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A review by luanam
The Sum Of Us: Tales of the Bonded and Bound by Heather Osborne, Christie Yant, James Van Pelt, Tyler Keevil, Brenda Cooper, Lucas K. Law, Dominik Parisien, Claire Humphrey, Bev Geddes, Alex Shvartsman, Colleen Anderson, Matt Moore, Edward Willett, Juliet Marillier, Caroline M. Yoachim, Susan Forest, Nisi Shawl, Ian Creasey, Charlotte Ashley, Amanda Sun, Karina Sumner-Smith, Liz Westbrook-Trenholm, Sandra Kasturi, Hayden Trenholm, A.M. Dellamonica, Kate Story
4.0
I entered this anthology of speculative short stories about caregiving with the intention of bookmarking the stories that stood out the most for me, as well as the ones I savored, these were the stories I intended to list and review here but this ended up being too unwieldy a task as there were just too many good stories from a variety of approaches and themes. Instead, and with the note that my selection means that some equally awesome stories remain unexplored but ready to be discovered, I am just going to highlight a few of the ones that struck me the most:
“The Gatekeeper” by Juliet Marillier - Those are not tears that are threatening to well up in my eyes as I travel to work on public transport, nope its just a sudden localised mist situation that is taking place behind my glasses and completely unrelated to this story of an Afghani refugee, his rescue cat, and connections they make not just with the residents of the care home but with each other and the deep interconnections of memory, loyalty and fear when the safety they have found and the security of home they have made is threatened.
"Mother Azalea' Sad Home for Forgotten Adults" by James Van Pelt - was another movingly good story. The 'Sad Home' part of the title is a bit misleading as I would classify the story as both more intriguing, in terms of ideas around its android home attendants, and more heartfelt, in its exploration of the relationship between the director of the home and its newest resident. The importance of bringing a human, empathetic element to medical care was very well done in a contrastive fashion that was not overblown.
"The Healers Touch" by Colleen Anderson - This one did a beautiful job of combining scifi exploration of the use of doctor directed nanos at a very hands on level to treat patients with a personal story of the doctor's own emotional journey in coming to terms with her own past traumas as her new role sees her confronted with those of her patients. Healing of self and others becomes intertwined in an important way. LGBT story.
"The Oracle and the Warlord" by Karina Sumner-Smith - This was one of the relatively few truly sad tales in the anthology, as the protagonist Andra watches her friend, and former lover, weaken and lose her self over time in service and payment to the dark waters in her role as the oracle. It is a role that ends up being vitally important to the well being of her world and the story becomes one of the sacrifices voluntarily made for the safety of others. LGBT story
"The Gardener" by Amanda Sun - Also ended up being another sad story but more of a bittersweet sadness. A meditation on missing someone, of remaining behind to carry on its duties, conveyed through perspective of an android who has obviously not picked up on essential human cues but has developed some of his own feelings no matter how foreign or androidly expressed.
"Orang Tua Adventure Home Academy" by Charlotte Ashley - This one was one of the fun, adventurous stories within the anthology and as the story progresses one of the main character comes to see how much vim and curiosity there is still left to her in last years as she finds a new life in new surroundings in a different culture. It also ended up being a very sweet story about two people separated by culture and generation coming to open up and appreciate each other.
"Goodbye is That Time Between Now and Forever" by Matt Moore - This one was a gracefully done snapshot taken at the end of a terminally ill father's life as he and his daughter, who acts as his guardian/carer, travel back to their homeland, America, where he is 'volunteering' to end his life and undergo what is known the transformation at the barricade that separates the walled off America from the rest of the world. In the flashbacks we see how America had undergone a viral plague, where the infected turned violently against each other and in escaping death Catalina and her father made it out to Barcelona but at the cost that Catalina's father had to make a split second choice to save Catalina or risk picking up her sister and mother. We also see how Catalina grows up, transitions MtF and finds a place of home in Barcelona but how her father never quite is able to let go of his old home. We see the journey of the parent as caregiver, to the child who grows to become their parent's caregiver and we see the bonds of love and connections between them - even over the points of their differences. LGBT story
"Gone Flying" by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm - This was definitely one of the outstanding stories in the collection for me, with its final sentences resonating after the tale was done. It was one of only a couple of the stories where I just took a moment to let it rest before moving on to the next. The journey of Nanee as in her old age, in a post apocalyptic world, in a war ravaged body, she strives to raise her babies, her clones, as illness combined with lack of resources contrive against this. But though the story starts as one of despair it turns into one of hope and fruition and of ingenuity and most of all of love.
The last story here "Dreams as Fragile as Glass" by Caroline M. Yoachim was one of the shortest but no less resonant for that. It was a story of being parents to a child with a hereditary, terminal illness - in this case given the sheen of an almost fairy tale form - the guilt that comes with that but also the courage to allow the child fly while they can. To find joy in pleasures even if those pleasures may be dangerous in a manner exacerbated by their illness. This ended up being a brief, beautiful and fluid story that was complete within itself.
“The Gatekeeper” by Juliet Marillier - Those are not tears that are threatening to well up in my eyes as I travel to work on public transport, nope its just a sudden localised mist situation that is taking place behind my glasses and completely unrelated to this story of an Afghani refugee, his rescue cat, and connections they make not just with the residents of the care home but with each other and the deep interconnections of memory, loyalty and fear when the safety they have found and the security of home they have made is threatened.
"Mother Azalea' Sad Home for Forgotten Adults" by James Van Pelt - was another movingly good story. The 'Sad Home' part of the title is a bit misleading as I would classify the story as both more intriguing, in terms of ideas around its android home attendants, and more heartfelt, in its exploration of the relationship between the director of the home and its newest resident. The importance of bringing a human, empathetic element to medical care was very well done in a contrastive fashion that was not overblown.
"The Healers Touch" by Colleen Anderson - This one did a beautiful job of combining scifi exploration of the use of doctor directed nanos at a very hands on level to treat patients with a personal story of the doctor's own emotional journey in coming to terms with her own past traumas as her new role sees her confronted with those of her patients. Healing of self and others becomes intertwined in an important way. LGBT story.
"The Oracle and the Warlord" by Karina Sumner-Smith - This was one of the relatively few truly sad tales in the anthology, as the protagonist Andra watches her friend, and former lover, weaken and lose her self over time in service and payment to the dark waters in her role as the oracle. It is a role that ends up being vitally important to the well being of her world and the story becomes one of the sacrifices voluntarily made for the safety of others. LGBT story
"The Gardener" by Amanda Sun - Also ended up being another sad story but more of a bittersweet sadness. A meditation on missing someone, of remaining behind to carry on its duties, conveyed through perspective of an android who has obviously not picked up on essential human cues but has developed some of his own feelings no matter how foreign or androidly expressed.
"Orang Tua Adventure Home Academy" by Charlotte Ashley - This one was one of the fun, adventurous stories within the anthology and as the story progresses one of the main character comes to see how much vim and curiosity there is still left to her in last years as she finds a new life in new surroundings in a different culture. It also ended up being a very sweet story about two people separated by culture and generation coming to open up and appreciate each other.
"Goodbye is That Time Between Now and Forever" by Matt Moore - This one was a gracefully done snapshot taken at the end of a terminally ill father's life as he and his daughter, who acts as his guardian/carer, travel back to their homeland, America, where he is 'volunteering' to end his life and undergo what is known the transformation at the barricade that separates the walled off America from the rest of the world. In the flashbacks we see how America had undergone a viral plague, where the infected turned violently against each other and in escaping death Catalina and her father made it out to Barcelona but at the cost that Catalina's father had to make a split second choice to save Catalina or risk picking up her sister and mother. We also see how Catalina grows up, transitions MtF and finds a place of home in Barcelona but how her father never quite is able to let go of his old home. We see the journey of the parent as caregiver, to the child who grows to become their parent's caregiver and we see the bonds of love and connections between them - even over the points of their differences. LGBT story
"Gone Flying" by Liz Westbrook-Trenholm - This was definitely one of the outstanding stories in the collection for me, with its final sentences resonating after the tale was done. It was one of only a couple of the stories where I just took a moment to let it rest before moving on to the next. The journey of Nanee as in her old age, in a post apocalyptic world, in a war ravaged body, she strives to raise her babies, her clones, as illness combined with lack of resources contrive against this. But though the story starts as one of despair it turns into one of hope and fruition and of ingenuity and most of all of love.
The last story here "Dreams as Fragile as Glass" by Caroline M. Yoachim was one of the shortest but no less resonant for that. It was a story of being parents to a child with a hereditary, terminal illness - in this case given the sheen of an almost fairy tale form - the guilt that comes with that but also the courage to allow the child fly while they can. To find joy in pleasures even if those pleasures may be dangerous in a manner exacerbated by their illness. This ended up being a brief, beautiful and fluid story that was complete within itself.