★★☆☆☆
(SF Dystopia) Szanna visits bonespace from realspace and enters a park that contains the pestilent, including a man Szanna once loved. (7,284 words; Time: 24m)
"Lapis," by Sara Saab [bio] (edited by Neil Clarke), appeared in Clarkesworld issue 156, published on September 1, 2019.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2019.505 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The story recounts Szanna’s youthful attachment to Nouri when they lived in Avidenna Park and how they went separate ways over the risky immortality treatment, interleaved with her (a few hints suggest Szanna is female, but it could be otherwise) attempt to visit him many years later in Florid Park.
Central to the story is the idea that, during their lifetimes, nanobot-mediated immortality became available to ordinary people, but it comes with the risk of getting “the pestilence,” which costs you your mind. Nouri got the immortality as a young man, leaving Szanna behind.
Con: It’s so confusing it was a real struggle to finish it. Nor did it help that Szanna appears to have no worthy goal; she’s just stalking Nouri.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Sara Saab Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The story recounts Szanna’s youthful attachment to Nouri when they lived in Avidenna Park and how they went separate ways over the risky immortality treatment, interleaved with her (a few hints suggest Szanna is female, but it could be otherwise) attempt to visit him many years later in Florid Park.
Central to the story is the idea that, during their lifetimes, nanobot-mediated immortality became available to ordinary people, but it comes with the risk of getting “the pestilence,” which costs you your mind. Nouri got the immortality as a young man, leaving Szanna behind.
Con: It’s so confusing it was a real struggle to finish it. Nor did it help that Szanna appears to have no worthy goal; she’s just stalking Nouri.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Sara Saab Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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