An Agent of Utopia, by Andy Duncan

An Agent of Utopia by Andy Duncan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This review is specific to An Agent of Utopia, which is all I have read so far. And as these stories go it's a good one--the best thing about it is the period setting, particularly his florid descriptions of the filth of the Thames in Shakespearian London. The story centers around Thomas More and his execution, imagining Utopia as a real place with an active presence in London. Good if you like Andy Duncan already.



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Wakulla Springs, by Andy Duncan and Ellen Klages

With this review I open my 2014 award nominated story and novel reading.  Only a so-so start.  No objection to the writing--Wakulla Springs is a nice story in the Nebula novella category.  It's a personal history, following a few highly varied characters (Johnny Weismuller and several impoverished black people from central Florida), giving vignettes of their lives from the late forties through recent times.  We see integration struggles, discrimination, and the ennui of stars.  What we don't see is much actual speculation.  We have exactly one page where an animal might have talked.

As stories go, it's sort of several related stories put together.  But really only juxtaposed.  I didn't mind reading it, but this isn't what I read speculative fiction for.  Hopefully the stories in the novella category get better from here. Two stars from me.

Fortitude, by Andy Duncan

The premise of Fortitude is pretty simple--George Patton gets a reboot on his life, and we see him try to change his future.  But the story is of course much more, and is told with a great deal of depth so it's no wonder it was a Nebula nominee in 2000.  The style in which it is told reminds me very much of Connie Willis' time travel to WWII stories and novels (All Clear, for example), except that this one is focused very much on fighting and Willis is mostly about the backstory.  I have a nagging feeling I've read it before, but can find no evidence of it.  So I hung in with it, and can say I enjoyed it enough for 3 stars.