5. Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, February 2008
Breaking it down by story:
"Balancing Accounts" by James L. Cambias. A vibrant, innovative story that feels like a great setting for a video game. I think what I mean by that is that I could easily see myself playing around inside the setting. It comes alive in a way that many stories do not, setting-wise. The ending came too soon for me.
"Memoirs of the Witch Queen" by Ron Goulart. I found this unfunny and not very entertaining. Magic was far too easy, and that makes it bland for me. I don't really know what the point of this story was. Every twist was predictable. I guess I am not much of a fan of Goulart.
"Petri Parousia" by Matthew Hughes. Sloppy, I thought. A silly idea that didn't really make sense to me. The idea being that you can genetically engineer your ancestors from your own DNA. Correct me if I am wrong, but you will never have 100% of an ancestor's DNA. It'll range anywhere from 50% at most (parents) to, I dunno, a lot more way, way up the line. The gimmick ending angered me.
"Bread and Circus" by Steven Popkes. Sports teams made up genetically engineered dinosaurs. Kind of fun. I love dinosaurs, and the mental picture of them playing soccer was amusing. I liked this more than most sports stories. But the central idea didn't feel very grounded, and there were no real consequences in the end for anything that happens.
"Philologos; or, A Murder in Bistrita" by Debra Doyle and James D. Macdonald. A story in the tradition of Lovecraft, with a protagonist who is decidedly not like Lovecraft's protagonists. Short and sweet. It kind of lacked tension, though, with the super-competent protagonist. Still, I enjoyed it.
"Retrospect" by Ann Miller. This opened wonderfully and drew me into its world of bibliophiles and collectors. When the speculative twist came, I actually lost a lot of interest in it. The hints of SF world-building were interesting, but this really felt like two stories smushed together, and the transition from one to the other wasn't very smooth for me, even if the "two story" feeling was most likely intentional and a function of the SF idea central to the story. I'll be looking for more by the author, though, who lives pretty close to me.
"If Angels Fight" by Richard Bowes. The best tale in the issue, hands down. A solid closer. I tried to read it and couldn't get into it at first in the evening, but after sleeping, I picked it up again and was able to breeze through it. A haunting story, well told. The characters were so well done. I occasionally lost the thread in time, with the narrator bouncing around with flashbacks, but that's probably more my fault than anything else.
Overall: The Bowes story was the best, but the Cambias story was the most fun. I hear rumors that the Cambias story will have a sequel, so I'm looking forward to that. Goulart was one of the authors that turned me off of F&SF a while back. I'm still not a fan. And the Matthew Hughes story just pisses me off when I think about it, so I won't say anything more. Still, the issue was worth it for the Bowes and the Cambias. It was not nearly as solid as the January issue in my opinion.