Isaac Asimov The Martian Way (1955)
Whilst I have a general feeling of having read as much Asimov as I'll ever need to read, I nevertheless find it difficult to resist those covers from the sixties or earlier; and coming across this copy of The Martian Way reminded me that I have no specific objection to copping another Asimov, and this one was new to me so fuck it...
It's a collection of four short stories, of which the title track is happily one of the best I've read by this guy, a novella length tale which really showcases all of his strengths. Asimov can be a little dry, kind of repetitive, and with a tendency to have socially awkward yet scholarly types stood around discussing protons for longer than seems entirely necessary, but when his interests align with the right kind of story, he really shines, granting insight into just why he has such a reputation. His writing here is clear, heavy on mind-expanding scientific detail but with just enough snap to keep everything swimming along in the same direction. The Martian Way tells of astronauts travelling to Saturn in order to ferry massive asteroids of water ice back to the inner planets, and yet somehow it's genuinely gripping.
The other three stories are mostly decent if less obviously remarkable, with only Sucker Bait coming close to letting the side down. It kicks off as something which might be seen to foreshadow the second Alien movie, only to reveal that the colonists were killed off by trace elements of berryllium in the air - this being the discovery of one of those characteristic Asimov smarties whose job is to figure it out, and to be right where all the knuckle-dragging cavemen with their sports cars and sex lives got it wrong, the big dummies! The archetypal four-eyed genius of Sucker Bait is Mark Annuncio, who is clearly supposed to be something on the autism spectrum - having immediate recall of every single fact to which he has ever been exposed, and who is as such a representative of something called the Mnemonic Service. Aside from being way too long and nothing like so fascinating to read as it may have been to write, Sucker Bait unfortunately reminds me of Asimov's occasional shots fired against sexual inequality wherein, with the most noble sentiments in the world, he somehow ends up skating a bit too close to Alan Partridge for comfort and ends up insulting the demographic he's trying to defend.
Never mind. It was still worth it for the main feature.
Whilst I have a general feeling of having read as much Asimov as I'll ever need to read, I nevertheless find it difficult to resist those covers from the sixties or earlier; and coming across this copy of The Martian Way reminded me that I have no specific objection to copping another Asimov, and this one was new to me so fuck it...
It's a collection of four short stories, of which the title track is happily one of the best I've read by this guy, a novella length tale which really showcases all of his strengths. Asimov can be a little dry, kind of repetitive, and with a tendency to have socially awkward yet scholarly types stood around discussing protons for longer than seems entirely necessary, but when his interests align with the right kind of story, he really shines, granting insight into just why he has such a reputation. His writing here is clear, heavy on mind-expanding scientific detail but with just enough snap to keep everything swimming along in the same direction. The Martian Way tells of astronauts travelling to Saturn in order to ferry massive asteroids of water ice back to the inner planets, and yet somehow it's genuinely gripping.
The other three stories are mostly decent if less obviously remarkable, with only Sucker Bait coming close to letting the side down. It kicks off as something which might be seen to foreshadow the second Alien movie, only to reveal that the colonists were killed off by trace elements of berryllium in the air - this being the discovery of one of those characteristic Asimov smarties whose job is to figure it out, and to be right where all the knuckle-dragging cavemen with their sports cars and sex lives got it wrong, the big dummies! The archetypal four-eyed genius of Sucker Bait is Mark Annuncio, who is clearly supposed to be something on the autism spectrum - having immediate recall of every single fact to which he has ever been exposed, and who is as such a representative of something called the Mnemonic Service. Aside from being way too long and nothing like so fascinating to read as it may have been to write, Sucker Bait unfortunately reminds me of Asimov's occasional shots fired against sexual inequality wherein, with the most noble sentiments in the world, he somehow ends up skating a bit too close to Alan Partridge for comfort and ends up insulting the demographic he's trying to defend.
Never mind. It was still worth it for the main feature.
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