My novella The Union of Soil and Sky is in the April/May 2010 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction,, with a cover illustration by Duncan Long. You can read an excerpt on the Asimov’s site.
Asimov’s says:
…and talented newcomer Gregory Norman Bossert, in his first fiction sale anywhere, describes the trials and travails of a group of scrappy xeno-archeologists as they attempt to preserve the mysterious constructions of an alien race before the human bulldozers plow through, in “The Union of Soil and Sky,” featuring a beautiful new cover by Duncan Long.
Many thanks again to Sheila Williams, Brian Bieniowski, and the rest of the Asimov’s staff!
Duncan Long’s original painting is here…
I just finished reading The Union of Soil and Sky in Asimov’s and, IMHO, this is VERY good work. I loved how the characters were so rich and individual, how the glimpse of the keeper culture we see is so suggestive of greater depths and how the rising action sucks you in and keeps you reading. Also, a perfect end. Exciting and uplifting without being overdone. This story left me wanting to see more of the main characters and the keepers. Much better, of course, that leaving the reader with the feeling of having seen enough. 🙂 Thank you. I will be looking for more of your work.
John,
Thanks a lot! Your feedback is greatly appreciated; sometimes when I am sitting there beating my head against a story I really have no clue if it will make any sort os sense to anyone (including myself!)
It looks like my novelette “Slow Boat” will be coming out in the August issue of Asimov’s. It’s quite different from “Union”; I hope you’ll give it a peek and let me know what you think!
Here are a few online reviews of “Union”:
http://johnsreading.blogspot.com/2010/03/asimov-science-fiction-aprilmay.html
http://www.locusmag.com/Reviews/2010/03/lois-tilton-reviews-short-fiction-3.html
http://www.asimovs.com/aspnet_forum/messages.aspx?TopicID=3266
Another review:
http://www.tangentonline.com/index.php/print–monthly-reviewsmenu-259/analog-reviewsmenu-54/1332-asimovs-aprmay-2010
And:
http://www.sfrevu.com/php/Review-id.php?id=10505
Hey Greg. Thanks for stopping by the new storefront yesterday. Sorry I couldn’t lay hands on the April-May issue of Asimov’s then. Of course, today they surfaced. I’ve got four of ’em if you want ’em.
Dave, congrats again on the new location! It already feels like a great space, boxes and all! And thanks for letting me know about the issues; I’ll stop by in the next few days and take a few of them off your hands!
If you are in the Bay Area, note that The Other Change of Hobbit has moved to new spacious digs with (rarest of rarities) plentiful on-street parking…!
And another review. The reviewer say “[the resolution] was also spoiled a little for me by something that has nothing to do with the story itself,” which is an intriguing criticism… Space rays, maybe? Finding half a worm wedged in the magazine? That pesky kid Franky in the front row shouting out what happens just before the page turned? Anyway, the review is appreciated, and as always, very useful!
http://free-dissociation.com/blog/posts/2010/04/13-apr-may-asimovs/
I also dug your story. Quite a bit, actually. I want to read it again before I try and say anything intelligent about it, but well done, sir. well done indeed.
Muchas gracias, Dallas. I’m looking forward to future discussions!
I finished The Union of Soil and Sky earlier today on my Kindle and was absolutely blown away by it. It left me depressed that it wasn’t a full novel or even one book in a longer standing series. More than anything, it reminded me of the alien-archeology found in Jack McDevitt’s Priscilla Hutchins series (which I absolutely devoured, much like this story).
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on more of your work in the future and it’s stuff like this that spurs me on further in my own work!
By the way, I did a longer write up of my thoughts here: http://primaldirective.tumblr.com/post/534942980/must-read-the-union-of-the-soil-and-the-sky
Many thanks for the kind comment and the review, Christian! And yeah. Jack McDevitt is great; I love the lure of deep mysteries unsolved… I passed through his hometown of Brunswick, GA in January — in fact, I finished my second story for Asimov’s in a little café there — but alas, he didn’t suddenly lean over my shoulder to make a few helpful suggestions…
I do have some ideas for a sequel to “Union”, but I’ve got a crop of other stories I’ve got to get down on paper first!
Another review:
http://www.bestsf.net/2010/05/08/gregory-norman-bossert-the-union-of-soil-and-sky-asimovs-aprmay-2010/
Greg Bossert @8: The reviewer say “[the resolution] was also spoiled a little for me by something that has nothing to do with the story itself,” which is an intriguing criticism… Space rays, maybe?
Hi Greg. Sorry to be so coy about it — I can never quite figure how much to worry about spoilers, but if it bothered me a little I figured that being so spoilered would bother someone else. (The following has been ROT-13’d for your protection.) Fvzcyl, gur pbire bs gur zntnmvar fcbvyrerq gur fgbel sbe zr! (Abgr hfntr qvfgvapg sebz ‘fcbvyrq’ — vg jnf fgvyy na rawblnoyr fgbel!) Lbhe znva punenpgre chg gur tha^Jnavzngebavp sybjre ba gur znagyrcvrpr, fbzrbar zragvbarq fbzrguvat nobhg qentbaf, V fnvq “Nun! Gur fgbel vf tbvat gb raq jvgu gur qvfpbirel bs n tvnag navzngebavp qentba negvsnpg!”, naq V pbhyq ynetryl cerqvpg jurer gur fgbel jnf tbvat sebz gurer. Alien archaeology stories seem to me to hinge more than most on some discovery that needs to be a little bit unexpected — a twist — in order to provide the sensawunda, and twist stories are hard to write and easy to spoiler. :-/
Hard to write *well*, I should say. It’s usually easy but unsatisfying to write “…and then I woke up.”