I was a bit disappointed when I started reading this anthology. From the title I was expecting stories written by Japanese authors looking to the future of their homeland. Instead I got western writers who presumably all have fascinations with Japan. (Yeah, I know. I should learn to look more carefully.) Once I began reading I forgave the editors their (presumably) unintentional deception. The novellas presented in Black Mist are all quite enjoyable.

The title story "Black Mist" by Richard A. Lupoff is a murder mystery set in a Japanese research station on the Martian moon Phobos. Mr. Lupoff is successful in giving his story an oh so Japanese atmosphere. (It may be totally wrong but I went for it.) I doubt any other human society could create the motive for the murder and I doubt this particular resolution could come about anywhere in the Solar system except Phobos.

I found "Tea From an Empty Cup" by Pat Cadigan to be quite odd. It brings up interesting questions about identity and individuality but I am not sure it provides answers. A young girl searches for a missing friend in a world where Japan no longer exists or at least "left the geographic coordinates that were once the country of Japan."

"A Medal for Harry" by Paul Levinson is more a vignette than a story. It deals with ethnic pride and the Japanese concept of "saving face."

"Niagara Falling" by Janeen Webb and Jack Dann is the surreal tale of a honeymoon at Niagara Falls. A thoroughly modern couple on a futuristic but decaying Earth must contend with some very old (and odd) traditions. I think this story wants to be a novel when it grows up.

"Thirteen Views of Higher Edo" by Patric Helmaan gives us an artist famous for his huge, space-going sculptures, or "views" as he calls them. The artist has problems reconciling his public successes with his private failures.

Click here to return to the SIGMA mainpage.

This page maintained by Greg Armstrong