★★★☆☆ Mixed
(SF Adventure) You find a lifepod with a near-dead young man in it, and you decide to find out where he came from and why. (7,756 words; Time: 25m)
"Taking Icarus Home," by Suzanne Palmer [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 01-02|19, published on December 15, 2018 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.024 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The story is awfully sad and awfully moving. The callousness of the Sunrunners is stunning.
Con: It is very bad for a story whose plot revolves around celestial mechanics to get the details this wrong. For example, an object sent to fly close to a star and back out is going to take weeks, not hours. The chance of a starship in interstellar space happening on a lifepod are nearly zero—much less doing so while the occupant was still alive. And a vehicle moving at near-light-speed will not use gravitational assists from stars or planets.
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Suzanne Palmer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The story is awfully sad and awfully moving. The callousness of the Sunrunners is stunning.
Con: It is very bad for a story whose plot revolves around celestial mechanics to get the details this wrong. For example, an object sent to fly close to a star and back out is going to take weeks, not hours. The chance of a starship in interstellar space happening on a lifepod are nearly zero—much less doing so while the occupant was still alive. And a vehicle moving at near-light-speed will not use gravitational assists from stars or planets.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Suzanne Palmer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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