On top of our usual theme of abject, inescapable misery, we've got a bit of an immortality theme this time as well. It's one novella, three novelettes, and two short stories.
Novella
Living Trust, L. Timmel Duchamp
The man who sold the world on a bright new future where no one has a job and there's not much of a safety net for people without vast pre-existing fortunes has a stroke. His daughter is left figuring out whether or not to carry out his will and make him Test Subject #1 for an as-yet half baked bid for immortality.
I agree with her choice. But I think the whole fetal harvesting subplot felt a bit tacked on and unnecessary. I mean, sure, it's a ripped from the then-current headlines ethical dilemma but it doesn't really factor into the protagonists decision so it seems like an odd thing to include.
Novelettes
Cabbages and Kales, or, How We Downsized North America, David Marusek
Politics, confounded and complicated by technology that allows people to send out AI proxies of themselves to participate in debates, hold rallies, and cast votes. Further complicated by a main character who might have an urgent need to see a neurologist considering the wild differences between his proxies stated opinions.
Also the future doesn't suck yet, but apparently US politicians won't let that stop them from not-so-subtly committing economic and let's face it almost certainly ethnic cleansing in pursuit of making the wealthy more comfortable. And BSABSVR I guess. Yuck.
Mac and Me, Robert Reed
Nanotech makes everything worse. But for the people who grew up with it, trying to unmake it might just be worse.
Also don't be a dick and create an imperfect clone for the express purpose of making them the loser of a love triangle they didn't get themselves into.
Fossil Games, Tom Purdom
Horrible future filled with horrible immortal people. This time with interstellar travel, inept politicking, and academic pissing contest, and some very bizarre and unhealthy attitudes towards ones own interpersonal relationships.
The opening sequence where the viewpoint character reminisced about his father committing suicide and his mother becoming a cyborg prostitute because they couldn't fit in with all the genetically and chemically enhanced people showing up all around them was horrible and Tom Purdom should feel bad for writing it. It was also bizarre and implausible, as the setting is such that his parent's entire generation should have been locked out of getting the enhancements they were missing, so they should have had plenty of company to socialize with and it’s unlikely they would have had so much difficulty supporting themselves economically. Particularly given the way the rest of the story basically treats those same enhancements as completely irrelevant to people’s lives.
Short Stories
The Night Copernicus Died, Kathryn Kulpa
Time travel to change the world. Told in clipped and broken segments.
Sorry Kathryn, you lost me with those first two words through no fault of your own. (Also your name was misspelled in the table of contents and I nearly listed you as ‘Kathyn Kulpa’ here because of that. Thanks for having the good sense and common decency to have a website with a list of publications.)
Ancient Engines, Michael Swanwick
There's immortality and then there's immortality. And, of course, there's bragging about finding the secret of immortality to an AI you created after rubbing it in that that AI will shortly be doomed to death through obsolescence and the use of non-standard parts and connections.
Final Thoughts
Who wants to live forever? Well, I wouldn't mind it. Unless the world was being written by an Asimov's contributor.
