A review by snazel
Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic by Iona Datt Sharma
Storm Story, by Llinos Cathryn Thomas:
Absolutely joyous, story of making it through a horrific storm, prototypical optimistic SF.
Girls who Read Austen, by Tansy Rayner Roberts:
I love everything Tansy Rayner Roberts writes, and this school story (of a saga of horrible roommates) is no different— it's funny and ends delightfully upbeat.
Upside the Head, by Marissa Lingen:
The story itself is only slightly optimistic, but the PREMISE (of an ability to regrow the amygdala after head trauma) is so exciting I caught myself doing the opposite of catastrophizing, just spiralling through positive futures, after I read it.
Bethany, Bethany, by Lizbeth Myles:
Changelings, what makes sisterhood, and loyalty.
CW: for child death at the beginning.
Seaview on Mars, by Katie Rathfelder:
Gentle, quiet story about moving into a retirement community, and about what makes a life well-lived.
A Hundred and Seventy Storms, by Aliette de Bodard:
Oof. Definitely kicking off a stretch of stories that are less optimistic in the "cheery tale" way and more optimistic in the "I refuse to go down and give up and you can't make me" way. A mind-ship survives a harrowing.
Low Energy Economy, by Adrian Tchaikovsky:
Claustrophobic little story about someone who's given up his whole life in the hope that it'll make things better for others, and who is semi-convinced that it was for nothing, for him at least, and the ending hits like a RELIEF, let me tell you.
Four, by Freya Marske:
A pair of friends inherit a house on a fractured street in a broken world.
St Anselm-by-the-Riverside, by Iona Datt Sharma:
Okay so people waking up from a coma is a cliche of hope, but that doesn't mean it isn't really freaking effective. Also this is a super cute romance and I ship it (and part of me is sulky that we got the Global Warming bad future instead of this one, where everything Chilled and people skate everywhere?)
This Is New Gehesran Calling, by Rebecca Fraimow:
WELL NOW I HAVE ALL THESE FEELINGS ABOUT A RADIO SHOW I AM PART OF THE FANDOM FOR AND AHHH. Delightful, joyful story about isolation, diaspora, and no-budget radio stations.
Of A Female Stranger, by Jeannelle M. Ferreira:
It's a selkie story!
Love, Your Flatmate, by Stephanie Burgis:
It's epistolatory, it's a tiny enemies-to-lovers romance, it's SO CUTE— I loved it.
Overall the anthology was a great buy and great to read (i'm really tempted to have another anthology on the go on my phone so I can read it in small downtime moments), and I had an excellent time. I think my favourites stories were Storm Story, This Is New Gehesran Calling, and Love, Your Flatmate, they were pure joy.
Absolutely joyous, story of making it through a horrific storm, prototypical optimistic SF.
Girls who Read Austen, by Tansy Rayner Roberts:
I love everything Tansy Rayner Roberts writes, and this school story (of a saga of horrible roommates) is no different— it's funny and ends delightfully upbeat.
Upside the Head, by Marissa Lingen:
The story itself is only slightly optimistic, but the PREMISE (of an ability to regrow the amygdala after head trauma) is so exciting I caught myself doing the opposite of catastrophizing, just spiralling through positive futures, after I read it.
Bethany, Bethany, by Lizbeth Myles:
Changelings, what makes sisterhood, and loyalty.
CW: for child death at the beginning.
Seaview on Mars, by Katie Rathfelder:
Gentle, quiet story about moving into a retirement community, and about what makes a life well-lived.
A Hundred and Seventy Storms, by Aliette de Bodard:
Oof. Definitely kicking off a stretch of stories that are less optimistic in the "cheery tale" way and more optimistic in the "I refuse to go down and give up and you can't make me" way. A mind-ship survives a harrowing.
Low Energy Economy, by Adrian Tchaikovsky:
Claustrophobic little story about someone who's given up his whole life in the hope that it'll make things better for others, and who is semi-convinced that it was for nothing, for him at least, and the ending hits like a RELIEF, let me tell you.
Four, by Freya Marske:
A pair of friends inherit a house on a fractured street in a broken world.
St Anselm-by-the-Riverside, by Iona Datt Sharma:
Okay so people waking up from a coma is a cliche of hope, but that doesn't mean it isn't really freaking effective. Also this is a super cute romance and I ship it (and part of me is sulky that we got the Global Warming bad future instead of this one, where everything Chilled and people skate everywhere?)
This Is New Gehesran Calling, by Rebecca Fraimow:
WELL NOW I HAVE ALL THESE FEELINGS ABOUT A RADIO SHOW I AM PART OF THE FANDOM FOR AND AHHH. Delightful, joyful story about isolation, diaspora, and no-budget radio stations.
Of A Female Stranger, by Jeannelle M. Ferreira:
It's a selkie story!
Love, Your Flatmate, by Stephanie Burgis:
It's epistolatory, it's a tiny enemies-to-lovers romance, it's SO CUTE— I loved it.
Overall the anthology was a great buy and great to read (i'm really tempted to have another anthology on the go on my phone so I can read it in small downtime moments), and I had an excellent time. I think my favourites stories were Storm Story, This Is New Gehesran Calling, and Love, Your Flatmate, they were pure joy.