Mike Resnick (1942–2020)

First off, if you don’t like the Edna anthologies or deal with the devil stories, this isn’t for you. I happen to love them, they make me think of being a kid watching the twilight zone, specifically the episode where a man (later revealed as the devil) kept captive in a closet, but also the sort of feel of the series overall. And the visceral thrill of trying to get one over on the devil while matching wits with such a crafty opponent has its own perverse appeal. If you don’t mind a show more little kitsch, a little tongue in cheek self awareness and the theme itself, I highly recommend this, as the majority of the authors were and are some of the best in the sci-fi, fantasy, and horror fields. Most of them are multiple Hugo and nebula award winners, with a few relatively new comers sprinkled in for spice.
I read this for the first time many years ago while working at a crappy little independent used bookstore. Most days, we had a dozen curstomers at best, so I had lots of time to read anything I came across that caught my fancy. I remembered one particular story Winter in detail if not in name as a favorite and it haunted me for years as I could not remember where I had read it or who the author was. I was lucky enough to come across that information recently entirely on accident while down another rabbit hole, and immediately ordered myself an old paperback of this collection.
Winter still holds up as a personal favorite, and certainly more serious and dramatic in tone than many of the short stories, though by no means not the only serious one, but there’s a lot of standout work here. Several entries deal with the role of computers and technology in deals with the devil, in an era where the Internet was only really beginning. Others give us an interpretation on what can happen when the devil loses, or maybe when devil was never really the bad guy (or in fact doing God’s work) all along.
I heartily recommend for an easy, fun, and satisfying read. show less

From 1989 to 2012, there were only three years in which Resnick didn't have a piece of short fiction on the Hugo ballot. All 30 of his nominated stories -- more fiction nominations than any other author (*) -- are collected here, each with a pair of introductory comments from Resnick and one of his fellow SF authors, an all-star roster that begins with Gardner Dozois, Nancy Kress, Harry Turtledove, and Connie Willis.

(* -- Resnick had seven additional nominations in the categories of Best show more Editor and Best Related Work, a category for non-fiction about SF -- criticism, history, biography, etc. There are a few editors with more total nominations, but Resnick is the most-nominated author.)

The first half of the book is dominated by Resnick's interest in African history and culture. We get ten of the stories from his Kirinyaga series, set on a terraformed colony world planned as a Utopian society adhering strictly to the traditional customs and lifestyle of Kenya's Kikuyu people. The stories are narrated by the tribe's mundumugu -- witch doctor -- and collectively, they tell the story of his gradual understanding that no utopia can be sustained for very long.

Africa also pops up in two of Resnick's alternate history stories, "Bully!", in which Teddy Roosevelt attempts to decolonize (sort of) the Belgian Congo, and "Mwalimu in the Squared Circle," set during the 1970s Uganda-Tanzania war. (Teddy makes a second appearance in this book, solving the Jack the Ripper case in "Redchapel.")

In the second half of the book, Resnick's focus turns towards domestic relationships, with several stories featuring sad men with dead or dying wives.

A few quick words on each of the five stories that won the awards for which they were nominated:

"Kirinyaga" -- the first story in this series, in which Koriba's adherence to Kikuyu customs draws unwanted attention from the organization that manages the group of colonies of which Kirinyaga is a part.

"The Manamouki" -- Koriba is challenged by a new colonist, a young woman from Earth who objects to the colony's old-fashioned gender roles.

"Seven Years of Olduvai Gorge" -- for my money, the story most likely to endure. A look at the past and (possible) future of humanity, as seen by a group of alien archaeologists .

"The 43 Antarean Dynasties" -- A tour guide longs for his world's glorious past as he copes with ignorant human tourists; "the ugly American" on an intergalactic scale.

"Travels with My Cats" -- A man's fascination with an obscure old book leads to an unlikely romance.

That story is a good example of Resnick's skill for finding new twists on familiar SF themes. You've read stories about magic shops that seem to vanish and reappear at random, and stories about Frankenstein and his monster, but "Alastair Baffle's Emporium of Wonders" and "The Bride of Frankenstein" revitalize those ideas.

I would single out three other stories that I particularly liked. "For I Have Touched the Sky" is my favorite of the Kirinyaga stories; as is common in the series, it's a story in which Koriba's rigid adherence to tradition has disastrous results. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm" is an ending-world-famine story that keeps zigzagging into unexpected territory; "Down Memory Lane" is the best of the ailing-wife stories, a look at how far one man will go to avoid losing his wife to dementia.

Two of his five award-winning stories feature non-human protagonists, a bit unexpected because on the whole, Resnick is relatively uninterested in the alien. His focus is on people, and his stories are more emotional than most in the genre. If you are at all prone to tears or misty eyes, this collection is likely to take you there at least once.

I suspect that were he beginning his career today, Resnick's interest in Africa would be dismissed as cultural appropriation. I have no particular expertise, but Resnick seems to me in these stories to be always respectful, and to have done his homework; even where Korabi's values and traditions differ most dramatically from contemporary America, Resnick's presentation of those traditions is never unkind or condescending.

Resnick's prose is never flashy, but always well crafted and a pleasure to read. Characters are given depth and personality, even in the shortest stories; plots are clever and thoughtful. He comfortably handles a wide range of style and tone, from the safari adventure story "Hunting the Snark" to the rom-com-ish "Distant Replay."

There's nothing experimental or avant-garde here. Resnick wrote straight-down-the-middle mainstream SF, and wrote it as well as anyone of his generation. A fine collection of his best work. show less

The Doctor and the Dinosaurs is my first venture into Mike Resnick's Weird West Tales, and actually my first exposure to the author, period. Like many kids growing up, I went through a phase in my childhood where I was just nuts for dinosaurs. I suppose a part of that love has stayed with me all this time, because when I saw the cover and description for this one I just couldn't resist.

This is the fourth book of the series starring Doc Holliday of American Old West fame, but if I'm not show more mistaken, each installment can be read on its own. We seem to be catching our protagonist at a pretty bad time though, as the book opens on Doc bedridden and coughing out his lungs in a sanitarium, dying of the dastardly consumption. But then he is visited by the medicine man and great chief Geronimo, who grants him one more year of life in exchange for a favor.

Doc Holliday is tasked to stop two paleontologists who have been carrying out their digs on sacred Comanche burial grounds in Wyoming. Sounds easy enough. But that was before Doc learned that the two scientists involved are none other than Edward Drinker Cope and Othniel Charles Marsh, two men who hate each others' guts and are locked in eternal competition. Time is running out and the Comanche medicine men have made things clear: stop desecrating their lands or they will unleash a horde of monsters, the kind our world has not seen in 65 million years.

A crazy blend of steampunk, fantasy, alternate history and western, this book was as much fun as I thought it would be! I've never had the pleasure of reading a "true" dime novel from the latter half of the 1800s, but I wouldn't be surprised if Mike Resnick is in some way emulating the spirit and style of the popular fiction in those days. As you would expect from the above synopsis, the book's story and characters are more sensational than deep, with an entertaining plot that contains more clever, snappy dialogue than exposition. Nevertheless, that's the kind of book it was intended to be. In that sense, it does the job and does it well.

This book was also such a treat for the part of me that still loves dinosaurs. We all know there's no shortage of stories about the Old West featuring famous gunfighters like Doc Holliday, Wild Bill Hickok, Wyatt Earp, Cole Younger, and the list goes on. But while this series also features an impressive list of shootists, I loved how this particular story directed its focus to another significant event that took place during America's Gilded Age -- the Great Dinosaur Rush. For one, the hatred between Cope and Marsh was so intense, their rivalry so frenzied, that the two men actually spawned a period in paleontological history known as the Bone Wars. It's fascinating stuff! I was happy to see a spotlight on this idea, and an entire story built around it.

Is The Doctor and the Dinosaurs a little over the top? Perhaps. But is it fun? Definitely. I picked up this book hoping for an afternoon of fun, light reading, and that's exactly what it delivered. show less

What I love about Mike Resnick, among other things, is his non-pretentious prose style. He doesn't write like he has a dictionary out to look up the fanciest words for saying everything in an attempt to impress you. Instead, he just finds the right words to tell the story. So you don't need to read his books with a dictionary next to you either, and his books work for readers of all ages.This book, one of several inspired by his love of and travels through Africa, is the story of Duncan show more Rojas and Bukoba Mandanka and the tusks of the Kilimanjaro Elephant, the largest to ever exist. Rojas, a researcher for Braxton's Records of Big Game, is hired by Mandaka, the last living Masaai, to find the tusks which he believes are the secret to his people's lost power. While he won't explain why he needs them, he is paying handsomely, and Rojas cannot resist a good mystery.As he researches the tusks with the help of his trusty computer, Rojas learns the stories of various people and aliens who have possessed them over time. The tusks have quite a colorful history, as does the elephant himself, and the stories are fascinating and rich with characters, world building, history and solid plotting.The chapters run long, something I myself am guilty of, but that's because each chapter contains a historical story and a section about Rojas' research in the present as he learns the history.In the end, the story raises powerful questions about tradition, faith, and mythology. As is typical of Resnick, the conclusion leaves us to provide our own answers, and there is certainly a lot to think about which resonates with you long after the book has been closed.A not to be missed, rich story. Thoroughly enjoyable and compelling. For what it's worth... show less