wealhtheow's review against another edition
3.0
A collection of sf short stories ranging from good to not-so-much. My favorites of the book were by Stephanie Burgis and Ciro Faienza.
Sterile Technique by Megan Chaudhuri--Rubaiyat drops out of university to culture prion-free meat for rich people so she can pay for her sister's medical treatment. I really like the details of the future here.
Whole Lives in Hammer Fragments by James Beamon--Marcus Lyon was the best damn pilot the Hegemony had ever seen. And now they've offered him his freedom in exchange for one job: kill his brother. I totally bought Marcus as a person, and even the story doesn't go in-depth into how his universe works, I got a solid feel for its mercilessness.
End of My Rope by Holly Schofield--A captain is transporting 100 cats and 100 plug-n-play augmentation chips. I didn't like this. It didn't get into what it means to augment intelligence on an ethical or interpersonal level, the characters lacked personality, and there was no plot besides cats annoying the shipcrew.
Murder on the Hohmann by Patrice Sarath--Kinda like an Agatha Cristie mystery in space. A disliked passenger dies on board a spaceship, and during the months it takes the ship to reach Earth all the passengers eye each other with suspicion. It ends with two pages of infodumping, which made me go from mildly liking this story to outright disliking it.
Coin Toss by L Chan--Frank investigates a new cryptocurrency. The world building is cool but the case is not.
If They Can Learn by Wole Talabi--Borg police officers are perfectly logical. So why did one kill an unarmed civilian? I really liked this one: good characters, interesting world, a plot that fits perfectly into the space of the short story.
Shoot Him Daddy by L.H. Davis--Aliens seed the planet's water with something that basically turns humans into zombies. A small group of humans are left thanks to coincidence and their moonshine, which protects against turning. Not well written.
Life and Death in the Frozen City by Marina Berlin--A mysterious courtesan hears rumors of unrest in the city that they've made their home. I liked it.
Dreamwire by Anne E Johnson--A rich girl gets cyber part after cyberpart, fixing every bit of herself piece by piece, but something is still missing. Then she hears about a new invention that will let you connect to your dreams...I liked the beginning and premise of this story, but the ending was way too pat.
Hu.man and Best by Nancy S.M. Waldman--An old soldier comes across a human girl in the no-mans-land between the androids and humans. I liked this.
The Soma Earth by Ciro Faienza--A deaf African-American immigrates to Italy to create a high-tech working farm in an ecologically collapsed Italy. I loved this: everything from Tiche's feelings about her lost love Paolo to her ruminations on the privilege of communication to how she experiences the sensors hidden about the farm. It takes the same view of the future as Paolo Bacigalupi, but without the misanthropic hopelessness undertone.
Debugging Bebe by Mary Mascari--Britta is on the brink of a bright future with the corporation that runs the space station when her graduation project, a nanobotanic plant, is infested. She turns to the station's underworld of botanists for a solution, but in so doing discovers that her career expectations are not a good fit for her. The writing felt just a little clunky somehow, but I liked the ideas and worldbuilding enough that it didn't spoil my enjoyment.
Something to Watch Over Us by Mike Morgan--In a company in future Japan, employees are expected to take an e-nurse's advice in order to pay lower insurance payments. Weirdly enough, the program seems to be causing a lot of coincidences that make people happy...I like the idea of this, which felt like a Connie Willis story. The delivery feels pretty clunky, though, as though the author wanted to dump in every bit of knowledge about living in Japan as a noticeable foreigner he could.
Mums' Group by Stephanie Burgis--Modern moms get a Mumplant to help them be better mothers. It prompts them to be the best possible parents they can be--but when something goes wrong with Megan's Mumplant, it might be the push she needs to downgrade the level of control she gives it. I loved the way this mimicked concern trolling and mom-shaming in our current world, but with a sf twist.
Even Paradise Needs Maintenance by Bo Balder--Jones is an alien ambassador because she has nothing better to do, but after she and the alien's avatar are kidnapped, she finds her true vocation. I liked the characters, story, and futuristic world (complete with plastic continents).
Light-Years from Now by E.E. King--A grad student looks for extraterrestrial life every night in his lab. One day a handsome young man comes to keep him company, and they fall in love. The mysterious hot guy is very obviously an alien; the hints are beyond hints. Yet Tom never suspects a thing. I did not like this. Everything felt telegraphed. This could have been a single paragraph story.
Felis Helianthus by Daryna Yakusha--Eri spends her days chipping away inside landfills trying to find genetic samples of Earth's lost biodiversity. She finds the bones of a creature that just might be a long-lost species, and thereby a ticket to riches. But she's so puzzled (in a way that's obviously cover for being charmed) by the weird little thing that she keeps delaying turning it in... Good low-key worldbuilding. I liked all the details about solar gel paneling for houses and humans being so separated from other types of beings that they comb historical records for a mere picture of a sunflower.
Llamacide by Gary Kloster--Milo is a grad student trying to nudge llamas, goats, sheep, etc. into usable behavioral patterns using a computer program. One of the llamas almost kills the university chancellor, so a police detective (who Milo continually lusts after) checks the lab out. It's kinda a pointless tale, I figured out the mystery 6 pages into this 17 page story, Milo doesn't have much personality beyond thinking the detective is hot, and nothing stood out to me about this future. Fine, but forgettable.
Love That Easy Money by Robert Lowell Russell--The MTA fleet was built to fight AIs, but now that the war is over they've splintered into individual mercenaries who take any job the Martians will pay for. Kassie is one of the best, and has to push herself to her limits when one Martian city-state has the bright idea of ridding themselves of the MTAs by putting a price on every one of their heads. Suddenly Mars goes from easy pickings to an all-out brawl between tanks. I found myself skimming this after a while. The premise is an interesting one, but the way the action was written felt dry and pointless.
Sterile Technique by Megan Chaudhuri--Rubaiyat drops out of university to culture prion-free meat for rich people so she can pay for her sister's medical treatment. I really like the details of the future here.
Whole Lives in Hammer Fragments by James Beamon--Marcus Lyon was the best damn pilot the Hegemony had ever seen. And now they've offered him his freedom in exchange for one job: kill his brother. I totally bought Marcus as a person, and even the story doesn't go in-depth into how his universe works, I got a solid feel for its mercilessness.
End of My Rope by Holly Schofield--A captain is transporting 100 cats and 100 plug-n-play augmentation chips. I didn't like this. It didn't get into what it means to augment intelligence on an ethical or interpersonal level, the characters lacked personality, and there was no plot besides cats annoying the shipcrew.
Murder on the Hohmann by Patrice Sarath--Kinda like an Agatha Cristie mystery in space. A disliked passenger dies on board a spaceship, and during the months it takes the ship to reach Earth all the passengers eye each other with suspicion. It ends with two pages of infodumping, which made me go from mildly liking this story to outright disliking it.
Coin Toss by L Chan--Frank investigates a new cryptocurrency. The world building is cool but the case is not.
If They Can Learn by Wole Talabi--Borg police officers are perfectly logical. So why did one kill an unarmed civilian? I really liked this one: good characters, interesting world, a plot that fits perfectly into the space of the short story.
Shoot Him Daddy by L.H. Davis--Aliens seed the planet's water with something that basically turns humans into zombies. A small group of humans are left thanks to coincidence and their moonshine, which protects against turning. Not well written.
Life and Death in the Frozen City by Marina Berlin--A mysterious courtesan hears rumors of unrest in the city that they've made their home. I liked it.
Dreamwire by Anne E Johnson--A rich girl gets cyber part after cyberpart, fixing every bit of herself piece by piece, but something is still missing. Then she hears about a new invention that will let you connect to your dreams...I liked the beginning and premise of this story, but the ending was way too pat.
Hu.man and Best by Nancy S.M. Waldman--An old soldier comes across a human girl in the no-mans-land between the androids and humans. I liked this.
The Soma Earth by Ciro Faienza--A deaf African-American immigrates to Italy to create a high-tech working farm in an ecologically collapsed Italy. I loved this: everything from Tiche's feelings about her lost love Paolo to her ruminations on the privilege of communication to how she experiences the sensors hidden about the farm. It takes the same view of the future as Paolo Bacigalupi, but without the misanthropic hopelessness undertone.
Debugging Bebe by Mary Mascari--Britta is on the brink of a bright future with the corporation that runs the space station when her graduation project, a nanobotanic plant, is infested. She turns to the station's underworld of botanists for a solution, but in so doing discovers that her career expectations are not a good fit for her. The writing felt just a little clunky somehow, but I liked the ideas and worldbuilding enough that it didn't spoil my enjoyment.
Something to Watch Over Us by Mike Morgan--In a company in future Japan, employees are expected to take an e-nurse's advice in order to pay lower insurance payments. Weirdly enough, the program seems to be causing a lot of coincidences that make people happy...I like the idea of this, which felt like a Connie Willis story. The delivery feels pretty clunky, though, as though the author wanted to dump in every bit of knowledge about living in Japan as a noticeable foreigner he could.
Mums' Group by Stephanie Burgis--Modern moms get a Mumplant to help them be better mothers. It prompts them to be the best possible parents they can be--but when something goes wrong with Megan's Mumplant, it might be the push she needs to downgrade the level of control she gives it. I loved the way this mimicked concern trolling and mom-shaming in our current world, but with a sf twist.
Even Paradise Needs Maintenance by Bo Balder--Jones is an alien ambassador because she has nothing better to do, but after she and the alien's avatar are kidnapped, she finds her true vocation. I liked the characters, story, and futuristic world (complete with plastic continents).
Light-Years from Now by E.E. King--A grad student looks for extraterrestrial life every night in his lab. One day a handsome young man comes to keep him company, and they fall in love. The mysterious hot guy is very obviously an alien; the hints are beyond hints. Yet Tom never suspects a thing. I did not like this. Everything felt telegraphed. This could have been a single paragraph story.
Felis Helianthus by Daryna Yakusha--Eri spends her days chipping away inside landfills trying to find genetic samples of Earth's lost biodiversity. She finds the bones of a creature that just might be a long-lost species, and thereby a ticket to riches. But she's so puzzled (in a way that's obviously cover for being charmed) by the weird little thing that she keeps delaying turning it in...
Spoiler
It's a kitten and therefore I am totally into this story.Llamacide by Gary Kloster--Milo is a grad student trying to nudge llamas, goats, sheep, etc. into usable behavioral patterns using a computer program. One of the llamas almost kills the university chancellor, so a police detective (who Milo continually lusts after) checks the lab out. It's kinda a pointless tale, I figured out the mystery 6 pages into this 17 page story, Milo doesn't have much personality beyond thinking the detective is hot, and nothing stood out to me about this future. Fine, but forgettable.
Love That Easy Money by Robert Lowell Russell--The MTA fleet was built to fight AIs, but now that the war is over they've splintered into individual mercenaries who take any job the Martians will pay for. Kassie is one of the best, and has to push herself to her limits when one Martian city-state has the bright idea of ridding themselves of the MTAs by putting a price on every one of their heads. Suddenly Mars goes from easy pickings to an all-out brawl between tanks. I found myself skimming this after a while. The premise is an interesting one, but the way the action was written felt dry and pointless.
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