Laetitia is a designer in a 2060s world that found science and technology to be dull. She urges people to take more risks. (7,600 words; Time: 25m)
Rating: ★☆☆☆☆, Needs Improvement
Showing posts with label Twelve Tomorrows. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twelve Tomorrows. Show all posts
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Consolation, by John Kessel
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~7,600 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended Recommended By: SFEP
At the end of the 21st century, when climate change has shattered the US and much of the north has joined Canada, three people are affected by what appears to be a terrorist attack.
Rating: 2, Not recommended Recommended By: SFEP
At the end of the 21st century, when climate change has shattered the US and much of the north has joined Canada, three people are affected by what appears to be a terrorist attack.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Not really a story. Just a sequence of events that happen to people. The immortal is introduced for no apparent reason, the attack has no result, etc.
It Takes More Muscles to Frown, by Ned Beauman
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~8,600 words
Rating: 4, Recommended Recommended By: Locus SFEP
The narrator, a blond American man, works for a Mexican oil company and leaks information to the cartels. He beats their lie detector tests using special implants in his face.
Rating: 4, Recommended Recommended By: Locus SFEP
The narrator, a blond American man, works for a Mexican oil company and leaks information to the cartels. He beats their lie detector tests using special implants in his face.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The narrator's face has been his curse all his life. The story, ultimately, is about freeing himself from that curse. The story develops the character and his situation a little bit at a time, always enticing us with a bit more information so we never feel like victims of an info dump. The ending is nicely set up in the earlier scenes that told us how much strength the facial muscles have.
Arturo's betrayal is nicely set up. We know how much he chafed at serving under Omar, and we see the conflict between them, so we're not surprised when it happens.
Con: The character is unsympathetic, so we don't feel particularly horrified at his mutilation in the last scene.
Arturo's betrayal is nicely set up. We know how much he chafed at serving under Omar, and we see the conflict between them, so we're not surprised when it happens.
Con: The character is unsympathetic, so we don't feel particularly horrified at his mutilation in the last scene.
Saturday, November 14, 2015
The Ancient Engineer, by Bruce Sterling
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~14,600 words
Rating: Not rated, no speculative element
In this fine historical fiction, about 145 AD, Julius Verus, a Roman engineer, heads back to his home village, guided by the marvelous celestial computer of Archimedes.
Rating: Not rated, no speculative element
In this fine historical fiction, about 145 AD, Julius Verus, a Roman engineer, heads back to his home village, guided by the marvelous celestial computer of Archimedes.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Although the story is very well told, it's historical fiction, not science fiction or fantasy.
The Internet of Things Your Mother Never Told You, by Jo Lindsay Walton
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~9,100 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended
Eledy is 12, lives in London, suffers from ennui, and likes to hack things with her friend Farah.
Rating: 2, Not recommended
Eledy is 12, lives in London, suffers from ennui, and likes to hack things with her friend Farah.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
The story is just a series of events, leading nowhere. The dialect is hard to follow, and the random snippets of product reviews don't contribute anything.
Friday, November 13, 2015
All-Natural Organic Microbes, by Annalee Newitz
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~5,100 words
Rating: 2, Not recommended
In the near future, Sandy Green works for a fading news site but dreams of getting a fellowship so she can write an expose of a health-care scam.
Rating: 2, Not recommended
In the near future, Sandy Green works for a fading news site but dreams of getting a fellowship so she can write an expose of a health-care scam.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: It does a good job of portraying what the future of online journalism might be like.
Con: The story doesn't have an ending. It just stops.
It far underestimates the difficulty of acquiring enough conversational Spanish to do interviews.
Con: The story doesn't have an ending. It just stops.
It far underestimates the difficulty of acquiring enough conversational Spanish to do interviews.
Thursday, November 12, 2015
The New Us, by Pepe Rojo
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~4,500 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
In a chaotic near-future Mexico, a young woman has problems with experimental implants she was paid to try out. But finding the company responsible proves challenging.
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
In a chaotic near-future Mexico, a young woman has problems with experimental implants she was paid to try out. But finding the company responsible proves challenging.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The story starts with her looking for help and ends with her giving up. The narrative clearly shows us the horror that Mexico and San Diego have become, even though we're not always sure what's real and what's a hallucination.
Con: Things are so confused we aren't sure we ever figured out what was really going on here.
Con: Things are so confused we aren't sure we ever figured out what was really going on here.
The Lexicography of an Abusive but Divine Relationship with the World, by Ilona Gaynor
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~5,400 words
Rating: 1, Needs improvement
From the story itself: "This text relays the thoughts of an unremarkable woman, whose un-profound influence has ceased to effect the slighted of causes."
Rating: 1, Needs improvement
From the story itself: "This text relays the thoughts of an unremarkable woman, whose un-profound influence has ceased to effect the slighted of causes."
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
There may be some deep meaning here, but, if so, I'm not able to discern it. It's just 5,400 words of rambling.
All the Childhood You Can Afford, by Daniel Suarez
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~9,100 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
In Gavin's world, children have to pay for everything, and often can't even afford to be born until long after their parents are dead. He's 16 today, in a dead-end school that doesn't teach him what he really wants to know.
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
In Gavin's world, children have to pay for everything, and often can't even afford to be born until long after their parents are dead. He's 16 today, in a dead-end school that doesn't teach him what he really wants to know.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: This is a coming-of-age story. Gavin really is right to want to leave school, painful though it was to be thrown out. His work with C earned him some attention from the union programmer, and leaves us with the feeling he's going to be okay.
Con: The premise is rather silly. Gavin succeeds at the end because of the kindness of others, not because of anything he himself does. It's particularly disturbing that he just lets his counselor steal from him--it's hard to root for a wimp.
Con: The premise is rather silly. Gavin succeeds at the end because of the kindness of others, not because of anything he himself does. It's particularly disturbing that he just lets his counselor steal from him--it's hard to root for a wimp.
Life's A Game, by Charles Stross
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~4,700 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
Arrested in a foreign country, a UK game developer tries to explain to his lawyer why he shouldn't be charged with war crimes despite certain problems with his latest product.
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
Arrested in a foreign country, a UK game developer tries to explain to his lawyer why he shouldn't be charged with war crimes despite certain problems with his latest product.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: The arc of this story is all about finding out exactly what happened. Stross does a nice job of stringing us along, making us eager for each morsel of new info. The narrator is utterly unsympathetic, so it's satisfying at the end that his own system seems likely to result in a ruling against him.
Con: The basic idea is rather silly.
Con: The basic idea is rather silly.
Boxes, by Nick Harkaway
Twelve Tomorrows, 2015; ~3,300 words
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
Tanya Sobel has lost her husband, but she wants to hold onto the medical devices that had supported his life.
Rating: 3, Good, ordinary, story
Tanya Sobel has lost her husband, but she wants to hold onto the medical devices that had supported his life.
Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)
Pro: We had expected her to want to keep the boxes for a sentimental reason--it's all that's left of Teddy--so the real reason came as a surprise.
Con: It's not clear why the company cared so much about retrieving the boxes. It's not like they could reuse them. Given that Tanya had switched the labels, it makes no sense that she fought over giving the boxes back.
Con: It's not clear why the company cared so much about retrieving the boxes. It's not like they could reuse them. Given that Tanya had switched the labels, it makes no sense that she fought over giving the boxes back.
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