Review of Challenging Destiny
Number 6, April 1999

This review is by Emma Lee, from New Hope International Review. It appears here with the permission of the editor, Gerald England.

Challenging Destiny #6

Magazine of accomplished sci-fi and fantasy stories plus an interview with Julie E Czerneda who backs her science fiction with writing non-fiction scientific books and a text book to teach science using science-fiction. Plus an overview of Philip K Dick biographies and the elusiveness of the man as opposed to the myths.

In RUST Leah Silverman's character Loren returns to Lighthouse station to find that the only person who can tell her how her friend died is an apparently unsympathetic telepath, that succeeding in creating a very chilling atmosphere.

Nicholas Pollotta's A MATTER OF TASTE features a vampire in a remote Scottish village: the story's strength lies in its brevity, which stopped it becoming predictable.

The plot of ETHNE by Stacey Berg suffered from predictability however was well-written enough to justify inclusion.

Lateral thinking saves the teenage heroine of THE EARTH IS FLAT by Hugh Cook, in an intriguing exam that ends up being a rite of passage.

Daniel Pearlman's OVER THE H.I.L.L. took a long time to get going but had a strong ending in a story about identity and nature against nurture.

WITH MURDEROUS INTENT by K G McAbee teases with a will-they-won't-they scenario where Major Andru, convinced he'd fatally stabbed his former lover, an assassin, finds her alive and well and doesn't know if she's after revenge or rekindling their affair.

CHALLENGING DESTINY is worth checking out.

Last modified: January 26, 2004

Copyright © 1999 by New Hope International