★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(SF Hacking) Brian wakes up in his mountain retreat to find his home AI system has been hacked and he can’t escape the house without paying a huge ransom. He’s an engineer, so he’s not ready to pay up without a fight. (9,723 words; Time: 32m)
Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 (Q&A)
"Okay, Glory," by Elizabeth Bear [bio] (edited by Wade Roush), appeared in Twelve Tomorrows 5 (RSR review), published on May 25, 2018 by MIT Technology Review.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2018.627 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The technical details in this story are almost all spot-on. Bravo! The idea that Brian’s house is such a fortress that he can’t figure out a way to get out even after weeks is a bit of a stretch, but I only had one serious issue, which I’ll discuss later.
I particularly liked the fact that the way he actually escaped was by convincing Glory that he was so ill that he needed outside help, and that that need overrode the need to keep him inside.
Beyond that, there’s a subplot about Brian realizing much of his predicament results from his having been such a reclusive jerk that people are a) not surprising he’s in hiding and b) are afraid to look for him.
Con: I’m not sure what the point was with him hooking up more processors to the system. I don’t see any obvious way the main system could make any use of them.
The ending went on for way too long past the climax. We didn’t know anything about Jaysee except what a great VP she was, so it’s hard to feel anything about any promise Brian might make to her.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Elizabeth Bear Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Pro: The technical details in this story are almost all spot-on. Bravo! The idea that Brian’s house is such a fortress that he can’t figure out a way to get out even after weeks is a bit of a stretch, but I only had one serious issue, which I’ll discuss later.
I particularly liked the fact that the way he actually escaped was by convincing Glory that he was so ill that he needed outside help, and that that need overrode the need to keep him inside.
Beyond that, there’s a subplot about Brian realizing much of his predicament results from his having been such a reclusive jerk that people are a) not surprising he’s in hiding and b) are afraid to look for him.
Con: I’m not sure what the point was with him hooking up more processors to the system. I don’t see any obvious way the main system could make any use of them.
The ending went on for way too long past the climax. We didn’t know anything about Jaysee except what a great VP she was, so it’s hard to feel anything about any promise Brian might make to her.
Other Reviews: Search Web, GoodReads.com
Elizabeth Bear Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
Now reprinted at Lightspeed:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/okay-glory/
Thanks for these links. Nice to see there are now two free stories for Twelve Tomorrows and one more for Robots vs. Fairies. I've updated the spreadsheet and refreshed the tables for the 2018 Ballots, Annotated 2018 Locus list, the anthology reviews, and the past 7 monthly ratings (your browser will probably refresh it's cached copies in a day or so).
DeleteToo bad that there's a big plot hole right at the start....
ReplyDeleteWhich plot hole did you have in mind?
Delete