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Professor Odd
The Complete Season One
by Goldeen Ogawa
Heliopause, 19.99, 322 pages
Published: June 2017

I bought this book directly from the author to get a signed copy, after we met at a previous World Fantasy Convention--which is a great place to meet writers, and artists. Goldeen is both.

The stories in this collection are told from the point of view of a young college student, Alister Bane, who gets caught up in the adventure of a lifetime when a guest professor discovers and reveals an alien in their midst. The alien is captured by government agents who wish to "study" it-- a procedure with a high mortality rate -- and the mysterious professor sets out to liberate it, recruiting Alister to be her local guide and assistant.

Professor Odd herself is two parts Miss Frizzle (from The Magic School Bus series of television show and books) and three parts Doctor Who. She is non-human, but can pass, if she conceals her tentacle and wears glasses; she is enthusiastic and knowledgeable; she has a great outlook on life and a cheerful attitude; and she likes traveling with Companions. Her long-term friend and companion is a humanoid-canine named Elo. She can travel through spacetime continuum but not travel into the past, although she has some wiggle room when it comes to timing.

The stories are fast-paced and action-oriented, with vivid, detailed descriptions of strange worlds and marvelous creatures.  As bonus, there are lots of fun references to popular culture and SF memes.  In the second story, for example, the killer robots bear a certain resemblance to Daleks, but nothing to trigger a copyright violation suit, because after all, killer robots are a mainstay of SF. These killer robots call themselves Antimovians, as in anti-Asimovian, and Professor Odd explains to Alister the Three Laws of Robotics as originated by scientist and SF writer Isaac Asimov. She goes on to say that nearly every advanced society throughout the multiverses comes up with some version of the same laws for coding robots, in order to prevent Terminator scenarios from arising.  The running joke is, nearly every time the professor alludes to pop culture, Alister has a vague memory of hearing or seeing the source material before, but he cannot remember where.

On a Woke note, SF has long been at the vanguard of directly and indirectly challenging ignorance, fear, assumptions, and small-mindedness. One of the best ways SF does this is by assuming we are (or soon will be) past that, and just telling a great story with relatable characters. That's why, during the  height of the Cold War and Civil Rights unrest, Star Trek had a Russian officer on the bridge and a woman of color as Comm Officer, not to mention a half-breed with demonically pointy ears as Science Officer. Ogawa does her part to continue this tradition. ~~ Chris Wozney

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