A terrific collection of thought-provoking short stories. Some of the stories are better than others, but most are memorable, moving, and will plant ideas in your head that you just have to discuss with others. The biggest drawback is that the stories are short: with quite of a few of these, I found myself wishing they were full-length novels that could’ve explored the ideas more deeply.
Here are brief summaries of the stories:
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The bookmaking habits of select species: A fun “survey” of the types of “books” you might find among different alien species. Fun to see the creativity with how different aliens can be. 4/5.
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State change: An exploration of the soul being manifested in everyday objects. A bit like the daemons of the His Dark Materials series, but with objects instead of animals. A cute idea, with a neat twist. 4/5.
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The perfect match: A fantastic look at what happens when AI becomes a constant companion and is constantly giving us suggestions on what to do, what to buy, even who to see and what to say. A bit like a mix between a Black Mirror episode and the movie Her. I would’ve loved a full-length version of this one. 5/5.
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Good hunting: A story about a demon hunter, a demon, and the modernization of society. I found this to be an odd mix of fantasy and steampunk, and it didn’t really work for me. 3/5.
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The literomancer: Starts out as a story of an American girl who moved to Taiwan and is trying to fit in, but then makes a sudden shift to much darker themes of politics and war. 4/5.
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Simulacrum: A new technology allows us to take “snapshots” of people, and play those snapshots back as 3d holograms that include not only what that person looked like, but also a highly-accurate simulation of how that person would think and behave. It’s a fun premise, and the story makes great use of it in exploring the relationship between a father and his daughter. This would’ve made for an amazing full-length story. 5/5.
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The regular: The story of a private detective chasing down a serial killer in a futuristic world where people can be augmented cybernetically. Really fun read that, again, would’ve made a great full-length novel. 5/5.
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The paper menagerie: The story of a boy who was born in America to a woman who was a mail-order bride from China. A moving look at the immigrant experience, with some touching scenes. 5/5.
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An advanced readers’ picture book of comparative cognition: Alternates between the story of a woman who wants to leave her family to travel the stars with explorations of different alien species. There is some beautiful writing in this one, but it didn’t come together for me. 3/5.
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The waves: A generational colony ship is launched from earth, and it will take hundreds of years, and multiple generations of people, to reach its destination. Along the way, they discover a way to make humans immortal. A beautiful exploration of the choices we make with our own lives, the lives of our children, and the meaning of life. 5/5.
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Mono no aware: A colony ship is launched from earth to escape an incoming asteroid collision that will destroy the planet. Another beautiful exploration, this time of how humanity would react to armageddon. 5/5.
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All the flavors: Alternates between a story of Chinese immigrants living in a frontier town in the US Wild West and the stories those immigrants tell from Chinese mythology. I found the former to be interesting and compelling (especially the relationship between the little girl and the old man), whereas the latter felt like a distraction. 4/5.
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A brief history of the trans-pacific tunnel: An alternate history where the US and Japan join together during the Great Depression to build a massive underwater tunnel that connects the two countries, and averts World War II. Starts off cheery, but gradually shifts to a darker town. Cool concept, but it probably needed a longer novel to explore fully. 4/5.
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The litigation master and the monkey king: A story that seems to come from Chinese mythology, focused on some of the horrors and massacres carried out by one of the dynasties. 3/5.
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The man who ended history: a documentary.: We’ve discovered a technology that lets us see the past in perfect clarity, but only once: the act of viewing a past event destroys all record of it. A really fun premise, beautifully explained, and thoroughly explored. 5/5.
Highly recommended.
