★★★☆☆ Average
(Modern Fantasy) Although the world is gradually falling apart, Heck Limmer still covers rock and roll bands for Rolling Stone, and he’s just found one that’s literally out of this world. (8,672 words; Time: 28m)
"Adriftica," by Maria Dahvana Headley [bio] (edited by Dominik Parisien and Navah Wolfe), appeared in Robots vs. Fairies (RSR review), published on January 9, 2018 by Saga Press.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.151 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: From the start, we know that Heck’s wife, Tania, and the lead singer of Akercock, Eron, are not from this world. Most of the story is about discovering the connection between them.
We’re told that “Akercock” is another name for Puck, which is a strong clue that the story has roots in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” even if we didn’t notice that “Tania” seems to be short for Titania (queen of the fairies) and “Eron” seems to be short for Oberon (king of the fairies). As in the play, the conflict between the two over a boy leads to terrible destruction on the Earth. Their reconciliation offers at least the promise of fixing it.
There’s also a bit of the Pied Piper of Hamlin here, although I'm not sure that's really a plus.
Con: It took way too long to get to the conflict. The middle 50% or so of the story was a slog.
Heck doesn’t do a heck of a lot to make the plot go. He’s mostly an observer.
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Maria Dahvana Headley Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: From the start, we know that Heck’s wife, Tania, and the lead singer of Akercock, Eron, are not from this world. Most of the story is about discovering the connection between them.
We’re told that “Akercock” is another name for Puck, which is a strong clue that the story has roots in Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” even if we didn’t notice that “Tania” seems to be short for Titania (queen of the fairies) and “Eron” seems to be short for Oberon (king of the fairies). As in the play, the conflict between the two over a boy leads to terrible destruction on the Earth. Their reconciliation offers at least the promise of fixing it.
There’s also a bit of the Pied Piper of Hamlin here, although I'm not sure that's really a plus.
Con: It took way too long to get to the conflict. The middle 50% or so of the story was a slog.
Heck doesn’t do a heck of a lot to make the plot go. He’s mostly an observer.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Maria Dahvana Headley Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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