"all seated on the ground"

[sergebroom]

I finished reading Asimov's December 2007 issue late last night. I should have been done much earlier in the evening, but every very few paragraphs someone would knock at the door. We were at Sue's youngest sister-in-law and, with almost every member of the household being out getting candy from the neighbors, I was in charge of giving candy to the neighbors(1). Meanwhile, on TV, Boris Karloff was using a death-ray projector to melt mountains as if they were made of chocolate ice cream.

We were visited by quite a few disneyesque princesses and winged elvish girls, but there were very few of what one could call prematurely sexualized outfits. Thank goodness for that. My favorites were the two 8-year-old girls who came together, one dressed like a bee, the other as a lizard. At least I think she was a lizard, based on the big stuffed tail sewn to the seat of her pants. If I had asked, she might have declared that I was a fool and can't I recognize a Dragon Lady when I see one? As for my nephews… The 10-month-old one didn't mind being dressed like a frog. My comic-book-loving nephew of course went as a Power Ranger while his older brother was a jawa. He had managed to rig some lights for where his eyes should be. I was impressed.

Things eventually quieted down. Back at my parents-in-law, and in spite of my constantly nodding off(2), I finished The Pride of Cucamonga, Part Two of Allen Steele's Galaxy Blues serial, with hero Jules Truffaut(3) and the rest of the trade mission's crew making it to the homeworld of the alien hjadd. Entertaining. I'm looking forward to Part Three.

Also very entertaining was Connie Willis's All Seated on the Ground. It is the tradition for Asimov's December issue to publish a Christmas story by Willis. This one has aliens who land at Denver University and nobody knows what they want because the aliens aren't saying anything. All they do is frown in stern disapproval, reminding the narrator of her dreaded Aunt Judith. Eventually there is a breakthrough when she realizes that the aliens respond to commands from certain Christmas music, but she can't figure out which does it and which doesn't, and she finds herself having to keep them from hearing most such music because of references to the slaying of children, and of grandmothers being run over by reindeer.

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(1) That circulation of sweets has got to be a metaphor used in some advanced Economics classes.

(2) Because of the red wine, not because of the prose.

(3) Yes, Jules did 'fess up to having a brother named Jim.

Comments

[txanne.livejournal.com]

(3) BWAH!

What Christmas music refers to the slaying of children?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

According to Willis's story... The Coventry Carol, with a reference to King Herod.

[txanne.livejournal.com]

Oh, I forgot about that one. Yeah, the Holy Innocents = way to freak out a brand-new auntie. (I'm more experienced now, but it's still very creepy. Good thing it probably never happened.)

[miltonthales.livejournal.com]

I'm thinking of not re-upping my Sports Illustrated subscription (after 30 years!) so I thought I'd look at Asimov's. The website doesn't tell me (!) how frequently it's published. Semi-monthly?

[serge-lj.livejournal.com]

It's published 10 times a year, but you still get the equivalent of 12 issues because two of the issues are double-sized.