(Post Apocalypse) Around 2650 AD, the narrator interviews a wealthy recluse who lives above the sunken ruins of Boston. (6,600 words; Time: 22m)
Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended
Recommended By: GDozois:5 NClarke"Dispatches From The Cradle: The Hermit -- Forty-Eight Hours In The Sea Of Massachusetts," by Ken Liu [bio] (edited by Jonathan Strahan), appeared in Drowned Worlds (RSR review), published on July 12, 2016 by Solaris.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The author describes a fascinating setting for a story, with a partly-habitable Earth, settled Venus, and partly-terraformed Mars, together with people wanting to fix the Earth as well as inhabitants who like it as it is. It makes the excellent point that after you've changed a thing, changing it back may not be ideal.
Con: Nothing happens. There's not a story here. This is like a teaser for a novel.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Ken Liu Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB
Con: Nothing happens. There's not a story here. This is like a teaser for a novel.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Ken Liu Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB
I rate this story ★★★, one more than RSR. It's a good example of a short SF sightseeing story where nothing much happens but the sights remain in your memory long after you've forgotten the plot, characters and other details.
ReplyDeleteReprinted in Lightspeed 130 (Mar 2021): https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/dispatches-from-the-cradle-the-hermit-forty-eight-hours-in-the-sea-of-massachusetts/
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