“Science Fiction for the Throne: One-Sitting Reads” edited by Thomas A. Easton, Judith K. Dial

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

An interesting collection of short-short stories, each can be read in one seating on the ‘throne’. The stories are grouped together based on a common theme, with each story ending with a note about the author.

Of the stories in the collection, the ones that I found thought-provoking and interesting include those by Kristine Kathryn Rusch, James L. Cambias, Lawrence Watt-Evans, Steven Popkes, David Brin, Cat Rambo, Robert Dawson, Nancy Kress, Bud Sparhawk and James Van Pelt. These stories manage to invoke the feeling that the stories are just a glimpse into bigger stories full of fascinating possibilities.

Theme: Artificial Intelligence (A.I.)

• “For the Love of Mechanical Minds” by Brenda Cooper: a kid growing up with an AI assistant would obviously have different priorities from their parents.
• “Candle” by Liam Hogan: on the first turning-on anniversary, an A.I. left to its own devices decides to celebrate its birthday by lighting a spectacular candle.
• “Staff Meeting, as Seen by the Spam Filter” by Alex Shvartsman: since spam mail is best handled by an intelligent person, an intelligent A.I. is called for, even if that’s unintended.

Theme: Aliens

• “Stand-In” by Gregory Benford: aliens blend into human society via fictional personalities
• “Sing” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch: a thoughtful story about a researcher who wants to capture the essence of the people living in a society but turns out to have captured more than that. This one will make you re-read it when you reach the end to re-evaluate the situation and the characters.
• “Remember the Allosaur” by Jo Walton: an allosaur who only wants to act human in plays. But there is one play where he may not be the leading man.

Theme: Arts & Media

• “Gypped” by Lloyd Biggle: about a clerk who feels he isn’t justly rewarded when his ‘artistic’ actions unknowingly leads to a great discovery.
• “Sentimental Value” by Michael A. Burstein: a story involving an author’s first sale and capturing the joy of that sale. Only funny if you have some idea who the editor and the magazine the sale was made to were in real life.
• “A Right Jolly Old…” by James L. Cambias: a tale of a series of unlike coincidences in various stories leads one man to deduce who Santa Clause is; and how he knows he’s right.
• “Space Opera” by Daniel M. Kimmel: literally Opera (librettos) in space.
• “Musicians End the World” by Gerald Warfield: when air guitarist could destroy the world.
• “Nif’s World” by Lawrence Watt-Evans: a nicely set-up story of a naive young world-builder who thinks she has an edge in her world’s creation: only it’s one that readily dismissed for obvious reasons.

Theme: Religion

• “Kayonga’s Decision” by Dave Creek: a man makes a confession to a priest about his former rescue mission, where he had to decide between saving his friend and saving a group of intelligent ‘whales’ in Jupiter.
• “Ten Things I Know About Jesus” by Steven Popkes: a man who personally knows Jesus (and other related Biblical characters) in modern times reveals a different kind of Jesus.
• “The Genre Kid” by James Sallis: a strange tale of a boy who produces images of Jesus in an unsanitary manner and what is says about his artistic skills.

Theme: Reviving the Past

• “The Last Real New Yorker in the World” by J. D. MacDonald & Debra Doyle: in a future where only theme parks of New York are left, the last legitimate New Yorker demands more to act as an attraction.
• “Stewardship” by Holly Schofield: a robotic steward of a nature reserve finds its top predator dead. But an opportunity comes for it to find a possible replacement.
• “Boleslaw Szymanski Gets the Ogden Slip” by Steven H Silver: in the game of hero versus villain, an attractive lady sidekick has little choice but to play along, even though she is the actual hero.

Theme: Space

• “The Avalon Missions” by David Brin: a hilarious look at what could happen as successive ships are sent to explore an distant alien world, each ship being faster than its predecessor but launched at different time periods, resulting in different viewpoints about exploration.
• “The Good Girl” by Brendan DuBois: as punishment, a girl is sent to control a mining robot on the moon. But when she finds something unexpected, she had to decide whether to stop operations and end up being punished, but be a good girl to finish the punishment.
• “Without” by Fran Wilde: a mother leaving for a ‘better life’ pleads with her husband to sign an agreement and to leave with her, from a land that is slowly dying.
• “Moving to a New Planet? Don’t Take Disembarkation Sickness with You” by Malphian Junket, by Leslie Starr O’Hara: on the various different symptoms people encounter when arriving at a new planet.

Theme: Strange Relationships

• “Strange Attractors” by S. B. Divya: a couple drift apart but come together again many times in a tale that spans many years.
• “Grandpa?” by Edward M. Lerner: a funny tale about the Grandfather Paradox (going back in time to kill your grandfather) that can only stop when the grandfather makes a decision.
• “The Coffeemaker’s Passion” by Cat Rambo: a woman gets a new coffeemaker machine which begins talking and slowly takes over her life, in return for good coffee.

Theme: Technology (and its Discontents)

• “Pop-Ups” by Robert Dawson: with pop-up ads appearing everywhere in brain implants, there will be a need for an ad blocker.
• “The Omniplus Ultra” by Paul Di Filippo: everybody’s heard of and wants the Omniplus Ultra. But supply is limited. But when you finally get a chance to try it, it turns out not to be what you think it is.
• “Virtually Correct” by Marianne Dyson: on the perils of not ensuring that the criminals featured in crime scenes in virtual reality are associated with a particular race.
• “Patent Infringement” by Nancy Kress: a patented cure for a virulent disease is successful. But it is challenged by a man who claims his DNA was used to create the cure. The reply would turn patents and lawsuits into a virulent weapon.
• “Purgatory” by Don Sakers: teleporters make it easy for thieves to break into a house by ‘dialing’ in: except when there’s a hold in the system.
• “Delivery” by Bud Sparhawk: a interesting look at how AI can help deliver groceries and other items to your house just when you need them. But it takes a chilling turn when world geopolitics requires the delivery of some special items.
• “Weaponized Ghosts of the 96th Infantry” by James Van Pelt: a chilling story about how ghosts can be raised from the newly dead to avenge their deaths in battle.

Theme: Time Travel

• “Operation Tesla” by Jeff Hecht: time travellers go back in time to find Tesla’s missing notes. Only they keep getting stopped before completing their mission for obvious reasons in hindsight.
• “The Man Who Brought Down The New York Times” by Paul Levinson: how a grudge against a newspaper not printing the work of a man lead to Fake News.
• “The Thunder of Sound” by H. Paul Shuch: a re-look at Ray Bradbury’s “A Sound of Thunder” about the consequences of changing the past in even the slightest fashion.
• “In the Speed of Time” by Douglas Van Belle: arguing with a future you against killing you, to spare his future self from the depression over losing the one you love.
• “Cease and Desist” by Jay Werkheiser: the future you sues you for not being healthy.

Theme: Shaggy Dogs

• “Return of the Zombie Sea Monster” by Michael F. Flynn: in a story full of pulp SF clichés, will the rise of the zombie sea monster end in victory or in a bad pun?
• “Throw Me a Bone” by Stanley Schmidt: a palaeontologist is disgraced because his found one bone and nothing else at a dig site. But then the mystery is solved when a subsequent dig reveals the bone shaking truth.
• “Relatively Speaking” by Darrell Schweitzer and Lee Weinstein: who should be the first to clone him or herself? The answer lies in the punning of a saying.

Book read from 2018/04/16 to 2018/05/02