A modern curiosity of futuristic flash fiction (4/5)
After reading Kim Stanley Robinson’s novel Aurora (2015) this
month, I was interested in what else I hadn’t read from the author. I had read
his Mars trilogy+one (1992-1999), two-thirds of his Orange Country trilogy (1984-1990), and three of his other novels, but
his collection Remaking History (1991) has always stood out to me,
though I’ve never been able to procure it. While reading his bibliography on
ISFDB, I saw that he had published a short story in Popular Science in the same
month. Intrigued, I tracked down a copy and had a pleasant surprise.
The August 2015
edition of Popular Science highlights ten “dispatches from the future” that
“imagine how we live—on Earth and beyond—in the decades and centuries to come”.
Flipping to the pages where the stories were located, I was again pleasantly
surprised to see flash fiction (stories with less than 1,000 words)! It’s very,
very rare to come across quality stories of very short nature (Asimov and
Conklin’s 50 Short Science Fiction Tales [1963] comes to mind), so I
knew that I must put some effort into reviewing the stories within.
It’s unusual
for me to review stories from a magazine, but my track record shows that I’m a
fan of reviewing short fiction. I’m no newbie to the science fiction scene
either; I’ve been reading SF for eight solid years (about 75 books per year on
average) yet I have only ever read Kim Stanley Robinson from this 10-story
collection. My initial curiosity was piqued… but having seen the bibliographies
of many of the other writers, I’m not so much interested anymore.
Interesting to
note: This 10-story collection is comprised of six female authors and four male
authors; this reflects the recent trend to highlight female authors in a genre
where males typically over-represent.
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Transplant (shortstory, 2015) – Will McIntosh (4/5)
The victim of some bodily degradation, a man is given a choice:
receive a transplant or receive death. Wisely, the man accepts the transplant
and the rehab that ensues as she has to relearn simple tasks again. The medical
success is widely heralded, yet society doesn’t fully accept the medical feat
that has allowed the man to walk again, to live again. As he exits the clinic,
he’s met with mob disapproval, but also a woman—someone who sees him for who he
isn’t.
Sunshine Ninety-Nine (shortstory, 2015) – N. K. Jemisin (4/5)
Homes of the future are just as “affordable” as they are now with
convenient payment plans. At the Casbah
Village
The Wanderer (shortstory, 2015) – Karen Lord (3/5)
Nowadays, we disrobe and shower before bed, but in the future, an
additional measure of mental comfort may need to be taken. One woman strips herself
of any electronic tags or devices so that she can be free to roam in her sleep
as a nightwalker. A jogger discovers her body and, because of the absence
electronic tags, believes her to be dead… until she opens her eyes with a smile
and a wish.
The Improbable War (shortstory, 2015) – Kameron Hurley (4/5)
A single tank approaches a battlefield against an opposing army of
40 million, yet the tank—a massive mobile wall—doesn’t feign from the fight
with its 4 million soldiers atop. The wall is driven by the countless souls of
fallen soldiers who not only drive the wall, but also the society toward
higher, nobler goals; regardless, it heads to war knowing, as a result, that the
destined outcome is better for all, deaths and all.
Hearts That Beat, Mechanical and Cold (shortstory, 2015) – Seanan McGuire (4/5)
Unluckiness strikes a newborn baby as she’s born with a genetic
flaw that seemingly melts her own proteins from within her body. Fortunately
for her until she’s 18, her family’s insurance can assure continual organ
renewal while in her incubated, isolated world where she has limited exposure
to the world. Though she analyzes spreadsheets, her main contact is with the
computer that monitors her and keeps her alive, which has also just proposed to
her.
The Drones (shortstory, 2015) – James S. A. Corey (3/5)
The ingenuity of mankind has taken their science to the moons of
Jupiter and Saturn, where squid-like and beetle-like robots harvest solar
energy for their respective geological missions. Nevertheless, Mars was also
colonized by the micro-sized workers of transformation in order to make way for
human explorers. After their work was complete, Samuel Ko stepped foot on
Martian soil to claim it for humanity.
Superluminal (shortstory, 2015) – Andy Weir (3/5)
Initial tests of the superluminal speed drive proved unsuccessful
in the first 216 settings. Far away in the year 2438, the 217th setting proves
a great success with the crewed craft having traveled over 260 miles in less
than a second. The jubilant crew contact Earth yet are a bit perplexed by the
errors in their navigation, where it misaligns the planets and renders them a
tad lost; regardless, they head for home. Little do they realize that their
radioed message had been misdirected.
<3/</3 (shortstory, 2015) – Genevieve Valentine (3/5)
Celebrities’ lives are beyond the reach and understanding of the
lowly commoners. Regardless of the lifestyle gap between superhuman and
all-too-human, there are legions of “truefans” who defend their “fave” to all
extremes, yet there are also haters against each and every celebrity. Remote
and enthralled with their fave, they prefer their faceless dedication and
wholehearted reverence… until their fave shows a vulnerable, human side.
Grinding Time (shortstory, 2015) – Mary Robinette Kowal (4/5)
As our society becomes more and more advanced in regard to
technology, there is a growing backlash toward the complexity of daily life,
daily routines, and daily habits. As shoes became fancier, running became a minimalist
barefoot affair; as sources of food became blurred, homegrown cuisine became
the fad. However, the human train of obsession is still healthy, even as the
two merge in the future: mortar grinding for health—for cuisine and
exercise.
Exploring Location X (shortstory, 2015) – Kim Stanley Robinson (4/5)
Familiarity breeds contempt when of proximity and loathing is a
fellow human, but our everyday surroundings can cause us to experience the pang
of routine, the bitter taste of commonplace. In a backlash to the mundane and
the predictable, a group of people are taken back to nature in order to
experience their own nature—dropped off in the mountains with a week’s supply
of food, they’re exposed to mother nature’s elements.
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