Praise
by Laurie Lamon

I heard the dogs before
I opened the door late, after work—
first Maude who was dancing
in praise of my arrival for all she knew
it was: presence without end,
the end of waiting, the end
of boredom—
       and then Li Po,
who, in the middle of his life,
learning to make his feelings known
as one who has carried breath
and heart close to the earth seven
times seven years, in praise
of silence and loneliness, climbed
howling, howling from his bed.

*

Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine expanded from a quarterly magazine to every other month in 1978.  (Side note: we all need to agree on the correct usage of bimonthly.)  And it starts off strong.  The Jan/Feb issue is so far my favorite; it was hard picking out a few to spotlight on this one.  Opening up with a murder investigation amongst cult of identical member, John Varley's The Barbie Murders keeps you guessing on its outcome to the end.  Panic, by Stanley Schmidt integrates a well-known science fiction favorite into his own story, causing problems for a potential invading force.  And A Mother's Heart: A True Bear Story by Lisa Tuttle is a wonderful fairy-tale that holds its own amongst the original Brothers Grimm.


The March/April issue seemed lacking compared with the last.  Jack Haldeman's continued sports trope was an entertaining read, however none of the others particularly stood out.

Though the May/June magazine more than made up for the previous. Writing down stories I enjoyed the most on a notecard, I found my scribblings almost matched the table of contents!  The Last Full Measure by George Alec Effinger starts us off on D-Day and the issue rolls on into various visions of the future.

Polly Plus by Randall Garrett and Guilt by James Gunn play on then-familiar science fiction themes, the alien stranger, the moral imperative of administering preventative justice, even Drew Mandelson's Star Train could fit in the recognizable sci-fi creation story.

An entertaining half of 1978.  It is incredible to see the variety of imaginations at work in the same genre; even more amazing to know most of the authors in these pages are still creating great fiction to this day.

*

Because of my perhaps nigh unhealthy relationship with Google products, I transferred my domain to Google Domains.  Obviously, not much is done with it besides hosting this blog so this is a little trite.  For the longest time, however, I could not get Google Domains to play with Blogger in such a manner that I could eliminate the 'thematthiascole.blogspot.com' and replace it with my purchased domain.  Stubbornness and curiosity had gotten the best of me for a good week until I finally caved and had a chat with Google Support.  Less than ten minutes later and zero hassle ensuing, it all works as it should.

I <3 Google.