Review: Science: Hopes & Fears (Volume 2) by Juza Unno

Science: Hopes & Fears [Volume 2: Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath] by Juza Unno (translated by J.D. Wisgo)

Published: Self-published (2018)

The Book:

“Juza Unno, the father of Japanese science fiction, wrote a great number of stories in the 1930s and 1940s which contained exceptional elements of science and technology. Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath, one of his most well-known works, is a dystopian novella set in a future where humanity has obtained eternal life and the freedom to do almost anything–except for a single hour a day, where citizens must perform the most important societal tasks with superhuman productivity.

This extreme productivity is made possible by the refreshing 30-minute “music bath”, where citizens listen to a specially-engineered melody that integrates a long list of factors chosen by the government. However, little do the people know that increased productivity is not the only side-effect…” ~Amazon.com

My Thoughts:

This is the second volume of the work of foundational Japanese science fiction author Juza Unno, translated by J.D. Wisgo.  I have reviewed the first volume here, and if you’re interested in this second novella you can find it on Amazon here. These works came to my attention because my brother was involved in the translation work for this book, and I think it’s an exciting opportunity to read some of the earliest Japanese science fiction.  Since this is an older work that I am reading far out of its time, I will discuss but not rate the novella.

These days, dystopian fiction has become pretty popular.  Juza Unno’s “Eighteen O’Clock Music Bath” may have been written over 80 years ago, but it presents some basic themes that have been presented time and again in stories since. The government is obsessed with controlling its citizens, mind and body, and they do so through new technology. The “music bath” is a method through which citizens can be both focused for an hour of superhuman productivity (for government-approved work, of course) and be forced to adhere to the ideals of the government for the rest of the day. The experience of the bath is actually deeply unpleasant to the citizens, and can even damage their brains from long exposure. To the president, this is a small price to pay for a docile, productive, crime-free populace. The president does not see humanity as a necessity in his subjects, only loyalty and obedience.

There is some conflict set up between the scientists and politicians, but Unno does not seek to portray either in a particularly positive light.  Initially, scientists are preventing the politicians from totally cooking the citizens brains, but the scientists are also the ones who made the music bath possible in the first place. The story was much more balanced in gender than I would’ve expected from such an old work. There are about the same amount of male and female characters, and two scientists are even a married couple.  In addition, there’s some surprisingly abrupt transgender content, which some of the characters approve of and others revile. In general, this novella was not exactly what I expected for the time period, given my experiences with contemporary English works. It was really interesting to read a vision of a future dystopia imagined from historical Japan, and I wonder if the struggles of the era influenced the ultimate bleakness of the ending.

Review: Science: Hopes & Fears (Volume 1) by Juza Unno

Science: Hopes & Fears [Volume 1: Selected Stories] by Juza Unno (translated by J.D. Wisgo)

Published: Self-published, 2018

The Book:

“Juza Unno, a fiction author active in the 1930s and 40s, is considered a founding figure of Japanese science fiction. A student of engineering himself, he had a great fondness for science and its possibilities while being aware of its dangers. In his lifetime he produced many works that leveraged his technical knowledge and creativity, touching on a variety of interesting topics such as space travel that were not yet popular in his time.

This first volume in a series about Juza Unno is a select collection of his short stories translated with annotations–the first publishing of his works in English.” ~Amazon.com

I’m going to review volumes 1 and 2 of this collection, because I think it’s really fascinating to get a glimpse into the early science fiction of Japan.  I also need to add the disclaimer that my brother was involved in the translation effort for these books, which is how it came to my attention. Since this is really a collection of foundational texts of the genre, which are naturally a little out of their time, I will discuss the stories but not provide a rating.  I thank J.D. Wisgo and others involved in the project for allowing those of us in the English-speaking world the opportunity to see this part of Japanese literary history! You can find the book on Amazon at the link posted here.

This collection includes five short stories, chosen by the translator to give a taste of the kinds of stories Juza Unno wrote.  The stories are strongly idea-based, as seems to be common for early 20th century science fiction, and the characters mostly exist to illustrate the ideas.  For instance, one of my favorite ones was “Four-Dimensional Man”, which involves a man describing how he is a three-dimensional cross-section of a four-dimensional being.  I also rather enjoyed the twisty little story called “Mysterious Spacial Rift”, in which the main character runs into problems due to his difficulty in distinguishing reality from vivid dreaming, with tragic results.  

There are also stories that feature some familiar tropes of classic science fiction, such as the idea of colonizing other planets (“The Theory of Planetary Colonization”) and using cryogenic sleep to travel to the future (“The World in One Thousand Years”). These were not the most memorable of the stories, but it was interesting to see a Japanese take on topics that I think were also in vogue in the US at the time.

“The Living Intestine” is the strangest of the bunch.  It featured a scientist caring for a seemingly sentient intestine.  I’m pretty sure the common understanding of human bodies was sufficient in the 1930s to know that this would not be possible, so I could only consider this one as being intentionally weird and surreal.  Also, it might squick out readers who are not interested in the idea of keeping an intestine as a pet. It’s a really bizarre story, though, and I don’t think I’ve ever read anything quite like it.

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Short Fiction: December 2017

For my final post on 2017 short fiction, I’d like to recommend two interesting fantasy novelettes from Beneath Ceaseless Skies.  Both are from authors that are new to me!

Low Bridge! Or The Dark Obstructions by M. Bennardo (Novelette, BCS): This story left the “Erie Canal Song” stuck in my head for days, but that’s not the only reason it stayed in my mind. It follows the journey of a newly married couple on the Erie Canal, while both of them are still finding their way in their new relationship.  It doesn’t help the situation when an obnoxious passenger gets on the wrong side of the young wife. The story is only very mildly fantasy, but belief in the supernatural is a topic of conversation. I really enjoyed the interesting characters and the vivid historical setting.

Trette’s Bones by Grace Seybold (Novelette, BCS): The main character in this story lives in a town that feels like something out of a dream.  “Normal” life to the people there is extremely strange--at various times in their lives they sacrifice their own bones at the Ossuary, receiving “ghostflesh” in exchange.  There are also rules about the patterns formed by buildings and roads, and they have strict ways of dealing with outsiders. Trette is the one who pushes the logic of their town farther than others are willing to go, and who therefore brings about unexpected consequences.  The setting and the atmosphere were major strengths of the story, and this is not one where all the questions are answered in the end.

Short Fiction: November 2017

I had another few weeks of unexpectedly busy life, so I didn’t manage to post all of my recommended short fiction of 2017 before the closing of the Hugo nominations.  In any case, I still want to share the short fiction I’ve enjoyed reading, and I hope to get back to a more stable schedule soon.  For this set of stories, the themes are heists and trickery.  All three authors--Gillian Daniels, Marie Brennan, and J.R. Dawson--are new names to this series of posts.

His Wife and Serpent Mistress by Gillian Daniels (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): The Marquis lives with his cruel uncle, and he is in love with a part-serpent woman.  He feels trapped in his life, but sees no way out of it.  When his uncle asks him to marry another woman for money, many truths about his past and present circumstances begin to become clear. The Marquis was an easily sympathetic character, and I was pleasantly surprised that the story did not pit the two women against each other. This was a fun heist story that comes to a delightfully happy ending.

The Siret Mask by Marie Brennan (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): Another heist story, this one involves a legendary thief who has an elaborate scheme to steal the famous Siret Mask during a festival. No plan survives contact with the enemy, though, and this one in particular ends up relying on a lot of dangerous improvisation and changing roles.  The story had a lot of energy and fun, and it was also the sort where you feel certain everything will come out alright in the end. 

Marley and Marley by J.R. Dawson (Short Story, Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine--Buy Here): Marley is orphaned at a young age, and put in the care of an unusual guardian -- herself from the future.  Young Marley is disappointed with what she can see of her future, and the two Marleys do not get along.  As Marley grows up, moving towards her inevitable appointment to raise herself, she considers whether she truly has to accept her future and her past.  This one is a lovely, emotional story that explores how life changes people, and whether people can change themselves.

Short Fiction: October 2017

Hugo nominations season is upon us, and I have not yet read all the short fiction that I intended!  As a recap on these series of posts, it was the Hugo Awards that initially prompted me to dive more deeply into the world of short fiction.  The low nomination rate for short fiction (relative to novel nominations) leaves their categories vulnerable to gaming.  I figured that for my part, the best thing I could do is to read more short fiction and nominate the stories I like.  These posts grew out of that, simply from a desire to share stories that I personally thought were especially enjoyable.  The amount of short fiction I’m able to read in time varies from post to post, but I try to continue reading until I’ve found a few that I’d like to share.  

This batch of stories is more towards the fantasy side of SFF, with a new d-space novella from Jeremiah Tolbert, a divine match-making story from Jordan Ifueko, and a quiet alien contact tale from Dennis Danvers.  Tolbert is the only recurring author from previous posts, and I have recommended previous stories of his here and here. All the stories are available to read at the listed links.

The Dragon of Dread Peak by Jeremiah Tolbert (Novella, Lightspeed): Since this is a sequel, I would recommend reading “The Cavern of the Screaming Eyes” first.  If for some reason you don’t want to, it is still perfectly possible to understand this story without having read the first.  The basic premise is that space-time portals to d-space (essentially ‘dungeons’ or ‘instances’ in MMORPG parlance) have begun to pop up, and only teenagers have the ability to enter and resolve them. This might sound a little silly, but the emotional authenticity of the characters grounds the story in reality. The main character Ivan’s brother went missing in one of these instances, and he is keeping his fledgling (and somewhat inept) d-space team a secret from his still-grieving mother. Overall, it is a fun story about teamwork, leadership, and trying to outwit a dangerous dragon.  The novella is complete in itself, but it also furthers the ongoing plot of Ivan’s search for his brother.    

Oshun, Inc. by Jordan Ifueko (Short Story, Strange Horizons): This one was a fun story about the immortal employees of a Nigerian goddess, Oshun.  The main character works out of the LA office, seeing to the prayers of Nigerian-Americans. She uses her divine tricks for match-making, and she’s determined at the beginning of the story to impress Oshun by matching two particular lonely people.  However, matches are not always as good in practice as they might sound in theory. This was a pretty upbeat and humorous story overall, but I would note that the main character exposes some racist and misogynistic attitudes along the way.

Penelope Waits by Dennis Danvers (Short Story, Apex): I really enjoy peaceful, friendly alien contact stories.  A woman lives in a small town with an unreliable boyfriend, working at a dog wash and taking literature classes.  She wants a better life, but doesn’t seem to see a path toward it. When she encounters the aliens, though, she sees the potential for change. Her daily routine is filled with her thoughts about the Odyssey, the aliens, and the role she’s playing in her own life. It was a quiet, uplifting story told in a conversational style, and it left me with a smile on my face.

Short Fiction: September 2017

For my list of favorite short fiction from September of 2017, there’s an even split of science fiction and fantasy. This is the first time I’ve featured most of these authors on my blog, except for Marissa Lingen, who wrote a story I enjoyed back in February. As usual, I’ve provided links to where each story is available to read online. I’ve now run out of 2017 time-wise, but I’m still going to try to review the last three months of the year before too long!

The Secret Life of Bots by Suzanne Palmer (Novelette, Clarkesworld): An old, decommissioned spaceship has been called back into service at the desperate end of an interspecies war. That spaceship carries a wide complement of many different kinds of robots, which are carefully assigned to keep the ship functioning. Bot 9, an unreliable old model with a penchant for improvisation and exceeding its mandate, is assigned the task of getting rid of one troublesome rat-bug-thing. The underlying story was pretty sad, but the bots perspectives were engaging, clever, and also really funny. I was completely on board to see where Bot 9’s improvisation protocols would take it!

Party Discipline by Cory Doctorow (Novelette, Tor.com): In a dystopian near-future, two teen girls dream of throwing a “Communist party”. Basically, when a company goes strategically bankrupt (leaving the workers out of luck), the workers illegally use the remaining resources to build goods given freely to all. It’s a socially cool thing to do, but also a very serious crime that will put them in contact with dangerous people. I believe this is set in an existing universe of Doctorow’s, but the story stands alone. It was a really grim look at a capitalist future, where extreme inequality intentionally and blatantly traps people into lives that lead nowhere. At the same time, the girls and their story were full of energy and humor, and I felt that the end carried some hope for the future.

A Pound of Darkness, A Quarter of Dreams by Tony Ballantyne (Short Story, Lightspeed): A shopkeeper must deal with a demon to protect her autonomy and integrity. It was an interesting combination of two kinds of stories: trying to outsmart a demon, and trying to maintain freedom from corporate control. The main character was a good person, and I was very tense waiting to see whether or not she would succeed. This one was a well-crafted story that was a lot of fun to read.

Across Pack Ice, A Fire by Marissa Lingen (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): In this one, a sorceress in a neutral nation is grieving her husband, who died to a magical disease cruelly planted in refugee children. The sorceress and her adopted refugee daughter are determined to find a vengeance that will honor his memory. It was an emotional story, and it did not lead quite where I expected. The story also has a fair amount to say on topics that are very relevant to current events (e.g. the refugee crisis, moral obligations of people and governments).

Short Fiction: August 2017

It’s time to highlight another handful of my favorite short fiction stories, this time from those that were published in August 2017!  This time, I found all the stories very deeply emotionally affecting, and each also held a sense of hope and peace for the future.  This is the first time I’ve featured Elaine Cuyegkeng and Kate Marshall, but Linda Nagata has shown up on my blog before for both short fiction and long.  I’m still planning on continuing her military SF series at some point.  Anyway, on to the stories, and I have provided links to where they are available to read online!   

These Constellations will be Yours by Elaine Cuyegkeng (Short Story, Strange Horizons): In a space-faring empire, young precognitive girls from a particular culture are taken, indoctrinated, and physically patched into starships.  The main character has already been made into a starship, and she watches the possible futures of another girl who was ransomed from the same fate by familial wealth. This is a story of the suffering caused by colonialism, racism and the commodification of people.  At the same time, as we see the vision and revolutionary tendencies of the unmade girl, it carries a strong sense of hope that injustice will not always go unchallenged. As the story says, “The problem is that people are reasonable. They are very reasonable, until they cannot be reasonable anymore.”

Red Bark and Ambergris by Kate Marshall (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): In this fantasy world, people who have the ability to ‘sense’ are taken from their homes and imprisoned on a dreary island to work out their lives in service to a cruel queen.  Sarai dreams of becoming a poison-tamer, the only path that may eventually grant her access to the queen and court. However, her natural talent is in constructing beautiful scents to evoke memory and emotion, not taming poisons.  She may never be allowed to return home, but she must decide what meaning she will make of her life.  It was a very emotional story, focused on her internal struggle as represented by the competing talents.  Her eventual conclusion was bittersweet, but it felt fitting.

The Martian Obelisk by Linda Nagata (Short Story, Tor.com): The world’s slow collapse is reaching its end, and it looks like the human race will not survive.  Susannah has already lost everything, and she has dedicated the remainder of her life to remotely building an obelisk on Mars.  Humanity may pass away, but the obelisk will remain as a memorial.  However, the world hasn’t actually ended quite yet, and events may upset her final plans.  This story is kind of a tearjerker, but it is also about the importance of not giving in to despair.  Susannah is a very emotionally engaging character, and following her changing perspective through the story left me feeling more hopeful for the future.   

Short Fiction: July 2017

Today I want to point out a few of my favorite works of short fiction that were published in July 2017! As it happens, the stories in this round are themed for Halloween week, since each of them is pretty disturbing in its own way. I decided to put a content warning this time, since I think they’re a lot darker than the stories I usually recommend. Rich Larson and Mary Robinette Kowal I have featured in this series for more cheerful stories before(here and here), and G.V. Anderson is new to me. As usual, I have provided links for the works that are available online.

The Worshipful Society of Glovers by Mary Robinette Kowal (Novelette, Uncanny): This takes place in an interesting fantasy world, where brownies and human artisans work together to stitch magic into gloves for the well-to-do.  The hero and his sister are desperately poor, and his apprenticeship as a glove maker gives hope for their future.  His sister is severely epileptic, though, and he fears each day that she will be injured or die in an episode while he is away at work.  He is determined to acquire gloves to stop her seizures, no matter what the cost.  The writing in this one was evocative and the characters emotionally compelling, but I feel like have to give a warning about the sheer sadness of the story.

Content warning: violence, sadness

I Am Not I by G.V. Anderson (Novelette, Fantasy & Science Fiction, information): In a unusual and creative world, bug-like humans prey on ordinary humans, who they derogatively call “saps”.  The narrator, who was born a “sap”, has gone into the industry of buying and selling human parts as curiosities, in order to finance the operations that allow her to pass in society.  Her secret is only tenuously kept, and she has no illusions as to what will happen if her employer discovers it. This is a dark and disturbing story, and the narrator is certainly no hero.  It was really engrossing, and it would be neat to see what might happen next in this world.

Content warning: disturbing imagery, dehumanization

Travelers by Rich Larson (Short Story, Clarkesworld):  Were you disappointed by the romantic comedy slant of the movie Passengers, when the premise seemed a bit more like horror? “Travelers” approaches the same kind of situation from a very different angle.  Beware, there is not going to be a romantic ending to this tale of colony ship terror!

Content warning: violence, implied sexual violence

Short Fiction: June 2017

It’s time to talk about my favorite pieces of short fiction published in June 2016! This month’s batch is full of science fiction short stories, including tales of memory manipulation, space exploration, and even both in one case.  As for the authors, I recently reviewed Allen M. Steele’s novel Arkwright, while Jamie Wahls and Pip Coen are new to me.  All the stories for this month are available to read online, and I have linked to their locations accordingly.     

Utopia, LOL? by Jamie Wahls (Short Story, Strange Horizons): The writing style in this story is probably going to be the polarizing point.  The narrator is a far-future human, who mostly lives her life darting through near-infinite virtual worlds.  She’s serving as a guide to a newly woken human from the past, who is confused and upset by his new surroundings.  Her voice is just adorable, and I loved her infectious enthusiasm.  Beneath the silly narration, there is actually a bit of a serious plot driving the action of the story.

Welcome to Astuna by Pip Coen (Short Story, Apex): This is one of those clever stories, where all the details line up neatly at the end.  A near middle-aged woman wakes up in a hotel, missing sixteen-years-worth of her own memories.  In this world, you can gamble with your memories at a casino, though it’s uncommon to lose as much as she has.  The mystery involves how she lost the memories, and what she will uncover when she gets them back.  It feels kind of like a heist story, where you can see at the end how everything was arranged for the ultimate goal.  

Sanctuary by Allen M. Steele (Short Story, Tor.com): This short story is comprised of a colonization ship’s logs, detailing their arrival at their chosen planet.  The format of the logs gives it a certain detachment, as does the framing of it as a historical document.  The story is pretty interesting though, involving an alien lifeform that spells disaster for our society’s technology.  It feels like a beginning to a larger story, and I’d be in for reading more about the colonists’ experiences on the planet.

Short Fiction: May 2017

It’s time for another round of short fiction favorites, this time from the batch of stories published in May 2017!  This month, there’s a story by Hugo award winner John Chu, as well as two authors I had not featured before, Caroline M. Yoachim and Tony Pi.  This month’s stories don’t have much in common, spanning science fiction, fantasy allegory, and Chinese fantasy.    

Making the Magic Lightning Strike Me by John Chu (Short Story, Uncanny Magazine):  This is the story of a man who feels deeply insecure about his body. His body dysmorphia leads him into a self-destructive spiral (which also involves some interesting paramilitary near-future stuff), while his best friend struggles to figure out how and if he can be supportive. There’s not a lot of closure, but I thought it was a very effective emotional story.

Carnival Nine by Caroline M. Yoachim (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): This is a story about a society of wind-up toys, and also an allegory of human life from beginning to end.  The main character’s life takes several unexpected twists, and we see how different wind-up people respond to unwanted responsibility and adversity in the face of their inevitable mortality. It was a surprisingly touching story, for being about wind-up toys, and it is one that has lingered in my mind long after I finished reading.

That Lingering Sweetness by Tony Pi (Novelette, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): Tony Pi has been writing a series of short fiction about “Candyman Ao”, a man who can call the animals of the Chinese zodiac by making their likenesses in a blown-sugar confection.  This is my favorite one so far.  Ao is generally tasked with solving some sort of problem that involves the supernatural, but this time an illness has robbed him of his candy-making abilities. His weakness forces him to rely on the strengths of the people around him, and I enjoyed seeing how everyone’s humble abilities fit together to solve the problem. I don’t think not having read the previous stories would hurt anyone’s enjoyment of this clever novelette, but I will go ahead and link here to Tony Pi’s list of the series. All of the stories are available to read online.  

Short Fiction: April 2017

There were a lot of really entertaining stories published in April, and I had a hard time narrowing them down to my favorites.  All of the ones I eventually picked are by authors I have not featured here before!  They’re also all available to read online, at the indicated links.  Three of these include a kind of splitting or parallel worlds, while the other two feature conflict with humans living on alien worlds.

In the Shade of the Pixie Tree by Rodello Santos (Short Story, Beneath Ceaseless Skies): This was a clever magical time travel story that is told in both directions.  Bekka heads off to collect pixies, and a boy she likes comes with her--even though he’s not supposed to.  In a world with magic, their innocent flirting can lead to dangerous consequences.

When Stars are Scattered by Spencer Ellsworth (Novelette, Tor.com): This is a story about faith and an unusual alien species, “Kites”, on a colonized world. A Muslim community is converting the Kites, and a nearby Christian colony sees them as pests.  When a disease begins to spread through the Kite community, it inflames tensions between the two groups.  

Sunwake, in the Lands of Teeth by Juliette Wade (Novella, Clarkesworld): This is another story featuring humans interacting with aliens, specifically a small group of humans studying an alien civilization.  The non-human cultures and the political situation depicted here were really fascinating, and I loved the creative use of language and the alien perspective.

The Selkie Wives by Kendra Fortmeyer (Short Story, Apex): The general selkie story involves a beautiful selkie woman, who is trapped on land and married when a man steals her sealskin.  This story presents a clutter of variations on that theme, some sad and some hilarious, exploring different relationships between men and women.

Seven Permutations of my Daughter by Lina Rather (Short Story, Lightspeed): This one is a very emotionally affecting story about a woman whose daughter is struggling with drug addiction.  Feeling desperate and helpless, she builds a machine that allows her to jump into parallel worlds.  She thinks that if she can find a world where her daughter is happy, she’ll be able to see where things went wrong and how to make things right.

Short Fiction: March 2017

Time for another look at some of my favorites of this year’s short fiction!  Today, I’m focusing on stories that were published in March 2017.  One of my favorites is another story by Naomi Kritzer, a writer who won a Hugo Award for last year’s short story, “Cat Pictures, Please”.  The second is a story that ties into Yoon Ha Lee’s heavily award-nominated novel, Ninefox Gambit.  The third is a clever story by an author new to me, Stephen Graham Jones.

Waiting Out the End of the World in Patty’s Place Cafe by Naomi Kritzer (Short Story, Clarkesworld): Naomi Kritzer is one of a handful of writers whose writing style really meshes with the way my mind works, so I’m always excited to see another story published by her.  This one is a slice out of the life of a young woman who has been disowned by her parents, as she considers how to spend her last day before an asteroid might strike the Earth.  Despite the grim subject, I found it to be a pretty positive story.

Extracurricular Activities by Yoon Ha Lee (Novelette, Tor.com): At some point, I promise I will put up my review Ninefox Gambit.  Having read it, I was pleased to see this prequel story about Shuos Jedao. In the novel, he is a very important character, but his life and era have long since ended.  I enjoyed seeing this bit of occasionally humorous insight into Jedao’s life and the forces that shaped his personality, before he becomes the dangerous ghost of Ninefox Gambit.

Rising Star by Stephen Graham Jones (Short Story, Uncanny): As a scientist myself, I appreciate a clever fictional grant proposal or paper.  This one is a grant proposal for a time travel project, and I have to say they made their case very convincingly.

Short Fiction: February 2017

It’s time to discuss my favorites from another month’s worth of excellent short fiction!  My favorites from February are all available to read online, and linked below.  This month features a new Wild Cards mutant story, a twist on a familiar tale, and a story set after humans have destroyed the environment.

The Atonement Tango by Stephen Leigh (Novelette, Tor.com): This is the second story from the Wild Cards universe that has made it into my favorites.  I don’t think prior reading is required to understand it, but I got the impression that the protagonist, a mutant ‘joker’ who is a living drumset, might be a recurring character.  In this story, most of his band is killed in a terrorist attack, and he begins to quietly search for the perpetrator on his own.  I was drawn into the emotional arc of the main character, and I felt the final scene was especially moving.

Out of the Woods by Marissa Lingen (Short Story, Beneath Ceasless Skies): This story is an interesting take on a kind of Robin Hood tale. The good king died in a war, and is not coming back.  The band of outlaws now realize that no pardon is ever coming, and that there is no hope of the ‘rightful’ king reclaiming his throne.  Is it time to surrender or to change tactics? I thought it was a really effective representation of the difference between opposing a person and opposing a system.

How Bees Fly by Simone Heller (Novelette, Clarkesworld): This one takes place after an environmental collapse, in a world that is mostly occupied by a new sentient race.  They view the few remaining humans as monsters, and use leftover human technology by rote and with superstition.  One of these newer sentient beings is trapped with a pregnant human couple during a storm. The story left a lot of questions to be answered, but I appreciated the core about confronting one’s own prejudices and being willing to understand new things.

Short Fiction: January 2017

It’s time to kick off my 2017 recommendations for short fiction!  My favorites for January span a variety of subgenres, from harder SF to barely fantasy.  There’s not much of a theme I can claim for this month, except that they were each entertaining in their own way. They're all also available to read online, at the links provided below.

A Series of Steaks by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Clarkesworld, Novelette): This story takes an interesting look at 3D-printing biological material, with an eye to how it might intersect with politics and crime.  The main character runs a small business 3D-printing steaks for consumption, and one ‘customer’ decides to blackmail her into filling a high order in an impossibly short amount of time.  It’s a surprisingly funny story, and also one that touches on a variety of up-and-coming issues that society may face.

The Thing About Growing Up in Jokertown by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com, Novelette): This is set in the Wild Cards universe, but I was able to enjoy it without having read the novels set in the universe.  It’s a sweet, simple story about a group of marginalized teenagers who live in NYC’s “Jokertown”.  One day, they decide there’s no reason they shouldn’t be able to enjoy Central Park, just like all the “normal” New Yorkers. What follows is a pleasant story about a small-scale adventure.

Fable by Charles Yu (The New Yorker, Short Story): I would hesitate to actually call this one speculative fiction, since the fantasy elements are only used as an analogy to real life.  However, it is beautifully written and deeply emotional.  It concerns a man, who has a child that is developmentally disabled, talking for the first time to a therapist. He describes the story of his life, and how he has come to feel that it has lost meaning.  It’s kind of a tearjerker, but ends on a hopeful note.

Hugo 2017: Short Fiction

I’ve dedicated a lot of time to reading short fiction in this past year, and have posted my favorites out of the stories I’ve read each month (though usually on a bit of a delay).  You can find my per-month lists just by selecting posts with the “short fiction” tag.  

Today, while considering my final Hugo nominations,  I have put together a list of my top favorites of each category. My weak point this year was novellas, of which I read very few.  I’m hoping to find a way to fit more of these in my reading for the future, but we’ll see how that works out. Whether you’re planning to nominate short fiction for the Hugo awards or not, I would highly recommend checking these stories out. I’ve provided a link for where each story can be purchased or read for free online.

Short Stories

• Filtered by Leah Cypess (Asimov’s Science Fiction): Plenty of horrible things are happening in the world, and most of us are not aware of them.  Why is this?
• Last One Out by K.B. Rylander (Fantasy & Science Fiction): Quiet story about one of the last surviving humans, and her legacy.
• Between Going and Staying by Lilliam Rivera (Fantasy & Science Fiction): For her own profit, how complicit is one person willing to be in the suffering inflicted on others, even those she loves?
• This is a Letter to My Son by KJ Kabza (Strange Horizons): Before her death, a mother records many videos for her child. A touching story about mortality and being true to yourself.
• That Game We Played During the War by Carrie Vaughn (Tor.com): A story about a relationship that helped two people on opposites sides of a war (between telepaths and non-telepaths) endure to reach peace.
• The Pigeon Summer by Brit Mandelo (Tor.com): A quiet ghost story about grief and making connections.

Novelettes

• Blood Grains Speak Through Memories by Jason Sanford (Beneath Ceaseless Skies): In a world where nanomachines enslave some humans to care for the land, one person struggles with her grief and the unfairness of the world.
• The Three Lives of Sonata James by Lettie Prell (Tor.com): An exploration of different forms of consciousness, as well as the meaningfulness of mortality.
• The Cavern of the Screaming Eyes by Jeremiah Tolbert (Lightspeed): If the world were like an MMORPG, it might not be a good thing.
• The Book of How to Live by Rose Lemberg (Beneath Ceaseless Skies): Just because something doesn’t profit the ruling class, doesn’t mean it’s worthless. A story of non-magical people in a fantasy land.
• Red in Tooth and Cog by Cat Rambo (Fantasy & Science Fiction): Self-repairing appliances have survived being trashed and built an ecosystem in a city park.  Are they life, and are they worth preserving?
• Lost: Mind by Will McIntosh (Asimov’s Science Fiction): In a story of the more prosaic difficulties that might be involved in mind-uploading, a man struggles to reassemble the pieces of his wife’s mind.

Novellas

• The Vanishing Kind by Lavie Tidhar (Fantasy & Science Fiction): A noir story in alternate history post-WWII London.
• The Liar by John P. Murhpy (Fantasy & Science Fiction): A small-town ghost story, with a protagonist who has the ability to lie things into being true. Happily, he generally uses this ability to help people.
• The Further Adventures of Mr. Costello by David Gerrold (Fantasy & Science Fiction): A man tries to bring progress to an alien world, but the human inhabitants don’t think he’ll succeed.  If he does, what will that mean for their way of life?

Short Fiction: December 2016

This is my last post for my favorite short fiction from 2016. I’ll be starting up the 2017 posts very soon.  Both of my favorites from this month are available for free online, so I’ve linked them below for others who are interested!

Every Day is the Full Moon by Carlie St. George (Short Story, Lightspeed): This story takes place in a world where people commonly become some sort of supernatural creature as they grow up. That sounds like a lighthearted premise, but it's a surprisingly heavy story. I would say it is about learning what the power of love can do, and what it can’t do.

Straight Lines by Naru Sundar (Short Story, Mothership Zeta): This story focuses on the rehabilitation of a ship AI that has developed OCD.  I thought it was really neat that it focused on an AI “going berserk”, but not in a necessarily sinister way.

Short Fiction: November 2016

It’s time to discuss my favorite short fiction published in November!  It’s all short stories this time, and mostly available for free from Tor.com (links given below).  I actually just finished Charlie Jane Anders novel, All the Birds in the Sky, so it was a nice treat to find a short story set in the same universe.

Everything that Isn’t Winter by Margaret Killjoy (Short Story, Tor.com): This was a beautifully-written post-apocalyptic story, featuring a stable community that has rebuilt from the ashes.  The story involves a direct physical threat to their way of life, but it also involves the changing emotional state of the narrator, one of the community’s protectors.  He worries that he is defined by his violence, and that the future holds no place for him.  I found it really interesting to read about this transition from a mindset of survival to one of hope.    

Clover by Charlie Jane Anders (Short Story, Tor.com): This one is mostly for those who have read All the Birds in the Sky, and who wondered what happened to Berkley the cat.  The story does involve Patricia and magic, but the main focus is on the life and relationship of the couple that take in Berkley after Patricia went away.  It was a sweet story, and one that left me feeling happy.

Between Going and Staying by Lilliam Rivera (Short Story, F&SF): I thought this one was powerful, though it was not particularly happy.  The main character Dolores is a doliente, a professional mourner.  She makes lots of money by performing flashy services for rich families, and she doesn’t think much about the fact that she is working for cartel families.  When a former lover is taken and presumably killed for her activism, Dolores is forced to consciously consider the role she has decided to play in the world.   

Short Fiction: October 2016

I’m still running on about a two-month delay, but it’s time to present my favorite short fiction published in the month of October!  There were quite a few that I enjoyed from this month, and my favorites are all freely available to read online (links given below).  Jeremiah Tolbert shows up again this month, and N.K. Jemisin, whose novel The Fifth Season I recently reviewed.

The Three Lives of Sonata James by Lettie Prell (Novelette, Tor.com): This was an interesting story about different  forms of human consciousness. The main character, Sonata, lives in a future where people’s consciousnesses can be transferred to robotic bodies after death.  Since you can always get another robotic body, there is no reason to die.  However, Sonata has decided that her life will consist of only three iterations.  I enjoyed reading about the changes in her perception and experience of the world, and also reading this idea of how society might react to a growing immortal population.  

The Cavern of the Screaming Eyes by Jeremiah Tolbert (Novelette, Lightspeed): In this story, the world has become kind of an MMORPG, with portals to instances popping up all over the place.  People try to excel at these instances for treasure and fame, but many die or simply disappear.  The main character’s older brother vanished in one, and he finds himself drawn to the “D-space”.  I enjoyed this one as someone who has played MMOs in the past, but I also enjoyed how it managed to ground such a silly premise in realistic characters and human emotion.  I get the sense that this might be the first in an arc of stories, where the main character learns more about why D-space has appeared and what happened to his brother.

The Book of How to Live by Rose Lemberg (Novelette, Beneath Ceaseless Skies):  It’s pretty common to see a fantasy story with a small class of elites that possess some kind of magical power.  It is not so often I see one where the main character is not a part of this class.  Efronia is a “simple” who works to design machines that can perform tasks the upper classes use magic to accomplish. Unfortunately, it is the upper classes that could choose to give her access to knowledge and resources, and the lower that would benefit from her research.  This is a thoughtful story about both magical and racial prejudice, and the beginnings of change.  I would like to read about what happens next in this world.

The City Born Great by N.K. Jemisin (Short Story, Tor.com):  Great cities eventually reach the point where they must be born and awaken to consciousness, or die in the process.  The city chooses a person, a midwife, to help them through this process.  What follows is kind of a love poem to NYC, as it is ushered into awareness by its chosen midwife.  As you might imagine, there’s a fair bit of bad language involved, but also really vivid imagery and emotion.