Genre: Science Fiction
Description:
An alien species, the ‘Tsf’ has begun
trading with Earth. They find single members of three other alien species
adrift in space and bring them aboard their own space craft. The three appear
to have no physical injuries, but perhaps some mental defect? The psychiatrist of
the title is deputed to travel up to the Tsf ship and see what he can make of
the aliens they have rescued. The three interlinked tales deal with what he
finds when he gets there, how he helps the three aliens, and others. They also explore
the problems that accrue when the Tsf reward him for his help.
Author:
Rajnar Vajra has been a regular and
delightful voice in Analog magazine for many years. He also contributes
to Tor.com (including their anthologies). One can only wonder why it has
taken him so long to collect some of his stories together as he has done here.
Appraisal:
I have been an Analog subscriber (and
also Asimov’s), and always enjoyed the stories enormously. It contains
hard SF of a most satisfying kind. The only thing you might say against it is
that you can still see its origins in the Fifties: it isn’t particularly
‘slipstream-y’ or modern. Things (often space ships or medical equipment) get
built, alien races are interacted with, the way our lives might be in the
future is explored. There is very often a clever twist at the end which makes
the reader ask ‘why didn’t I think of that?’, or preen quietly if s/he did.
These three stories were originally
published as long stories (possibly serialised) in Analog. They build up one
upon another and have an internal chronology. If you enjoy hard SF you will
enjoy these. There are intriguing puzzles to solve before the clever twists I
refer to above (what is wrong with the aliens? Why does the Doctor keep
assembling and disassembling the same robot?); there is an interesting take on
life in the future; there are well-imagined, seriously weird aliens; and the
stories are funny. What more could one ask for?
Perhaps an interesting introduction to the
three stories such as that provided by Stanley Schmidt (editor of Analog
1978-2012)? That latter date is perhaps a clue to one of the few problemettes
with these three tales: they were all written between 2009 and 2012. They stand
up pretty well, considering the youngest of them is 10 years old. One always
fears – especially with near future stories such as Vajra claims these to be –
that they may quickly become a mere historical curiosity because the real world
has moved in a direction one’s authorial brain did not foresee.
Technology hasn’t overtaken these stories,
human nature hasn’t changed, answers to the fundamental questions of the
universe are still being sought. Which is presumably why these particular stories
were chosen for this project. Nevertheless, I hope Vajra issues some more
recent tales in this format soon.
Buy now
from: Amazon US Amazon UK
Format/Typo
Issues:
I was working from an ARC, so cannot comment
on the final accuracy of the book.
Rating: *****
Five Stars
Reviewed
by: Judi Moore
Approximate word count: 60-65,000 words
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