 (Q&A)
"Mixipoxi Learns to Drive," by Joyce Schmidt [bio] and Stanley Schmidt [bio] (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact issue 11-12|18, published on October 18, 2018 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.565 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The story divides into two very different parts. There’s Walter’s part, which is pretty much focused on getting Mixipoxi a driver’s license, and then there’s Mixipoxi’s part, which is about saving the Earth and also saving one crackpot’s life. The two are of about equal length, and, actually, about equally entertaining, even though the stakes in the first one don’t really amount to much.
Mixipoxi is the star of the show, whichever half of the story you’re reading. He’s a genuinely good person, and he manages to find a course of action that’s good for him, for Earth, and for Tingarex.
Although the underlying conflict is deadly serious, the story (especially the first part) is filled with humor. The first scene where the alien offers his driver’s license to the police was hysterical.
Con: I think a satellite would easily follow his Jeep without any need for electronic monitoring devices on it at all.
Walter seems a bit too helpless. I’d think that a man in his position would get just about anything he wanted, regardless of expense.
As is often the case, Analog has quality control problems with the Kindle edition. Early in the story, there’s a missing line of dialogue where Linda points out the key to him. I know this because the Kindle text was clearly missing something, and I looked at the “PDF View” on the Kindle on my phone. Unfortunately, that’s way too small to use to read a whole story. I just kept it handy in case there were more incongruous paragraphs, but there weren’t. For all I know, though, entire scenes were dropped that just didn't damage continuity enough to be obvious.
Asimov's does not have this problem, even though they're also published by Penny Publications. Why can't Analog get their Kindle versions right?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 11-12|18)
Joyce Schmidt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Stanley Schmidt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: The story divides into two very different parts. There’s Walter’s part, which is pretty much focused on getting Mixipoxi a driver’s license, and then there’s Mixipoxi’s part, which is about saving the Earth and also saving one crackpot’s life. The two are of about equal length, and, actually, about equally entertaining, even though the stakes in the first one don’t really amount to much.
Mixipoxi is the star of the show, whichever half of the story you’re reading. He’s a genuinely good person, and he manages to find a course of action that’s good for him, for Earth, and for Tingarex.
Although the underlying conflict is deadly serious, the story (especially the first part) is filled with humor. The first scene where the alien offers his driver’s license to the police was hysterical.
Con: I think a satellite would easily follow his Jeep without any need for electronic monitoring devices on it at all.
Walter seems a bit too helpless. I’d think that a man in his position would get just about anything he wanted, regardless of expense.
As is often the case, Analog has quality control problems with the Kindle edition. Early in the story, there’s a missing line of dialogue where Linda points out the key to him. I know this because the Kindle text was clearly missing something, and I looked at the “PDF View” on the Kindle on my phone. Unfortunately, that’s way too small to use to read a whole story. I just kept it handy in case there were more incongruous paragraphs, but there weren’t. For all I know, though, entire scenes were dropped that just didn't damage continuity enough to be obvious.
Asimov's does not have this problem, even though they're also published by Penny Publications. Why can't Analog get their Kindle versions right?
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 11-12|18)
Joyce Schmidt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Stanley Schmidt Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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