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greyhuigris's review
5.0
This was absolutely fantastic!
A fun blend of noir and sci-fi, I'd love to see this expanded into a longer novel or even series.
A fun blend of noir and sci-fi, I'd love to see this expanded into a longer novel or even series.
spinesinaline's review
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death, Murder, and Domestic abuse
nataliya_x's review
4.0
When Erwin Schrödinger came up with his catchy mockery of the absurdist implications of some quantum mechanics interpretations he likely never even imagined that in the collective mind his memorable example of a cat simultaneously dead and alive¹ until the possibilities are collapsed into a single state by the power of observation would forever become the definite "that's it!" quantum theory postulate.
It's a determinedly noir story set in the 1930s-feel Chicago full of gangsters and cold crime and moonshine - and also somehow equipped with technology that allows the implantation of a heisen device (immediately leading to the thought of Heisenberg uncertainty principle) into a person's brain, allowing that person to see the endless possibilities spreading out from any event and to grab onto whichever of those possibilities you would like to see happen.
¹The principle was then realistically expanded in Terry Pratchett's Lords and Ladies:But the idea of the many possibilities just waiting to be collapsed into one remains catching and, unlike the poor cat, definitely alive, and that's what the short Tor.com story Schrödinger’s Gun capitalizes on - the instant recognition of the principle.
"Technically, a cat locked in a box may be alive or it may be dead. You never know until you look. In fact, the mere act of opening the box will determine the state of the cat, although in this case there were three determinate states the cat could be in: these being Alive, Dead, and Bloody Furious."
It's a determinedly noir story set in the 1930s-feel Chicago full of gangsters and cold crime and moonshine - and also somehow equipped with technology that allows the implantation of a heisen device (immediately leading to the thought of Heisenberg uncertainty principle) into a person's brain, allowing that person to see the endless possibilities spreading out from any event and to grab onto whichever of those possibilities you would like to see happen.
"Shadows of those possibilities stretched out on either side of us, rows of doppelgangers interviewing and being interviewed, as though Kitty and I were caught between two mirrors."It seems like a great aid to a grim noir detective (who, in the defiance of the noir conventions, is a woman - but after all, it's sci-fi noir with a little less gender biases). It may even seem like a worthy enough personal sacrifice to solve crime - even if it is only in one of the endless possibilities.
“Why bother?” he had asked me once. “Even if you bring this guy down now there’s gonna be about a million other universes where he gets away scot free, right?”[...]And personal sacrifice it is indeed. In parallel with the main storyline of the novella focusing on the murder of a Chicago mobster and an accidentally dropped titular gun in the middle of a grim unfriendly winter and the black-and-white film feel of the story there is another narrative line highlighting the isolation of living with a possibilities generation that has become a permanent part of you.
“Because if I don’t bother,” I said, “he gets away in a million and one.”
"My baby girl, my joy, my Sarah—for those first few weeks I couldn’t look at her. Not without seeing a spectrum of all that she could or might or would never be, every glorious and terrifying possibility fanning out around her. I brushed against universes in which I slipped and dropped her off the balcony, or accidentally smothered her beneath a blanket. They were outside chances, but they followed me like specters. Rick was no better. He was suddenly a million different people—Rick if I said this, Rick if I said that; Rick who could fall out or back in love with me a thousand different ways—and I withdrew, not knowing which of him I loved."This story is definitely memorable with its stark contrast between the black-and-white smoke-filled noir tone and the existence of the possibilities-bending technology, wholly unexplained and therefore even more interesting. It's the mixture of vintage and futuristic, and this improbable mixture works improbably exactly like the mass-appealing idea of a cat both alive and dead, leading to the ending that us both frustrating and, of course, completely logically inevitable.
"That’s one thing they don’t tell you about Schrödinger’s cat: you leave the lid on the box too long and the damn thing starves regardless. No quantum possibilities required."
miniaturephilosopher's review
3.0
I thought this was a great concept, and the writing was very good. I suppose the only reason I didn't rate it higher is because I wasn't completely happy with the story itself. The background stuff about the Detective's ex and child seemed sort of forced in there. And I am often skeptical of Schrodinger's Cat references that don't acknowledge the fact that Schrodinger himself never intended this thought experiment to represent a real possibility. But. I do think the way the potential universes are represented in this story is good. That's just my personal weird pet peeve. This was definitely a good story.
jokoloyo's review
4.0
As the title had indicated, there is multi-universe possibilities theme. The story showed it beautifully how to use a technology based on the Erwin Schrödinger's paradox. Without spoiler to the plot, I can only say the ending is great, the strong point of this short story.
There is a big potential to enhance the theme into full length novel. Maybe in a universe that already happened. I pity the universes where this story has not been written or published.
There is a big potential to enhance the theme into full length novel. Maybe in a universe that already happened. I pity the universes where this story has not been written or published.
quynh23's review
challenging
mysterious
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
anne311's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Blood, Death, Domestic abuse, Grief, Gun violence, Infidelity, Murder, Physical abuse, and Medical content
shomarq's review
4.0
More like a 4.5, this story had an almost flawless noir-style voice from the first-person narrator coupled with straightforward world-building, though it's difficul to determine what kind of society this is taking place in (it reminds me a lot of Brandon Sanderson's recent novella Snapshot, where there's one science fiction element in an otherwise contemporary time period). It stayed consistent and we discover about the narrator's heisen implant in a variety of ways as though to make sure we understand the quantum physics behind it (which is sometimes repetitive). Add to this that the mystery plot was well-structured enough to be a taut fit to the format of a short story, and you've got one bomb short-story.
libbystephenson's review
3.0
I'm not really into Prohibition-era crime stories, but if its going to be done, this is an enjoyable way of doing it. Sadly, the title kind of gives away the ending.