Bright Moment and Others

The 24 stories of this competent collection from Marcus (Binding Energy) mix pulp elements, hard SF, and understated sorrow. The most powerful tales hinge on unspoken kindness and unacknowledged loss: “An Orange for Lucita,” set during the Dia de los Muertos, offers a glimpse into the boundlessness and power of parental love; “Ex Vitro,” the standout, is a masterful study of large and small apocalypses as seen via the almost-happy relationship between two researchers on Titan—and the enormous, uncanny slugs that swarm on its ammonia beaches. In comparison, the contrived “Jesus Christ Superstore,” about a Christian “Megamall,” and “Blue Period,” about Pablo Picasso encountering alien life, feel like bad jokes, and many readers will find that Marcus’s depictions of racist and misogynist characters quickly become tedious. But these flaws are the exceptions; while the collection never rises above the sum of its parts, most of these stories are tight and highly polished. Devotees of short genre fiction should take a look. [em](July) [/em]