Saturday, July 27, 2019

Heaven Looks Down on the Tomb, by Gregor Hartmann

[Interzone]
★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Post-Apocalypse) A few hundred years after the biowarfare that ended humanity on Earth, a team of young people from the lunar colonies come back to collect samples of the surviving life. (9,718 words; Time: 32m)


"Heaven Looks Down on the Tomb," by (edited by Andy Cox), appeared in issue 282, published on by .

Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Review: 2019.409 (A Word for Authors)

Pro: Probably the best part of the story is Mei’s interactions with Xha. I loved the contrast between his cheerful disregard for propriety and her slavish devotion to it—particularly when it becomes apparent they need to make common cause.

It also makes a lot of sense that the lunar government is very repressive. It’s hard to retain real freedom when the government has the power of life or death over everyone and there is nowhere to go. It’s nice that there was more nuance to it than that though.

Given that the student’s augments let them eat just about anything, Mei’s solution to their problem isn’t unreasonable. I particularly loved her last line.

From the setup, I’ll be surprised if there aren’t more episodes in this story to come. I look forward to them.

Con: The idea that improved intestinal bacteria could make you a super genius is a little hard to buy. I also thought Dr. Wong gave in a little too easily at the end.

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Gregor Hartmann Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline

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