★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention
(Human Bio-Engineering) She wants to be a dancer, but she can’t afford the legs mods to be competitive, so she takes a job at The Antidote, which sells designer drugs to rich clients—drugs that work miracle cures most can’t afford. (5,069 words; Time: 16m)
"The Antidote," by Dominica Phetteplace [bio] (edited by Sheila Williams), appeared in Asimov's Science Fiction issue 01-02|20, published on December 19, 2019 by Penny Publications.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.022 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The narrator is a nice young woman trying to be successful in a world where it’s so easy for people with means to augment themselves that it’s hard for a regular person to catch a break. Not that she’s entirely regular; her parents paid to have her enhanced as an embryo.
Mark has his own agenda, but being close to the narrator quickly becomes a key part of it, and it’s fun to watch that unfold.
The ending is very satisfying. She really does broaden her horizons and take some risks, and she’s clearly a better person for it.
I particularly liked the dream sequence where she’s arrested by the police and starts a dance troupe in jail.
Con: The big software theft was supposed to transform people’s access to designer drugs that could cure addictions, PTSD, etc. Somehow that all got forgotten about at the end.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Dominica Phetteplace Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The narrator is a nice young woman trying to be successful in a world where it’s so easy for people with means to augment themselves that it’s hard for a regular person to catch a break. Not that she’s entirely regular; her parents paid to have her enhanced as an embryo.
Mark has his own agenda, but being close to the narrator quickly becomes a key part of it, and it’s fun to watch that unfold.
The ending is very satisfying. She really does broaden her horizons and take some risks, and she’s clearly a better person for it.
I particularly liked the dream sequence where she’s arrested by the police and starts a dance troupe in jail.
Con: The big software theft was supposed to transform people’s access to designer drugs that could cure addictions, PTSD, etc. Somehow that all got forgotten about at the end.
Other Reviews: Search Web
Dominica Phetteplace Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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