The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Six
I will update this anthology as I go along…
– SALVAGE by Andy Dudak
Humans have spread across many planets. Their observation of the universe endangered its existence. I know too little of quantum physics to understand the logic behind this concept. Anyway, aliens appeared and turned humans into statues, to prevent them from destroying the universe. Inside of these statues humans still live their simulated lives. Our MC is one of the few humans that have survived this event. She goes around and interacts with these statues to give them a choice—continue the simulation, move to a different, more pleasing simulation or end their existence. This could have been the content of the story, but our MC is stopped by other humans, as what she does is apparently not quite legal and the story goes on another quite different tangent from there. I struggled. It took me unusually long to finish this story and it didn‘t really satisfy me. The MC has a dark secret herself, which is hinted at, but not resolved in a meaningful way. The main issue is probably that I didn‘t really get the point of this story.
– THE LONG TAIL by Aliette de Bodard
“A story about memory and war and transfers of memories between shifts (and statistics!).“
After a war involving nanites, salvaging a wreck and looking for a cure. Short, but able to engage me and to emphasize with the main character. ★★★★☆
Can be read for free here.
Thanks to NetGalley I have The Red Scholar’s Wake by Aliette de Bodard on my TBR pile.
Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates’ enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.
Blurb of The Red Scholar’s Wake
Arranged marriage, one of my favourite romance tropes… Looking forward to this one! I liked what I have read by Bodard until now.
Cathy's Reading Bonanza 