Rocket Stack Rank Twelve Tomorrows 5

Showing posts with label Twelve Tomorrows 5. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Twelve Tomorrows 5, edited by Wade Roush

★★★☆☆ Average

(Hard SF) A hard-sf anthology, aimed at reembodying “the best aspects of the hard-SF craft in the mode of Asimov, Heinlein, and Clarke without bringing back its worst.” Plausible, hopeful stories with diverse characters. (82,995 words; Time: 4h:36m)

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(Post-Human) A human-built AI that operates a spaceship headed for the Trappist system hasn’t heard from home in 28,716 years, but it has decided to broadcast its story. (6,406 words; Time: 21m)

Recommended By: 👍RHorton.r+2 (Q&A)

★★★☆☆ Average

(SF Action/Adventure) After an earthquake, drones flown in to evaluate the damage and look for survivors start falling apart in midair. It almost looks like a virus, but what sort of virus eats metal? (6,797 words; Time: 22m)

★★★★★ Nice action, powerfully emotional

(SF Action) Lilith is sole crew member on a sail-by-wire clipper ship off the coast of Chile when a big solar storm knocks out the system that controls her rudder. She ends up getting help from an unlikely source. (5,230 words; Time: 17m)

★☆☆☆☆ Needs Improvement

(SF Medical Thriller) The president of Nigeria gets a heart transplant using a printed heart made in China which causes all sorts of controversy. (10,948 words; Time: 36m)

★★★★★ Who Knew a Slow-Motion Chase Could Be So Exciting?

(SF Thriller) Zora and Anya hoped to spend their golden years in an assisted living facility they helped design. But now it’s under new management, which is keeping Anya in the hospital, so Zora decides to break her out. (8,299 words; Time: 27m)

★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended

(SF Adventure) A malfunctioning spaceship sends a young woman on a hyperbolic trajectory out of the solar system. Can humanity build a rescue vessel that can reach her before her hibernation meds run out? (5,894 words; Time: 19m)

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Post-Apocalypse) The human settlement called the Factory sent envoys to the mass mind called the Reef in hopes of stopping the machines that keep attacking them. This is the story of how that failed. (6,958 words; Time: 23m)

★★★★☆ Thoughtful, Detailed, Shocking

(Near-Future SF) Two women compete to use virtual reality and cryptocurrencies to redirect the money that supports refugees and change the world. But will empathy or reason win? (12,449 words; Time: 41m)

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(SF Hacking) Brian wakes up in his mountain retreat to find his home AI system has been hacked and he can’t escape the house without paying a huge ransom. He’s an engineer, so he’s not ready to pay up without a fight. (9,723 words; Time: 32m)

Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 (Q&A)

★★★☆☆ Honorable Mention

(Medical SF) A mother feels that a brain implant meant to treat her neuro-atypical son has turned him into a completely different person, so she goes after the doctor who put them up to it. (10,291 words; Time: 34m)

Recommended By: 📙JStrahan+2 (Q&A)