★★★☆☆
(Ecological Dystopia) In a world dying from pollution by micro plastics, Ana struggles to protect her family, but even the food they eat is slowly killing them. (5,208 words; Time: 17m)
"Cairns," by Jason P. Burnham [bio] (edited by Vanessa Rose Phin), appeared in Strange Horizons issue 03/30/20, published on March 30, 2020.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Review: 2020.196 (A Word for Authors)
Pro: The story is gripping at the point little Carlos has symptoms. That’s probably the best part of it.
Microplastics are a real problem today, although the problem is arguably more the fault of consumers in just five countries than it is the big oil companies.
Con: There’s no plot at all. There’s a little setup. Then Carlos has symptoms. But it’s a false alarm. The end. The “message dump” that Ana delivers in the hospital waiting room is a low point.
This sort of hyper-polluted future was a lot more plausible 50 years ago, but it’s hard to buy these days. It doesn’t help that the core conflict in the story is a conspiracy theory: “The rich actually want to poison everyone else.”
Other Reviews: Search Web
Jason P. Burnham Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
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Pro: The story is gripping at the point little Carlos has symptoms. That’s probably the best part of it.
Microplastics are a real problem today, although the problem is arguably more the fault of consumers in just five countries than it is the big oil companies.
Con: There’s no plot at all. There’s a little setup. Then Carlos has symptoms. But it’s a false alarm. The end. The “message dump” that Ana delivers in the hospital waiting room is a low point.
This sort of hyper-polluted future was a lot more plausible 50 years ago, but it’s hard to buy these days. It doesn’t help that the core conflict in the story is a conspiracy theory: “The rich actually want to poison everyone else.”
Other Reviews: Search Web
Jason P. Burnham Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline
Follow RSR on Twitter, Facebook, RSS, or E-mail.
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