I finished Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman yesterday, and the most recent issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine today.
I don’t know why I didn’t read Good Omens earlier: it’s brilliant. Exactly the right blend of Pratchettian humour and Gaimanian darkness, and of particular enjoyment to someone raised in the Church of Christ and thus with a rather more thorough knowledge of the Bible than most people. (My father was a preacher off and on all his life; I attended Sunday School every Sunday morning and Bible Class every Wednesday night, and I attended a Christian high school and university, with mandatory Bible classes. I was even on a winning Bible Quiz team in high school. I know what’s in the Good Book, believe me.) I personally believe the Book of Revelation was intended more as a message to Christians suffering the beginnings of persecution under the Romans than as a template for the End Times, but I still enjoy reading a good eschatological adventure story as much as the next person. My only quibble: more than once, the aforementioned Biblical book of Revelation was referred to as Revelations. There’s no “s,” guys. Look it up.
The latest issue of Asimov’s didn’t have anything in it that really blew me away, but I enjoyed it. Highlights for me were The Green Leopard Plague, by Walter Jon Williams (an intriguing future and narrator), Ariel by Lucius Shepard (not for the overblown story itself, but just because I enjoy Shepard’s writing style) and The Man From Somewhere by Jack Williamson (again, not because the story was all that special, but just because I sincerely hope than in 50 years, when I’m the age Jack Williamson is now, I’m still writing and selling stories!). The story I enjoyed the most was Welcome to Olympus, Mr. Hearst, by Kage Baker. Her Company stories are uniformly excellent, and this one was particular fun because of the place it was set–William Randolph Hearst’s “castle” at San Simeon–and the historical characters it involved (Hearst, Clark Gable, Greta Garbo, among others).
So all in all, nothing I’d call a classic, but a good solid set of stories all around.
Up next in my reading: Red Thunder, by John Varley. I think. I’ll keep you posted.
