Reviews of a Few Works of Science Fiction

I purchased Paintwork after reading a brief review by Cory Doctorow, a writer whose works I enjoy very much. Mr. Doctorow’s praise of Paintwork is justified for the stories in Paintwork are quite good.

The Paintwork stories take place in the near future, a time not far from our own. The technologies in the stories are predictable extensions of current technology which renders them as believable and not as magical thinking. This is important as the the technologies are significant in the stories: they are not artifacts to the stories but are integral components. Do not think, however, that the stories are about technology, for they are not. Like all good science fiction, the stories are about humans acting and reacting in the world around them.

Technological advances give humans opportunities to do new things or to do old things in new ways. The technology changes but sadly, often humans do not. Paintwork gives us stories of humans acting in old ways with new technology. This is not a criticism: it simply means that traits which humans have exhibited for thousands of years are still exhibited in a future, more technologically-enabled, world. The worlds of Paintwork are dark but not dystopian. Some of the traits exhibited are positive, creative and useful while others are negative and destructive. But in all cases, the characters have adapted to a world of technology. Their adaptations are very believable, and this makes the stories seem realistic. One could almost believe the stories are news report from a not too distant future.

My only complaint about Paintwork is the number of typos: it seemed a rather large number for a published work. Still, I recommend Paintwork for fans of cyberpunk and science fiction. It is good writing with realistic characters set in a very believable world.

My Morning Glory and other flashes of absurd science fiction by David Marusek

My Morning Glory … consists of three pieces of flash fiction (here defined as a complete story told in fewer than 1,000 words). All three were originally published in the British science journal Nature and they are reprinted here for the first time. The stories are presented in chronological order but that has no relevance for understanding or enjoying the stories as each story stands alone. The ebook includes an active table of contents (as all ebooks should).

Some works of flash fiction fail to deliver a complete story and leave the reader feeling as though the work is only an excerpt. Not so in this case: Each of the three is a complete story, a self-contained unit which leaves the reader satisfied.

Many science fiction stories deal with unexpected consequences of technology. Usually the unforeseen consequences are used to create suspense and chills but in these three pieces, David Marusek shows the humor of consequences. However, humorous does not necessarily mean desirable.

The three stories are:

My Morning Glory — What if everyone had a personal motivational speaker and life coach always at the ready to give a positive, uplifting mantra?
Timed Release — In the future there’s a pill for everything. Luckily they don’t last forever, even though it sometimes seems like it.
A Hard Man to Surprise — The future will provide solutions for every problem. But sometimes a problem is only a pseudo-problem. The solution, however, is still real.

These works are very short and require only a few minutes to read. However, they are a satisfying reading experience.

She Was Good-She Was Funny by David Marusek

She Was Good-She Was Funny is short story of medium length. It’s length belies the impact and complexity of the story — many novels do not deliver as much as this short piece.

It is a story of revenge set in the Alaska wilderness. The subject of the revenge is Walt Baffen, an Oxford-trained archeologist, and the antagonist is a neighbor whose wife is having an affair with Walt. As the story develops, it is clear that the neighbor has carefully planned his revenge so as to commit a perfect crime. Walt finds himself in a desperate situation. He is more intelligent than the neighbor but not as physically strong. Walt is also a neophyte to the rigors of an Alaskan winter. The story is believable in motive and action but nearly unbelievable in it’s brutality and coldness (no pun intended). The emotion builds to a surprising climax and results in an unforgettable story as the two men battle.

She Was Good-She Was Funny is recommended to all who like suspense or crime stories.

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