Reviews and Comments

An interesting story of a two characters on opposite sides of a war fought through time. It begins with Red finding a letter with the words, "Burn before reading," which turns out to be from her adversary, Blue, who teases and challenges her before their next encounter. This time war is fought between two forces, Agency and Garden, who move agents (like Red and Blue) through time to tease and alter events so that, far in the future, victory is theirs.

Each chapter features an event as seen by Red or Blue, in alternate, with a hidden letter discovered by one or the other once victory (or defeat) is tasted by one or the other. But after a few rounds, the tone of the story changes, as both Red and Blue start to talk about their past, and their lives during the war. Then, events happen that show that at some time in the past, their lives have intersected with each other, thought they may not be aware of it at the time. It is then that romance and love being to blossom between the adversaries, an affair that both have to keep hidden from their masters.

At the end, as adversaries, one is given the task of killing the other, with not way out without betraying the other. Yet, there may be a way, and it may involve a shadowy character that has been following their steps, but not revealed until the end of the book.

A short but nice book on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), covering its history from conception to launch and commissioning, followed by chapters that look at how the JWST has changed the way we look at the solar system, the stars, the galaxies in the universe and how the universe began.

Starting as a planned next generation telescope after the Hubble Space Telescope, the first chapters cover the various ideas that were discussed over what astronomers want the new telescope to do. Politics and budget considerations would cause changes in the design and management of the telescope. Finally, after numerous delays and near cancellation, the JWST was launched, deployed successfully and began to return data that was better than expected.

The next chapter looks at JWST's contributions to planetary science. At one point, the JWST was not planned to do much observation in the solar system as it lacked a tracker to lock on to moving objects in the solar system. This was overcome by using an alternative method that proved to work better than expected: when the DART probe collided with Dimorphos (a moon orbiting the asteroid Didymos), JWST was able to track it and provided valuable data on the result of the collision. JWST was also able to provide spectroscopic data on the planets and their moons, helping to determine what elements and chemistry was happening on them.

Next, a look at what JWST can say about the nearby stars is covered. The JWST is able to detect exoplanets orbiting the stars by various methods, and even do spectroscopic analysis of the exoplanets' atmosphere. While tantalising signs of potential biochemistry have been detected, none have yet to meet the high standard (5 sigma) that mark a discovery.

Going further, the next chapter looks at the galaxies that dot the universe as seen by the JWST. Details on the evolution of stars and galaxies have helped cosmologist get a better idea of how galaxies have evolved throughout the universe.

Finally, the JWST looks past the galaxies and back in time to the period when the universe was still young. Where there have been headlines about "JWST breaking the cosmos", what JWST has actually done is provide even more data that are helping cosmologist refine their models of the cosmos, helping to give us a better picture of how the universe works.

A wonderful collection of three novels of a "China that never was", featuring the narrator, Number Ten Ox, and Li Kao, an ancient sage and scholar with "a slight flaw in his character". Originally published in the 80s and 90s, this reread still finds the stories enjoyable, humorous and full of wonderful myths and details.

The first book, "Bridge of Birds", is the most enjoyable and introduces us to Number Ten Ox. His village is preparing for a large silk harvest, when disaster strikes. Worse, the children in his village (of a certain age) are struck down with a sickness. Ox is tasked with going to Peking to find a scholar who can figure out what happened and how to cure the children. The person Ox eventually finds is an inebriated Li Kao, which turns out to be the only one willing to listen to Ox and help. From there, the story builds up and gradually turns into a quest to find the Great Root of Power which may be able to cure the children. But this quest is also wound tied up with another quest: the search for the Princess of Birds, for both are part of the same story. Through lots of hilarious twists and turns, and strange coincidences that makes Li Kao wonder if Heaven is also involved, they travel the length and breath of China and finally get a triumphant ending that makes all of China celebrate.

The second book, "The Story of the Stone", is at a smaller scale. The abbot of a village in a valley seeks out Li Kao to investigate the murder of a monk, which the abbot fears may be the work of the Laughing Prince, a historical ruler of the valley that once worked and tortured the villagers for his own gains and amusement. During the investigation, Ox hears a compelling tone (that Li Kao does not hear due to his 'slight flaw'), which Li Kao later deduces is the 'soul sound' of a stone. But the stone that produced the sound that Ox (and other villagers) heard and followed would need an especially powerful 'soul', which Li Kao finds referenced in an ancient tale about a stone that was touched by a Goddess. The story of this particular stone would become linked to the murder when further investigations (including a subconscious trip to Hell) show how that ancient tale is not yet over, but could well cause the deaths of all involved, unless they can separate fact from legend and uncover the reason for the murder of the monk.

The third book, "Eight Skilled Gentlemen", starts with a "vampire ghoul" interrupting an execution. But from there, it builds up into a tale involving "Eight Skilled Gentlemen" and eight special bird cages that arise from the myths of pre-Chinese aboriginal peoples. For some reason, food (cooking and preparation of) plays a large humorous part in the story. The ending would involve a race that would determine whether Heaven would turn its back on Earth, unleashing a calamity.

An interesting issue, with good stories by Ryan Cole, Anna Burdenko, Yukimi Ogawa and Koji A. Dae.

• "From Enceladus, with Love" by Ryan Cole: a spaceship on its way to Enceladus has two stowaways: one is a girl, hoping to reunite with her mother there, while the other is a new 'intelligence' that wants to play games with her. A crisis emerges when the stowaway is found and the intelligence wants her back.

• "Pollen" by Anna Burdenko, translated by Alex Shvartsman: on a new planet, one girl attempts to survive while waiting for rescue. For while the planet is suitable for human life, it has one lifeform that produces hallucinogenic pollen as a way to attract prey. The tricky thing is for the girl (and the reader) to distinguish between what is real and what is just a trick of the mind while waiting.

• "Mindtrips" by Tlotlo Tsamaase: a woman with emotional problems is required to take pills that open up her internal mental states in an attempt to get her to confront her inner demons. But the people giving her the pills may have another reason for doing so, related to a murder investigation.

• "Those Uncaring Waves" by Yukimi Ogawa: a curious story about artists on an island who have the ability to 'paint' patterns on people, and through those patterns and the ink used, influence the body. One day, the artist discovers her paint is not as she expected. Tracing the source of the contamination would lead her to a woman with mental problems and even stranger body problems. Resolving the woman's problems would lead her to another person who has a secret related to the use of patterns and government attempts to change society.

• "Hook and Line" by Koji A. Dae: on a generation ship in space, one of the few remaining spiritualist struggle to pass on her ability to connect with the spirits of those left behind on Earth. In the end, a compromise would be reached between her and the people on the ship who now know little of Earth.

• "The Sound of the Star" by Ren Zeyu, translated by Jay Zhang: a visitor travels to many worlds, encountering strange sound scapes.

• "Funerary Habits of Low Entropy Entities" by Damián Neri: on the many ways death is honoured; from a planet with cicada-like forms to a concious photon.

A story based on an East Asian mythology about the Red Thread of Fate, it involves Sai, a poor man running a teahouse with his ailing mother. He has the ability to see people's Red Threads of Fate and, as a side business, he helps and guides people to find their Fated One, who is at the other end of the thread. But a mystery surrounds Sai, for his own Thread is not red, but grey and fraying: and he has never sought out his own Fated One.

But one day, he buys what are purported to be dragon scales, a miracle cure. The scales come to the attention of the cruel Emperor, who orders Sai to find the dragon, or else. His search would take him through a battle, where his thread would suddenly react in an unusual way.

He would, of course, find the dragon. But the search would also lead him to discover his Fated One, and go on a journey to escape the Emperor. He would also discover the reason behind his grey Thread, a reason that dismays him. But it is during the final confrontation with the Emperor that Sai discovers who he really is, and the reason for the Emperor's hunt for dragons.

A story in the Fantasy-Romance vein, but laced with scenes of violence (as warned by the author at the beginning) that show off the cruelty of the Emperor, but also the desperation of Sai and the dragon to escape. In the end, they do escape the Emperor, but not before suffering high emotional anguish, which makes the impact of the ending even more fitting.

An interesting look at the history and impact of the barcode upon society. Starting out as a way to quickly and accurately input product information into cash registers, its usage would become ubiquitous as a way to track inventory. Despite the rise of the QR code (a two-dimensional form of barcode), the traditional barcode is still widely used due to business inertia.

The book starts with the invention of the cash register as a way for businesses to keep track of items being sold and the money being handled. As the number of transactions grew, the need to automate the cash register became imperative. The barcode was invented and patented as a way to automate number entry, but the technology was not there. It was only when the laser scanner was developed would the technology to scan barcode entries become available.

A committee was set up to decide on what should be used to label products. The barcode that we know was not the first choice: that was a circular code, and the choice of a linear barcode may have been due to some internal politics. With the choice of barcode done, the task was then to get businesses together to decide on a common standard for the data encoded by barcodes.

The usage of barcodes was not inevitable. Consumer and workers unions opposed the use of barcodes, for they reduce user choice (individual pricing as opposed to shelf pricing) and the job losses due to automation. Businesses pushed back, but it would be many years before barcode usage would grow to the point where its use would be ubiquitous and objections would begin to die down. But one group would continue to oppose the use of barcodes, religious groups who believe that barcodes are the 'mark of the devil'.

The book also looks at the appearance and influence of the barcode in society. Films like "The Terminator" would use barcodes as a shorthand for oppression (humans are barcoded by the machines). In politics, the barcode would feature as a political point when George H.W. Bush was portrayed as out of touch with the public due to his reaction to seeing a barcode reader in action (a false portrayal, it would later turn out).

The book closes with a look at QR Codes, which are two-dimensional barcodes. The difference between QR codes and barcodes is what the encoded information represents. Barcodes encode a number which references an item in a global, central database. QR codes directly encode the data and do not have to reference a central database. QR codes were also first developed and popularised in East Asian countries (Japan and China). It would require COVID-19 restrictions for QR codes usage to grow in other parts of the world.

A short but fascinating book on viruses, by a science writer with the art of making complex subjects easy to understand. It is divided into several sections, each containing essays on an aspect of viruses in general.

The introduction looks at the history of viruses with the discovery of the first virus known to man, the Tobacco Mosaic Virus. Initially though to be a contagious fluid, and then living protein, it is only when technology got good enough that viruses could be seen, as packets of RNA or DNA contained in a protein capsule.

The first section looks at viruses that have been 'companions' of mankind for a long time: the Rhinoviruses (which causes the Common Cold), Influenza and Papillomavirus. He explains how they invade and take over our cells, causing the cold, the flu and even cancerous tumours.

Next, he looks at bacteriophages, viruses that attack bacteria, and how therapies combining both antibiotics and bacteriophages may be able to treat hard-to-kill bacteria that have grown immune to antibiotics-only treatments. Marine virus are then examined, showing that the oceans contain vast numbers of them than we are only now starting to recognise. Retroviruses (viruses that have become part of human DNA) are then looked at. While most are now harmless, one protein produced by a retrovirus in our DNA would prove to be important: it produces the protein that is a vital part of the mammal placenta.

The next section looks at what is in store for us as development and climate change causes disruptions, and it is not a pretty picture. HIV (and AIDS) is one example of an animal virus that spilled over into humans, causing massive suffering over the decades. The West Nile Virus is a virus that targets birds, but can end up killing humans because the mosquito, which spreads the virus, does not discriminate when feeding. And COVID-19 shows what can happen when humanity is not prepared for a virus that can cause a rapid global epidemic. Finally, he looks at the question of what to do with the last stockpiles of smallpox virus, one of a few viruses that man has managed to eliminate from the world.

The epilogue looks at what we still don't know about viruses. The discovery of giant viruses (the mimivurs) shows that viruses are not necessary tiny containers of DNA or RNA. And the question of how life began and how viruses may have played a part in cells becoming alive is yet to be answered.

An average issue with some weird stories. The ones I enjoyed were by Philip Fracassi and David Cleden.

• "Orange Slab" by Ashley Stokes: a weird fiction piece about moving a large piece of orange slab from the house of a person who believes in conspiracies. Only this time, the purpose and place where the slab, which feels alive, is to be moved too might not be a conspiracy this time.

• "The Astral Key" by Philip Fracassi: a group of people wake up in an unfamiliar place, to be told that their consciousness have to 'projected' into a game, and only one of them may find the key to win and escape, while the rest lost and may die. A 'cheat' happens at the end of the game and, the eventual winner may not have won the expected prize.

• "Dawnies How the World Is (Dictated)" by Rachael Cupp: on interpreting the words of a girl who misses the world after the apocalypse.

• "Learning to Fall" by David Cleden: a person selected to climb a very tall construction hides a fear from his fellow climbers. But when an unexpected event happens during the climb, he may have no choice but to overcome his fear.

• "Mirrored" by Corey Jae White: an influencer suddenly discovers online posts by him in places where he's never been. He is determined to find out who is taking over his online life. But the answer may not please him, unless he can find a new life to lead.

A better than average issue, with interesting stories by Rocío Vega, Somto Ihezue and Wang Zhenzhen.

• "Bodyhoppers" by Rocío Vega, translated by Sue Burke: in this story, a person's consciousness can be stored while they bodies are 'rented'. But some personalities get deprived of their bodies by a company and become outlaws, hopping into stolen bodies. One personality hops into a body and immediately runs away for a secret rendezvous, hoping to meet up before the company finds them, again.

• "King of the Castle" by Fiona Moore: set in a post-civilization collapse world, one person still seeks to become a leader to be feared in a village. But can this be done, when the village has moved on and prefers cooperation among its members.

• "We Begin Where Infinity Ends" by Somto Ihezue: a story about two boys and a girl who come together over a dream to save fireflies by using technology to make the environment better for the fireflies. Wrapped up in this tale is also a story of a blossoming relationship between them that leads to conflict and mixed feelings, but ends with a deeper and loving friendship between them.

• "A Planet Full of Sorrows" by M. L. Clark: a group of explorers discovers the remains of an alien city on a planet, sparking a race between different groups of human zealots eager to claim (and destroy) the city to further their on cultish agendas. The only way to save the city may be for the explorers to think out of the box, and consider what their recently dead and unorthodox crew member might do in this situation.

• "The Hanging Tower of Babel" by Wang Zhenzhen, translated by Carmen Yiling Yan: a son is taking care of his father, who was one of the people who helped build a space tether from the earth into space. But living in space has caused his father to suffer from an early form of Alzheimer’s, and an economic downturn has made the tether uneconomical and may now be partially dismantled. Now, the son has to figure out how to take care of his father's deteriorating mental state, while preserving his legacy.

• "Numismatic Archetypes in the Year of Five Regents" by Louis Inglis Hall: a story about five minted coins and the person who made them during a time of upheaval and the (violent) changing of rules of the city.

• "Celestial Migrations" by Claire Jia-Wen: a story about the migration of celestial creatures, mixed in with the yearly migration of people studying creatures back to their homes.