Iris, the protagonist through whose eyes the story is told, gets caught out in some weird rainstorm during a trip, and contracts something - something? - via her eyes, it seems. And it gets weirder as it (and the story) progresses...
This is a story which on the one hand feels very deja vu, with old and slightly tired tropes - a new virus. an alien (?) invasion. somehow very much harking back to the Peter Watts take on John Carpenter's 'The Thing' (titled 'The Things'). And on the other hand this feels very up to date, and 'now' - with a pandemic, with road blocks and provisions to stay indoors. with Iris' job of sanitising AI training inputs (one of the few jobs, besides waiting tables, which humans still do better).
To me this story somehow felt like it had hope for the future. I know, I'm weird. And for Peter Watts this is unusual.
But read it yourself, the link is below. This was initially published in Lightspeed Magazine. The picture on the right is pulled off the web, and purely my own reflection on the title, which itself has at least 3 distinct meanings in the story (well done, that man!)
Ok, here's an older one for the fans and aficionados:
Are You For 86? is a Leggy Starlitz short story by Bruce Sterling - this time helping radical feminist pro choice phone phreak activists to smuggle a French developed abortion pill through a Japanese female rock band in Salt Lake City. And if you think this sounds - over the top? messy? too many idea per sentence? then you'd be spot on. Like other Leggy Starlitz stories this has any number of funky concepts, improbable developments, and fascinating ideas sparkling off it, as hit and miss as such a sintered composition can be, of course.
Although, IMHO, this is just a riotous fun as all the other Leggy Starlitz stories I've read, so do give it a go, and don't be deterred by its age.
The picture on the right is the Mormon Meteor, as referenced in the story (the Wikipedia article linked below has a picture of the Duisenburg Special instead - this is the Mormon Meteor II)
Well, here's a refreshing and surprising change - not only is Critical Mass by Peter Watts not in itself a dystopian story (although it's set in a world with pandemics, and the climate going to pieces - no idea where he might get ideas like that from), but it also has what I consider a rather positive and upbeat ending.
Plus - the main protagonist is a fading artist, and his struggles with his gradual loss of relevance - never mind the fact that someone is on the warpath and trashing his pieces out in the world - is again an interesting departure from the author's more usual soldier/scientist/outcast templates.
Published in the July 22 issue of Lightspeed Magazine - see link below to read the story, or listen to it.
The art piece on the right is by the Israeli artist Eli Shukry, and only associated with the story in my mind.
In January 2020 Clarkesworld Magazine published a story by Isabel Fall (a new writer, writing under a pseudonym) named I Sexually Identify as an Attack Helicopter.
In my eyes it's a clever and well-executed piece of near-future fiction, set in a oddly broken US, where the military have shaped and used sexual identity to forge a closer bond between the weapon and its pilot - so much in the vein of a Peter Watts story that some people assumed it was actually written by him (no, it was not).
But it clearly also takes up the anti-trans meme in the title, and re-claims it for the trans community (Isabel Fall herself is trans). But somewhere between the unknown, anonymous author, the provocative title, and the modern-day tendency to be outraged just in case and on behalf this led to a shitstorm of abuse that ended in Fall asking Clarkesworld to take down the story, and check herself into a clinic due to suicidal ideation given the attacks on her.
So far so good (the story) and so bad (the unwarranted over-reaction to it). The story was, under the shortened moniker Helicopter Story, nominated for a Hugo Award in 2021 (it didn't win it), but is still only available on the Archive (the Wayback Machine has purges it's copy) and on private uploads. The space it took up on the Clarkesworld page is taken up by a statement by Neil Clarke, the editor. This is worth a read, too.
If you haven't read it then I would, now you know the above, invite you to read it yourself, links are below. And, both in this case as well as in general - please be respectful with other human beings, even if you disagree with them. Things are frequently more complex than they seem at first glance.
Here's a recommendation from our friends over at the Translated SF Wiki (you should check them out if you have an interest in non-UK/US SF!)
Anton Stark's short story Silkstrand, A Minute Of is a fascinating little fragment, set in Chinese-style high culture, and following one of the characters responsible for maintaining the universal clock that keeps the Empire ticking, and time flowing correctly. But who, by chance, finds out that - no, I'm not telling. Go read it, it's short, it's clever, and it's charming.
The story was published, both as text and as a Podcast on Cast of Wonders - links below.
The picture on the right is a wooden Triangle Mandala - it felt somewhat appropriate given the subject matter!
