Mike Resnick (1942–2020)

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

In case you hadn't been introduced to the Right Reverend Honorable Doctor Lucifer Jones before, this is your chance. He's part Indiana Jones, part 9-year-old boy, part Bernie Madoff. He is charming though and doesn't truly wish people ill. If he could only get the money needed to build his church and a long list of beautiful and preferably naked virgins who needed their souls saved, then he would be happy. However he seems to find trouble no matter where he goes. Whether it is diamond show more thieves, jaguar people or lost continents, he can't seem to stay out of hot water. Fortunately all to our enjoyment. Resnick is able to capture the feel of pulp adventure stories while simultaneously mocking them. Lucifer Jones is able find adventure after adventure, falling into them with ease. But then his single minded, egocentric view of getting what he wants, leads each situation to become a funny disaster.

Resnick broke his book down into a different country for each chapter. It flows together as you read it because Lucifer is moving slowly across South America, but at the same time each chapter can stand alone. In fact, I was first introduced to Lucifer Jones in this manner. Subterranean Press would make the stories for their magazine available online; Resnick had multiple chapters published as standalone stories. It worked well for writing the book in stages but it also led to the only negative aspect that I have with the book. Each chapter follows the same pattern again and again. This was great and hysterical for the first half of the book. The second half got repetitive and not quite as funny. I probably should have broken up the pattern and read something by Bryan Smith or Edward Lee once things got mundane. I still found the book very entertaining and fun and would definitely recommend it. show less

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

I miss Mike Resnick, who died three years ago. He was a writer with serious themes, a passion for African culture, deep knowledge of science fiction history, and a wry sense of humor. As an editor, he had a keen eye for new talent and found creative ways to put together thematic anthologies. Robert J. Sawyer, for example, got early encouragement from him.
Resnick’s 1994 novella, Seven Views of Olduvai Gorge, won the Nebula, the Hugo, and a raft of smaller awards. Millennia after show more galaxy-spanning humanity has gone extinct, a team of alien archaeologists visit Olduvai Gorge to study how such an aggressive race got its start. The small naked apes, they discover, were often self-destructive yet easy to underestimate.
To Mike, I present four old skulls with strangely similar damage. show less