★★★☆☆ Average
(Multiverse) The teleporters make travel a breeze, but Amy won’t use them, claiming she always ends up with a different mom and dad each time she goes through it. (7,287 words; Time: 24m)
"Portle," by Robert Scherrer [bio] (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact issue 07-08|19, published on June 15, 2019 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.359 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The best part is probably Amy’s voice. It’s so sad when she thinks she’ll see her real parents again and says, “Im going to give both of them a big hug and a kiss and ill never do anything bad again.” It’s hard not to hate Dr. Hardy for getting her hopes up and then using her, even though we can understand why he did it.
It gets a little more surreal when Amy spreads out to cover all her variant forms, but it’s hard to dislike a story with a happy ending.
Con: A few things don’t seem to add up. First, Dr. Hardy must know that even if he visits a reality where his wife is still alive, he’ll probably have to fight with a copy of himself. Second, when Amy’s consciousness is expanded, it doesn’t really seem to do much other than make her smarter. Finally, other than being a plot device, I can’t see why her original reality would be any harder to visit than any other one.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Robert Scherrer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: The best part is probably Amy’s voice. It’s so sad when she thinks she’ll see her real parents again and says, “Im going to give both of them a big hug and a kiss and ill never do anything bad again.” It’s hard not to hate Dr. Hardy for getting her hopes up and then using her, even though we can understand why he did it.
It gets a little more surreal when Amy spreads out to cover all her variant forms, but it’s hard to dislike a story with a happy ending.
Con: A few things don’t seem to add up. First, Dr. Hardy must know that even if he visits a reality where his wife is still alive, he’ll probably have to fight with a copy of himself. Second, when Amy’s consciousness is expanded, it doesn’t really seem to do much other than make her smarter. Finally, other than being a plot device, I can’t see why her original reality would be any harder to visit than any other one.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Robert Scherrer Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
No comments (may contain spoilers):
Post a Comment (comment policy)