★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Utopia) The narrator wakes after ages in cryogenic suspension to a world where everyone is a cyborg. They’re kind to her, but they do expect her to “intergrate” eventually, and she’s terrified. (2,735 words; Time: 09m)
"Soft We Wake," by S.B. Divya [bio] (edited by Trevor Quachri), appeared in Analog Science Fiction and Fact issue 01-02|19, published on December 15, 2018 by Penny Publications.
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Review: 2019.017 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The narrator struggles to come to terms with an Earth that’s completely strange to her. Yet the people are kind to her, although the existence of a hard deadline to either “integrate” or else (we assume) accept euthanasia amounts to tremendous pressure.
I started to call this a dystopia, but I decided that was wrong for a story where everyone is happy but a handful of people. This is a story where humanity created a utopia at the expense of changing into something rather different from what we’re comfortable with.
Con: With all that setup, the ending is a bit of a let down. Essentially, after all that hesitation, she finally gives it a try and decides she likes it. The end.
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S.B. Divya Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The narrator struggles to come to terms with an Earth that’s completely strange to her. Yet the people are kind to her, although the existence of a hard deadline to either “integrate” or else (we assume) accept euthanasia amounts to tremendous pressure.
I started to call this a dystopia, but I decided that was wrong for a story where everyone is happy but a handful of people. This is a story where humanity created a utopia at the expense of changing into something rather different from what we’re comfortable with.
Con: With all that setup, the ending is a bit of a let down. Essentially, after all that hesitation, she finally gives it a try and decides she likes it. The end.
Other Reviews: Search Web
S.B. Divya Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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