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A review by daveversace
Rare Unsigned Copy: Tales of Rocketry, Ineptitude, and Giant Mutant Vegetables by Simon Petrie
4.0
Great collection of science fiction short stories and flash fiction pieces at the intersection between hard science and absurd comedy.
Knowing the author's much-reputed love of excruciating puns, I went into the collection with a small amount of trepidation, and indeed the comedic Gordon Mamon murder mysteries (of which several are included in this collection) do feature some of the most horrific punnish character names ever set into print. But beyond the absurd tone and the gormlessness of the protagonist, these stories set in a space elevator hotel are good old-fashioned hardboiled SF mysteries, with tight plotting and plausible science.
Elsewhere the author runs the gamut from absurd science-problem stories (as in the opening "The Day of the Carrot" to SF horror ("Fomalhaut 451") to weird alien biology and cultural studies ("Downdraft"). Interspersed among them are odd bits of horror, fantasy and fables, in short story form as well as drabbles and flash pieces. Some of these are sly and/or unapologetic jokes; others are quite unsettling horror.
I didn't enjoy everything, but Rare Unsigned Copy is so packed with stories that it would be a rare SF reader who couldn't find something to love. A tolerance for sudden and quite terrible puns is recommended though. Some of them are weapons-grade.
Knowing the author's much-reputed love of excruciating puns, I went into the collection with a small amount of trepidation, and indeed the comedic Gordon Mamon murder mysteries (of which several are included in this collection) do feature some of the most horrific punnish character names ever set into print. But beyond the absurd tone and the gormlessness of the protagonist, these stories set in a space elevator hotel are good old-fashioned hardboiled SF mysteries, with tight plotting and plausible science.
Elsewhere the author runs the gamut from absurd science-problem stories (as in the opening "The Day of the Carrot" to SF horror ("Fomalhaut 451") to weird alien biology and cultural studies ("Downdraft"). Interspersed among them are odd bits of horror, fantasy and fables, in short story form as well as drabbles and flash pieces. Some of these are sly and/or unapologetic jokes; others are quite unsettling horror.
I didn't enjoy everything, but Rare Unsigned Copy is so packed with stories that it would be a rare SF reader who couldn't find something to love. A tolerance for sudden and quite terrible puns is recommended though. Some of them are weapons-grade.