Sun 19 Mar 2017
Stories I’m Reading: MICHAEL F. FLYNN “Nexus.”
Posted by Steve under Science Fiction & Fantasy , Stories I'm Reading[7] Comments
MICHAEL F. FLYNN “Nexus.” Lead (and cover) novella in Analog Science Fiction, March-April 2017.
Nexus: a connection or series of connections linking two or more things.
This is a time-travel story taking place in the present that packs a series of multiple punches, each centered around one of the several characters involved:
… a time traveler from the future who is trying to track down where his particular timeline has gone off the track, dooming billions of people; a woman who is immortal and who met the time traveler once before back in the Byzantine times; a member of a hidden alien race on Earth on the track of a possible invader that may have followed them here: a five-legged spider-like creature alone on Earth that hopes to use the time traveler’s machine to repair his/her/its spaceship; a female android who, inadvertently connecting the pieces of the plot together, wonders if the immortal woman could be another of her kind; and a woman with telepathic abilities who overhears a conversation that brings her into the tale as well.
That all of these players meet at one crucial time in this planet’s history may happen by a series of striking coincidences, perhaps, but then again, perhaps not.
Michael F. Flynn has been around as a strong proponent of hard science fiction for a while now, but this is the first work of his that I’ve read. This had to have been a difficult story to write, pulling all of the threads together as he does in a clear, concise fashion, with a light touch every so often as it’s needed. I’m impressed, and I’ll see what I can do to find more of his short fiction to read. Long SF novels are pretty much beyond me any more, I’m afraid.
March 19th, 2017 at 6:18 am
Flynn’s an excellent writer. You should hunt up his collection THE FORESTS OF TIME, which includes my favorite of his stories, the novella “Melodies of the Heart”.
March 19th, 2017 at 12:03 pm
I think I will, James, hunt it up, I mean. Thanks for the recommendation!
March 19th, 2017 at 8:46 am
Thanks for commenting on this story Steve. I have the issue and will have to read it since it sounds great.
By the way, I’m interested in your last sentence about long SF novels. Can you explain in more detail?
March 19th, 2017 at 12:01 pm
That last sentence was prompted by the short overview of Flynn’s work that was supplied at the end of this story.. “His [Flynn’s] twelve novels include the four-volume FIRESTAR series and the four-volume SPIRAL ARM series as well as the Hugo-nominated Eifelhelm …”
It takes a big investment in time to tackle a continuing series of long SF novels, and there’s too many other books to read. I grew up reading Ace Double sf novels, which could be read in a single day, if you put your mind to it. Today’s SF is much better written, but their often sheer bulk is, well, intimidating.
March 19th, 2017 at 11:47 pm
I noticed the same overview paragraph in ANALOG also and had a similar reaction. There is no way that I’m going to invest the time necessary to read four long SF novels in a series.
I also can read an Ace Double in a day, even now. When I was a lot younger, I once read 3 Ace novels by Philip K. Dick in one day. Those days are gone…
Now I usually read at lunch and sometimes at dinner. If I’m not watching an old movie I’ll read one or two hours during the day. But most of my reading is done late at night after 11:00 pm.
Last year I read over 100 novels by George Simenon but these were fairly short novels of 100 to 150 pages. It usually took me about a day to read one.
March 19th, 2017 at 11:47 pm
I’m a great admirer of Flynn, he’s both a fine storyteller and writer.
March 20th, 2017 at 12:52 am
Nothing by Flynn at Barnes & Noble tonight after going out for dinner, not even any of his long series novels. How can that be? I’ll check with Amazon tomorrow for the short story collection James recommended.