(Near-Future SF) Each sleep takes Artemus two years closer to his goal, but he wakes up weak and starving after each one, and he doesn’t need nosey neighbors bothering him while he recovers. (3,614 words; Time: 12m)
Rating: ★★★☆☆ Average
Recommended By: SFRevu:4 RHorton:4"Two Ways of Living," by Robert Reed [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 126, published on March 1, 2017.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: There’s something kind of cool about sleeping your way towards a better future in the comfort of your own apartment.
Con: There’s little or no plot here. Artemus isn’t trying to do anything but reach a future with space travel, and that’s only an incidental part of the story. Glory is just a minor annoyance.
It’s hard to believe he doesn’t have better security than that, given his wealth. For what this is costing, I'd expect him to have someone there to assist him at every awakening.
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Con: There’s little or no plot here. Artemus isn’t trying to do anything but reach a future with space travel, and that’s only an incidental part of the story. Glory is just a minor annoyance.
It’s hard to believe he doesn’t have better security than that, given his wealth. For what this is costing, I'd expect him to have someone there to assist him at every awakening.
Other Reviews: Search Web, Browse Review Sites (Issue 126)
Robert Reed Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
This was a fascinating idea...and then it just stopped. I really wish that it had taken a bit longer and developed a fuller story.
ReplyDeleteI think a lot of writers come up with cool ideas but then can't see how to wrap them up. Surprisingly, most of the magazines are kind of okay with that. They'll run stories with all kinds of flaws (even flaws that their submission pages sternly warn they never accept) just as long as there's a really cool idea in them.
ReplyDeleteThis was entertaining, but it seems like a long setup for the joke the dog tells at the end, rather than much of a story.
ReplyDeleteThe very last paragraph was particularly incomprehensible:
DeleteThen he laughs at me. With his mouth, his eyes. Everything about him is laughing, and I can’t describe what that does to a man.
Any idea what that was all about?
I just thought he was creeped out at a dog laughing at him.
DeleteAny clue what was up with the names Glory and Salvation?
Not really, other than the obvious: "Glory" is another name for heaven, and "Salvation" is how you get to heaven.
DeleteYeah, seems odd for these two. I think Artemus would have named them "Road" and "Hell." :P
Delete