Alien Contact

Look, I *don't* want to believe. At all. Aliens are terrifying. Unfortunately I've seen the videos (okay, yes, just this one video. And yes, if you are my friend - it's the one I've made you watch. Also if you are my co-worker. ALSO if you're that person I sat next to on the train once. Sorry).

So I thought I would read this book to get a little perspective on our little green friends and it really helped. Marvel at the obnoxious, but ultimately humanity advancing, aliens in George Alec Effinger's "The Aliens Who Knew, I Mean, Everything"! Wonder at the dog-faced aliens and the many different paths intelligent societies can take in Harry Turtledove's "The Road Not Taken"! Sit quietly with a cup of tea and ponder the meaning of a friendship between a bag lady and a disembodied alien claw robot in Pat Murphy's "Recycling Strategies for the Inner City"!

There were also some scary stories in here - "Law of Survival" by Nancy Kress, featuring a starving earth and a mysterious alien race looking to train stray dogs, being a notable one (it doesn't sound that scary, I guess...but why would aliens want well-behaved dogs? Think about it - only evil can come of this). But ultimately, my feelings about the aliens who are surely already living among us are now much more well-rounded. This was a growth experience for me. Also the last story in the book, "Last Contact" by Stephen Baxter, is completely heartbreaking and moved me in a way I did not expect ("Are you crying? Reading that ALIEN BOOK?" - my fiance).

Oh GOD WHY did I write so many words for this review???? What is the point. If you are a huge nerd, read this book if you haven't already, it's got some great stories. If you are not a huge nerd, who are we kidding? You are not going to pick up a book with an alien/man riff on the "Creation of Adam" lit by a weird green glow on the cover. But it's your loss! Also I have a video you should watch...

4 statues of Zefram Cochrane out of 5.

LoveStar

It's another take on that old chestnut: Boy meets girl. Boy and girl fall helplessly in love. Circumstances wrench them apart, and he must fight to get her back.

Except in this case the "circumstances" involve a genetics program that matches everyone on earth with their true love (1 in 5 people gets matched with someone from China), created by a corporate genius scientist who also invented a funeral system called LoveDeath that sends your body into space and has you re-enter the atmosphere at a pre-approved time & location so your loved ones can watch you burn up like a shooting star - oh also people can communicate wirelessly because he discovered that's what birds do (?) and they are genetically engineering real-live Mickey Mouses (Mice?) to take the place of cats & dogs, and also giant wolves with zippers in their stomachs! Oh, man.

I guess what I'm saying is that it's not really that old chestnut. It is a new, genetically engineered weirdo chestnut with, like, spikes and stuff, and it's one of the most original things I have read in awhile. Iceland, what are you guys smoking over there? And can I get some?

4 pretty shooting stars that are actually dead, frozen corpses out of 5