Archive for May 31st, 2010
‘Waterclap’ by Isaac Asimov
So, is Isaac Asimov rubbish? He is certainly unlikely to be of interest to lovers of literature and his previous story in this anthology wasn’t even of interest to lovers of science fiction. This story, from his late period, is equally balls.
A man from a habitat on the Moon (weakly named Luna City) comes to visit a man from a habitat on the ocean floor (weakly called Ocean-Deep). For fifteen pages they talk dryly of habitat engineering before the actual plot reveals itself in the form of an attempted sabotage. Disaster is then averted by a bit of transparent bullshit. This story is really only notable for the unfortunate spectacle of Asimov trying to show how progressive he is about gender roles whilst actually being very sexist indeed.
Quality: *
Hardness: ****
