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otherwyrld's review
3.0
I decided to do a quick review of each story and star them individually.
Infinities by Vandana Singh – a sad and lyrical story set in a conflict-ridden India that explores the confluence between religion and mathematics, and which left me more than a bit depressed. 3 stars
Rogue Farm by Charles Stross – a great little post-apocalyptic story where an English farm holding is just that little bit different these days. It ended with me wanting more of this universe. 4 stars
The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi – a story about the future of news broadcasting told from the perspective of an outsider that I found rather disturbing and did not enjoy. The final few lines almost redeemed it though. 2 stars
Strood by Neal Asher – an alien first contact/invasion story with a chunk of “To Serve Man” thrown in, it falls flat because of a lack of tension. The ending pulls it back a little bit, but it’s a non-story caused only by a lack of communication between humans and vastly advanced aliens. 2 ½ stars
Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky – I’m not sure what to make of this Bicentennial Man love story. It was well-written but left me unmoved, except for the bit about the jealous Cockatiel who pines away for love. 3 stars
The Tale of the Wicked by John Scalzi – a wonderful classic Asimovian Three Laws of Robotics story set in a Star Trek-like universe. 5 stars
Bread and Bombs by M. Rickert - a rather sad story about the loss of childhood innocence in a world that has lost much more than that. It reminded me of Ray Bradbury. 3 ½ stars
The Waters of Meribah by Tony Ballantyne – a body horror story in a rather unusual setting, but in the end I didn’t like the conclusion it came to. 2 ½ stars
Tk’tk’tk by David D. Levine – a very nice story about finding the meaning of happiness in a totally alien environment. 4 stars
The Nearest Thing by Genevieve Valentine – this story only really works if you are one of the half dozen people on the planet who have never seen Blade Runner. Not at all subtle or sublime. 1 ½ stars
Erosion by Ian Creasey – a lovely elegiac story about a man who has traded away part of his humanity to escape a dying Earth and travel to the stars. 4 stars
The Calculus Plague by Marissa Lingen – marketing as an actual virus that you can catch - it’s an interesting idea but this story doesn’t go deep enough into it to make enough of an impact. 3 stars
One of our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell – an espionage tale set in a future Europe where the great powers never fell, this felt more like an excerpt than a short story and never really gelled for me. 2 stars
Tideline by Elizabeth Bear – a beautiful story of a damaged and stranded war robot and the bond she forms with a child as her life ebbs away. 5 stars
Finisterra by David Moles – a story of alien sky whales that I really didn’t enjoy even though it was well written. 1 ½ stars
Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal – a sharp, satirical tale about humanity’s relationship with our closest relative and what our treatment of them says about us as a species. 4 ½ stars
The Education of Junior Number 12 by Madeline Ashby – an entertaining but slight tale of robot love and reproduction that left me rather unmoved. 3 stars
Toy Planes by Tobias S. Buckell – A nicely told little story of a small islands ambition to join the big boys in space, ala Cool Runnings. 3 stars
The Algorithms for Love by Ken Liu – I wanted to like this one, but this story of a woman who invents an artificial child to replace the one she lost before descending into madness, just didn’t do anything for me. 2 stars
The Albian Message by Oliver Morton – an info dump disguised as an email which makes the final twist uninspiring. 1 star
To Hie From Far Celenia by Karl Schroeder – a story about virtual reality worlds that is only intermittently entertaining and is a little too long. 2 stars
Savant Songs by Brenda Cooper – a romantic story set in the world of interdimensional mathematics that ends rather sadly. 3 ½ stars
Ikiryoh by Liz Williams – a lovely delicate story set in a pseudo-Japanese mythological world which made me want to read more. 4 stars
The Prophet of Flores by Ted Kosmatka – a fascinating story set in a world where young Earth creationism have been proven right and evolution wrong, and what happens when you come across something that challenges the status quo. 4 stars
How to Become a Mars Overlord by Catherynne M. Valente – a powerfully, elegant poetical work about Mars and what it means. The problem is, I don’t like poetry. 3 stars
Second Person, Present Tense by Daryl Gregory – an odd little tale of a girl who takes an overdose of a drug that effectively kills her identity, but it ended strangely and I can’t say I liked the story. 2 stars
Third Day Lights by Alaya Dawn Johnson – is Moorcockian a word? It ought to be, because it describes this story perfectly. For all that, and the fact that Moorcock is one of my favourite authors, I didn’t get much from this story. 2 ½ stars
Balancing Accounts by James L. Cambias – a great little story about exploitation of the solar system told entirely from the point of view of an autonomous robot. 4 stars
A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee – a set of fragments of stories rather than a complete story in itself depicting different ways of travelling through the stars. It was intriguing but ultimately pointless. 2 stars
His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi – I don’t quite know what to make of this tale of nano-enhanced pets rescuing their master, but it’s a dazzling cornucopia of ideas that made my head spin. 4 ½ stars
Plotters and Shooters by Kage Baker – the nerds take on the bullies on a gun platform designed to protect Mars from rogue asteroids. Great stuff and very funny. 5 stars
The Island by Peter Watts – life aboard a starship traversing the universe to build stargates over a span of billions of years and yet still prey to human pettiness. A good but depressing story. 3 ½ stars
Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by Jo Walton – an alternative history story that was so terrible to read I may have to rethink reading the series that is set in the same universe if it is as bleak as this was. 2 stars
Chicken Little by Cory Doctorow – I both loved and hated this story about what happens when an unimaginably rich man decides he wants to change the world, and what happens to the ordinary man who gives him the means to do so. 5 stars
Total rating is actually 3.17, so 3 stars seems reasonable. There were not many new authors to me here that I would seek out based on these stories, but it does give a good flavour of what is out there in the world of Science Fiction to read
Infinities by Vandana Singh – a sad and lyrical story set in a conflict-ridden India that explores the confluence between religion and mathematics, and which left me more than a bit depressed. 3 stars
Rogue Farm by Charles Stross – a great little post-apocalyptic story where an English farm holding is just that little bit different these days. It ended with me wanting more of this universe. 4 stars
The Gambler by Paolo Bacigalupi – a story about the future of news broadcasting told from the perspective of an outsider that I found rather disturbing and did not enjoy. The final few lines almost redeemed it though. 2 stars
Strood by Neal Asher – an alien first contact/invasion story with a chunk of “To Serve Man” thrown in, it falls flat because of a lack of tension. The ending pulls it back a little bit, but it’s a non-story caused only by a lack of communication between humans and vastly advanced aliens. 2 ½ stars
Eros, Philia, Agape by Rachel Swirsky – I’m not sure what to make of this Bicentennial Man love story. It was well-written but left me unmoved, except for the bit about the jealous Cockatiel who pines away for love. 3 stars
The Tale of the Wicked by John Scalzi – a wonderful classic Asimovian Three Laws of Robotics story set in a Star Trek-like universe. 5 stars
Bread and Bombs by M. Rickert - a rather sad story about the loss of childhood innocence in a world that has lost much more than that. It reminded me of Ray Bradbury. 3 ½ stars
The Waters of Meribah by Tony Ballantyne – a body horror story in a rather unusual setting, but in the end I didn’t like the conclusion it came to. 2 ½ stars
Tk’tk’tk by David D. Levine – a very nice story about finding the meaning of happiness in a totally alien environment. 4 stars
The Nearest Thing by Genevieve Valentine – this story only really works if you are one of the half dozen people on the planet who have never seen Blade Runner. Not at all subtle or sublime. 1 ½ stars
Erosion by Ian Creasey – a lovely elegiac story about a man who has traded away part of his humanity to escape a dying Earth and travel to the stars. 4 stars
The Calculus Plague by Marissa Lingen – marketing as an actual virus that you can catch - it’s an interesting idea but this story doesn’t go deep enough into it to make enough of an impact. 3 stars
One of our Bastards is Missing by Paul Cornell – an espionage tale set in a future Europe where the great powers never fell, this felt more like an excerpt than a short story and never really gelled for me. 2 stars
Tideline by Elizabeth Bear – a beautiful story of a damaged and stranded war robot and the bond she forms with a child as her life ebbs away. 5 stars
Finisterra by David Moles – a story of alien sky whales that I really didn’t enjoy even though it was well written. 1 ½ stars
Evil Robot Monkey by Mary Robinette Kowal – a sharp, satirical tale about humanity’s relationship with our closest relative and what our treatment of them says about us as a species. 4 ½ stars
The Education of Junior Number 12 by Madeline Ashby – an entertaining but slight tale of robot love and reproduction that left me rather unmoved. 3 stars
Toy Planes by Tobias S. Buckell – A nicely told little story of a small islands ambition to join the big boys in space, ala Cool Runnings. 3 stars
The Algorithms for Love by Ken Liu – I wanted to like this one, but this story of a woman who invents an artificial child to replace the one she lost before descending into madness, just didn’t do anything for me. 2 stars
The Albian Message by Oliver Morton – an info dump disguised as an email which makes the final twist uninspiring. 1 star
To Hie From Far Celenia by Karl Schroeder – a story about virtual reality worlds that is only intermittently entertaining and is a little too long. 2 stars
Savant Songs by Brenda Cooper – a romantic story set in the world of interdimensional mathematics that ends rather sadly. 3 ½ stars
Ikiryoh by Liz Williams – a lovely delicate story set in a pseudo-Japanese mythological world which made me want to read more. 4 stars
The Prophet of Flores by Ted Kosmatka – a fascinating story set in a world where young Earth creationism have been proven right and evolution wrong, and what happens when you come across something that challenges the status quo. 4 stars
How to Become a Mars Overlord by Catherynne M. Valente – a powerfully, elegant poetical work about Mars and what it means. The problem is, I don’t like poetry. 3 stars
Second Person, Present Tense by Daryl Gregory – an odd little tale of a girl who takes an overdose of a drug that effectively kills her identity, but it ended strangely and I can’t say I liked the story. 2 stars
Third Day Lights by Alaya Dawn Johnson – is Moorcockian a word? It ought to be, because it describes this story perfectly. For all that, and the fact that Moorcock is one of my favourite authors, I didn’t get much from this story. 2 ½ stars
Balancing Accounts by James L. Cambias – a great little story about exploitation of the solar system told entirely from the point of view of an autonomous robot. 4 stars
A Vector Alphabet of Interstellar Travel by Yoon Ha Lee – a set of fragments of stories rather than a complete story in itself depicting different ways of travelling through the stars. It was intriguing but ultimately pointless. 2 stars
His Master’s Voice by Hannu Rajaniemi – I don’t quite know what to make of this tale of nano-enhanced pets rescuing their master, but it’s a dazzling cornucopia of ideas that made my head spin. 4 ½ stars
Plotters and Shooters by Kage Baker – the nerds take on the bullies on a gun platform designed to protect Mars from rogue asteroids. Great stuff and very funny. 5 stars
The Island by Peter Watts – life aboard a starship traversing the universe to build stargates over a span of billions of years and yet still prey to human pettiness. A good but depressing story. 3 ½ stars
Escape to Other Worlds with Science Fiction by Jo Walton – an alternative history story that was so terrible to read I may have to rethink reading the series that is set in the same universe if it is as bleak as this was. 2 stars
Chicken Little by Cory Doctorow – I both loved and hated this story about what happens when an unimaginably rich man decides he wants to change the world, and what happens to the ordinary man who gives him the means to do so. 5 stars
Total rating is actually 3.17, so 3 stars seems reasonable. There were not many new authors to me here that I would seek out based on these stories, but it does give a good flavour of what is out there in the world of Science Fiction to read
jroberts3456's review
4.0
A fantastic collection of science fiction, running the full gamut of styles and subgenres. An absolute must read for fans of newbies alike.
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