Tag Archives: Science Fiction

November 21, 2024 · 1:00 am

The Space Race: A Review of The Paean Project

Book cover for The Paean Project by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover shows Earth as viewed from the moon. You can see just a sliver of the moon - including moon dust - on the bottom of the page. Then there is a lot of inky blackness of space before the little blue Earth comes into view. It’s a cloudy day there and you can see swirls of large clouds over the ocean. Title: The Paean Project

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 11, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Historical

Length: 7 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

In this short alternative history science fiction story, we have the journal of a Navy engineer brought into a secret project to continue manned spaceflight trials after the first attempt to reach the moon ended in tragedy. The project drew together some of the best minds of the Navy and the Air Force, as they worked to put a man around the moon. This journal is the only surviving record.

Content Warning:

Review:

If you love epistolary stories, keep reading!

I adored the fact that this was written as a series of journal entries. That’s not a very common style of storytelling these days, but it can work beautifully in certain cases like this one. Let me point out that Mr. Kohn didn’t have a lot of space for plot or character development here, but he used every last sentence to wring out as much of both of them as roughly seven pages would allow for. That is not an easy thing to accomplish, so I will tip my cap to him for making this such a pleasant reading experience overall. By framing everything as journal entries, he pulled this reader into the burning question of what was really happening on this secret project and how much the government may or may not know about the dangers these characters were facing.

As much as I wanted to give this tale a higher rating, the ending made it difficult for me to do that due to how little was resolved in it. This is something I’m saying as a longtime fan of the science fiction genre who doesn’t expect every loose end to be tied up. Some mystery is a fabulous thing in this genre, but in this case I think the plot would have been more satisfying – for me, at least – if the last journal entry or the post script had given some clue about what truly happened to these characters.

With that being said, this was still a positive first impression for me as someone who was brand new to this author’s work. He had a smooth writing style that was easy to sink into as the unnamed protagonist became more unnerved by the strange things occurring during and soon after the manned spaceflight trial. There was a lot of promise here, and I hope he keeps writing. I will definitely be keeping an eye out for more from him.

The Paean Project was thought provoking.

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October 31, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Old Forests and Older Things Within

Book cover for Old Forests and Older Things Within by Rudolph Kohn. Image on cover is a photo taken of a mountain range on a very foggy day. It’s so foggy, in fact, that this looks like a black and white photo! You can see pine forests growing on the smaller mountains (or maybe large hills) in the foreground, but the fog grows thicker as you look up. It’s an overcast day and only thin ribbons of sunlight make it through the clouds overhead. Title: Old Forests and Older Things Within

Author: Rudolph Kohn

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 9, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 25 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:

Victor Martinez-Silva thought he was going to enjoy a leisurely vacation in Peru with his wife.

As they were hiking up to the ruins of Choquequirao, something happened to his wife, Amy–something Victor couldn’t explain, much less stop.

However, a stranger found them in the nick of time, and he seemed to know exactly what to do.

Enjoy this short story introducing Lawrence G. Samson, hunter of otherworldly monstrosities hiding on our planet, waiting for the opportunity to wreak havoc on humanity!

Content Warning: parasitic infection

Review:

Hikes are supposed to be relaxing, right?

Nature can be a little intimidating at times for some of us, so I appreciated the fact that Mr. Kohn leaned into this fear in order to set the scene. There’s nothing like a character being many miles away from help in an emergency to highlight just how quickly things can go wrong and how much courage it takes to race to safety when the unthinkable happens. If any outdoors readers check this tale out, I’d love to read your takes on the themes here as I’m sure they can be a read differently by experienced hikers and campers.

I would have liked to see a little more time showing the characters’ personalities. Obviously, the fast pacing and short length can’t leave a lot of room for exposition, but I’d struggle to describe the characters if someone asked me what it would be like to meet them other than to say that Lawrence didn’t always give the clearest instructions and Victor didn’t always comprehend what he was asked to do because of how panicked he was about his wife’s condition. This could have easily been expanded upon in a few more paragraphs, and I would have happily gone with a five-star rating if the author had made that choice. Everything else about it was well written.

One of my challenges as a book blogger involves figuring out how to talk about twist endings without giving them away in my reviews. The twist is this tale was something I suspected might be coming, but I’m not the sort of reader who has to be surprised in order to enjoy something. It was still fun to see how it played out once Victor had more information about what was happening. I suspect that he would have figured it out sooner under calmer circumstances as my first impression of him was of someone who is generally capable and smart.

Old Forests and Older Things Within was an atmospheric autumn read.

 

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September 19, 2024 · 1:00 am

One Day at a Time: A Review of Unloveables

Book cover for Unloveables by Liz Boysha. Image on cover is a chalk drawing of a rat who is standing on its hind legs and has a sad expression on its face. This is a simply drawing, like something a child or an adult who is not an artist would draw. The background is black and looks like a chalkboard. Title: Unloveables

Author: Liz Boysha

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: August 18, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction, LGBTQ+, Romance

Length: 98 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

After the apocalypse, after the Megadrought, the Great Floods, after the Water Wars, the TriPlague, the Midwestern Firestorms; after the Superricane that wiped out the entire East Coast, after the Refugee Crisis and the Great Migrations and whatever wars they fought over that… In a remote corner of what was once Colorado, some people are still just trying to survive.

Content Warning: A fatal car accident. Homophobia. A character who has migraines but no medication for them.  Climate change that makes finding enough food, water, and shade difficult. Brief references to childhood abuse, a past rape, and violence.

Review:

Survival is the name of the game.

A lot of post-apocalyptic fiction focuses on strong, able-bodied adults who either already have the skills they need to survive or are able to quickly learn what they don’t already know, so it was refreshing to read about teens, one of whom is disabled, managing to survive in such an environment for so many years. There were other aspects of the two main characters’ identities that are also underrepresented in this genre, although I think it’s best for other readers to discover most of them gradually just like I did. I enjoyed getting to know Rat thought this was pretty realistic sketch of what kids who grew up in such a dangerous and unpredicatable environment could be like.

With that being said, I would have liked to learn more about the unnamed protagonist. He wasn’t even willing to share his real name with Rat or the audience, much less answer the multitude of other questions I had about his personality and upbringing. While this made sense when I considered how traumatized he was, it also meant that this reader never got to know him as well as I hoped I would. He always flitted around the edges of the conversation and was happy to share tips for finding food or water but never wanted the conversation to drift into anything deeper than that. It would be nice to learn more about him in any sequels that might be written in the future as I only felt like I could describe him in the most general terms by the time I finished reading this.

The romance was subtle and handled nicely. I have not read many romances about two asexual characters before, so I gently stepped away from my preconceived notions of what that might be like and waited to see what would happen. I appreciated the fact that both characters were willing to talk about such things openly and knew what they wanted out of a relationship even though neither one was at all expecting to fall in love when they first met. That’s exactly how I like romance tales to unfold.

Unloveables has left me eager to read more about these characters.

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August 8, 2024 · 1:00 am

For the Sake of Knowledge: A Review of Grim Future

Book cover for Grim Future by Nick S. Nicholas. Image on cover shows the silhoutte of an adult human standing on a hill after dark. They can see part of the sky illuminated either by yellow and purple northern lights or by the last vestiges of sunlight as dusk ends and night begins. Or maybe it’s caused by both! It is too dark in this scene to show the age, sex, or race of this person other than their adult stature. So imagine yourself there if you wish. Title: Grim Future

Author: Nick S Nicholas

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: June 24, 2024

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 31 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

Grim Future is a short story with the feel of an Indiana Jones meets the Mummy vs Space Invaders! Alec Kennedy, his love interest Rhonda Williams, and their expedition team’s leader Nathan Gray embark on an adventure to Egypt, hoping to discover an artifact that elevates them and their university sponsors into the international archeological spotlight. What they find will change the world in a way they never expected…

Content Warning: Murder, Sexism (I will discuss the latter briefly in my review)

Review:

Tombs are a window to the past. What sort of past that might be is an entirely different question altogether.

The character development was handled nicely. Alec’s self-absorption and difficulty with noticing subtle changes in his social environment quietly influenced every decision he made, and I was curious to see how he’d react to this expedition given that he was working in a group and would have to share the glory if anything of note was discovered. This was a pattern that repeated itself with other characters, too, whose flaws only made them more interesting to me because of how important they were to future plot twists. While I can’t say that I particularly liked most of the characters here, that is not a bad thing by any means. Honestly, unlikeable people can be the best options for certain types of storylines, and this is one of them.

While I could make an educated guess about what they were seeking, I do wish the ending had been longer and included more details about the antagonists’ motivations for behaving the way they did. The beginning and middle portions were so well written that I was surprised to see things suddenly be wrapped up the way that they were. There was a lot of space here for exposition, and I would have happily given a much higher rating if even if a paragraph or two of it had been added to explain what their precise goals were.

With that being said, I loved the way Mr. Nicholas turned certain science fiction tropes about female characters and what their roles should be in this genre on their head. I was a little concerned about where this was headed at first based on Alec’s one-dimensional approach to interacting with his love interest,  but I’m glad I kept reading anyway. Just because things appear to be one way in the opening scene does not at all mean they will still feel the same way in the final one. Keep that in mind as you read if your initial reaction is the same as mine was.

Grim Future was a wild ride.

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April 25, 2024 · 1:00 am

Enough Time to Think: A Review of Sands of Time

Book cover for Sands of Time: A collection of thought-provoking stories by Beatrice C. Snipp. Image on cover shows a patchwork assortment of squares in all seven colours of the rainbow. The colours are arranged randomly, and a few squares have exclamation points or question marks written on them. Title: Sands of Time – A Collection of Thought-Provoking Stories

Author: Beatrice C. Snipp

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: May 21, 2020

Genres: Science Fiction, Contemporary

Length: 40 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3 Stars

Blurb:

To anyone who might read this book. These few short stories are not written to entertain or pass away a short train journey. They are written to make your little grey cells work (Hercule Poirot). Hopefully they might make you think a little longer after reading. On time, space and human companionship to name but a few.

Review:

Content Warning: An accident resulting in blindness, secondary infertility, death, and murder. I will not discuss any of these topics in my review.

If you love stories that have morals attached to them, keep reading.

The blind protagonist in “The Smell of Death” discovered that they could smell death and predict in advance when someone was going to die. Just when I thought I had the entire storyline figured out, Ms. Snipp added a plot twist that made everything even better. While I can’t go into detail about it without sharing spoilers, I can say that it involved the main character discovering a new facet of their power and trying to decide what to do with it. What a wild ride this was, and I enjoyed every moment of it.

While I appreciated the brevity of them all, some of these tales were confusing to me due to how little time the author had to explain what was happening in them and what lessons she hoped the readers would take away from them. “Death So Near But So Far,” which followed four friends who reunited after the funeral of a fifth friend, was one such example of this. I would have loved to have more information about what was going on in their lives and how they had all lived to such ripe old ages.

As soon as I read the title of “Xenolith,” I knew I was in for a treat. That term refers to fragments of other types of rock that find themselves embedded in igneous rocks to which they should not be part of. I must be careful about how much information I share about the plot twists as this was a short piece, but seeing how the storyline quickly shifted to a talkative man named Eric who kept sharing nature facts with people who were terribly bored by that monologue made me curious to see what would happen next. The connection between the opening paragraph and the rest of it was as interesting as it was unexpected.

Sands of Time – A Collection of Thought-Provoking Stories was interesting.

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April 18, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of The Fall Of Denver – A Tribute Story to the Original War Of The Worlds

Book cover for The Fall Of Denver - A Tribute Story to the Original War Of The Worlds By H.G. Wells’ by Richard Paolinelli. Image on cover shows a drawing of one of the many-legged alien ships from War of the Worlds crouching over a farmhouse. It is trying to suck up the people living there into its bulbous head. The farmhouse is in a western setting. There are a few tumbleweeds and hardy desert plants growing, but no grass, trees, or animals to be seen. The scene is dusty, dark yellow, and looks ominous, even the otherwise soft and gentle mountains in the far distance. Title: The Fall of Denver – A Tribute Story to the Original War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells

Author: Richard Paolinelli

Publisher: Tuscany Bay Books

Publication Date: May 24, 2022

Genres: Science Fiction, Romance, Historical

Length: 44 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

The Fall of Denver takes place simultaneously with the events unfolding in England during Wells’, War of the Worlds. Doubtless, even as England was being invaded, so were all the other countries around the globe.In this story we will find out how the invasion of the United States plays out in general, and how it affects the men, and their families, stationed at a U.S. Army Fort near Denver, Colorado. For Major Daniel Wayne, an arrow in his knee has ended his career in the U.S. Army. Shortly after he arrives at Fort Logan outside of Denver, Colorado to hand in his retirement papers, word is received of an extra-worldly invasion of England. Before he and the Fort’s commander can begin to process this information, the first Martian cylinder lands to the east of Denver. Wayne is entrusted with the safety of the civilians at the Fort and in the surrounding area, taking them to the safety of the nearby Front Range even as the battle to defend Denver rages behind them. Wayne must keep the trust of his fellow officers to keep their familes safe, and confronts the ghosts of his own past, even as he longs to join the battle.

Review:

Content Warning: Death, disability, and a partial recovery from a painful knee injury. I will be discussing the last two in this post.

Women, children, and people with disabilities must stick together if they’re going to survive this war with aliens.

Some of the most interesting scenes in my opinion were the ones that explored Major Daniel Wayne’s career-threatening knee injury and how he dealt with the relentless pain and mobility issues that resulted from it. Living with any disability isn’t easy, especially at this point in history when there was less social support for people with disabilities and few if any accommodations for someone who found walking to be a struggle, much less anything more vigorous than that.  Regardless of whether you have personal experience with this topic or not, there’s something interesting to mull on here for everyone.

I would have preferred to see more attention paid to the romantic subplot of this tale. Because it happened quickly and under such intense circumstances,  I needed additional details about why the characters involved in it decided to pursue such things with each other while everything around them was falling apart. In no way was I opposed to these two individuals ending up together. They seemed like a great match, in fact. There was simply a lot of space here to expand the scenes that showed their blossoming romance.

With that being said, this was still a wonderful addition to this universe that I was thrilled to read. Learning about the alien attack from a different point of view showed me just how slowly information spread back then and how much folks had to rely on their own common sense and various life skills in order to survive when the military was being overrun and the federal goverment so far away that it could provide no realistic support for ordinary citizens at this time.

If you’re not already familiar with War of the Worlds, I’d recommend reading it before diving into this expansion of that universe.

The Fall of Denver – A Tribute Story to the Original War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells made me smile.

 

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April 11, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Confirm Humanity and Other Stories

Title: Confirm Humanity and Other Stories Book cover for Confirm Humanity and Other Stories by Ren Ellis. Image on over shows a drawing of a person with long, straight hair sitting on a banister and looking out at the cloudy, stormy red and yellow sky before them. You can see the bones in the person’s left arm and leg glowing through their black frame. Perhaps the bones are actually cybernetic? Or perhaps we’re looking at a sophisticated x-ray of this characters? It is unclear.

Author: Ren Ellis

Publisher: Port of Planets Publishing

Publication Date: March 27, 2021

Genres: Science Fiction, Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary

Length: 44 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 3.5 Stars

Blurb:

“Ren Ellis’s Confirm Humanity and Other Stories is a collection…filled with questions, intrigue, tears, and hope. Ranging from familiar to fantastical, the settings and the characters are diverse. Readers will definitely enjoy the eclectic and fantastical stories in Ren Ellis’s Confirm Humanity and Other Stories , and the collection’s element of humanity will hit home, reminding us of the pivotal moments that define us.” – Readers’ Favorite ★★★★★ Confirm Humanity and Other Stories is a collection of twelve short stories by Ren Ellis. Primarily comprised of speculative fiction stories, this collection ranges from slice-of-life to the supernatural and beyond. Genres
This collection uses imaginary tales as a lens through which to see the very real threats and struggles of our time. Extreme flooding and Venice-like canals reshape the famous city of Paris in “Deluge.” The fairytale stepmother casts new light on old tales in “The Stepmother’s Story.” Monsters meet the Marie Kondo method in “Monsters Welcome.” Other stories explore the paranormal world of “Red Rain”; the cosmic courses of “The Time Garden”, “The Welkin Tree” and “Winter’s Last Breath”; the dystopian worlds of “Life” and “Recycled”; and cycles of hardship and hope that will resonate with adults of all ages.

Review:

Content Warning: Miscarriage, climate change, and unjust imprisonment. I will not be discussing these topics in my review.

This was like a sample platter of speculative fiction that included a little bit of everything to go around.

The tired stepmother of Rapunzel, Cindy, and Snow had a lot to say in “The Stepmother’s Story,” a modern-day twist on a few classic fairy tales. I appreciated the hard work she’d put into look after her stepchildren and thought it was only fair that her perspective of their relationships be given a chance to shine. This was a short piece that took advantage of every single word in it to paint a vivid picture of modern family life. It made me chuckle and was a good thing to read as I settled into this collection. I only wish the father had been given a chance to speak up, too.

There were times when I felt like these tales didn’t have enough in common with each other to be included in the same collection. They were all over the place as far as themes, writing styles, and messages go. While I certainly wouldn’t expect all or even most of them to repeat one another, it was a little disconcerting for me as a reader to leap from something lighthearted to much more serious and sometimes difficult themes just a few pages later.  This is something I’m saying as someone who has read, written, and reviewed speculative fiction for many years. Either approach is a valid one, but I would have preferred to have a better idea of what to expect next each time I flipped the page.

Many paranormal stories are – or at least try to be – frightening, so I enjoyed the humorous slant of the unnamed protagonist of “Dancing on Graves” finding amusement in watching her dead neighbours dance on their own graves after dark. This was another very short piece, but the power in it came from the single moment in time it captured and how the main character reacted to such a surprising and lighthearted event. The imagery in it was lovely, too, and I would happily read an entire book about these characters if one ever were to be written.

Confirm Humanity and Other Stories was a fun assortment of various types of speculative fiction.

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April 4, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of When Stars Move and Other Stories

Book cover for When Stars Move and Other Stories by Shannon Rampe. Image on cover is a photo taken of the night sky just after dusk. You see a thin strip of mountains and plain dirt at the bottom of the cover and then above it an expansive stretch of night sky, black on top and then slowly lighting up to a blue colour near the horizon where a little sunlight still remains but is quickly slipping out of sight for the evening. Title: When Stars Move and Other Stories

Author: Shannon Rampe

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 11, 2020

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 63 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

A princess outside of time and history puts her trust in a rusty artifact instead of her treacherous family. The captain of a disintegrating war ship rushes toward a resolution for both human guilt and extreme augmentation. A young woman who has been “reignited” confronts a system that does not work at all in the way she has been conditioned to believe. In these three stories of death and rebirth, Shannon Rampe invites readers to immerse themselves in fantastic worlds and accompany their memorable characters on journeys of discovery and re-creation. Shannon Rampe’s work has appeared in Speculative City, Abyss & Apex, and on The Gallery of Curiosities podcast, amongst others. His hobbies include yoga and craft cocktail-making, though not (usually) at the same time.

Review:

Content Warning: Murder, sexism, religion, mental illness (post traumatic stress disorder), and genocide. I will not discuss any of these topics in my review.

Survival is about more than continuing to breathe.

I smiled at Anusha’s courage in ”When Stars Move.” As a princess, her freedom was virtually nonexistent, but she still had the urge to explore the world around her and learn as much about it as she could. The world building was handled nicely, especially when it came to how her Imam’s interpretation of how constellations moved across the night sky influenced everyone’s lives. I also enjoyed the conflict between Anusha’s inquisitive and stubborn personality with the pliant and obedient young woman she was expected to be.

Hermes, the dying warship in ”Ghost Parade,” made me curious to see what would become both of the ship itself as well as the heavily augmented protagonist. The most interesting part of this tale for me were the descriptions of how a small number of soldiers had received brain implants that allowed them to share thoughts and plan complicated battle techniques. This is one of the few tropes from militaristic science fiction that I find intriguing to think about. The melding of machines and human flesh was frightening enough, but using the violent result of it in order to better figure out how to wipe out entire civilizations made it even more horrifying for me. I will leave it up to other readers to discover how a soldier might cope with such an experience, but it it was thought provoking and made me think about the brutality of war even for the victors.

As interested as I was in the unique blending of religion and science in ”Reignition,” I struggled to emotionally connect with the characters. There wasn’t a great deal of time dedicated to character development or to describing what made the protagonist so interested in breaking the rules of her religious community, so I had a hard time predicting what Karma might do or say next. This pattern was repeated with everyone around her, too, which meant that I ended up being far more interested in the world building than in who lived in those settings or why certain topics were forbidden.

When Stars Move and Other Stories has piqued my curiosity about Mr. Rampe’s writing.

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February 22, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Tucker vs. The Apocalypse

Book cover for Tucker Vs. The Apocalypse by Jay Allen Storey. Image on cover shows a photorealistic painting of a golden retriever standing alone on a wet street in the evening sun with city skyscrapers behind him. Title: Tucker Vs. The Apocalypse

Author: Jay Allan Storey

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: December 1, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction, Contemporary

Length: 125 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

Lost and alone amid the ashes of a dead civilization

Household pet Tucker is thrust into an apocalyptic world when not only his own ‘master’, but all of humanity, are stricken with a deadly plague. The disease is fatal in almost one hundred percent of cases, but affects only humans, leaving empty cities and towns that are quickly being repopulated with domestic animals and wildlife.

Tucker eventually connects with a group of other former pets. Deprived of their human caretakers, and guided by the mysterious Web of Life, Tucker and his ‘pack’ must learn to fend for themselves, confronting cold and blinding snow, blistering heat, the threat of starvation, ferocious predators, and the violent remnants of humanity as they search for a new home.

Review:

Content Warning: pandemic, robbery, human and animal deaths from both natural and violent causes, murder, animal attacks, plane crash, car crash, (animal) pregnancy and (animal) birth. I will not talk about any of these topics in my review.

Beloved pets generally aren’t taught many survival skills, and that’s a big problem in an apocalypse.

Tucker was an intelligent and sweet dog who I enjoyed getting to know. Mr. Storey did an excellent job of showing the world through canine eyes. Some things that utterly ordinary to humans can be mystifying to dogs and vice versa, so it was amusing to compare those two perspectives as Tucker either puzzled over the weird stuff humans do or assumed the audience was already aware of certain canine behaviours were honestly so obvious to him he barely felt the urge to explain them to the audience at all.

I was surprised by how many of the adult dogs in this story had not been spayed or neutered before the first scene began. It’s rare for that to happen in my social circles, so I was caught off-guard by later scenes that referenced what can happen when humans are no longer around to keep an eye on what their dogs are doing. It would have been nice to have even a brief explanation of how so many fertile pets were running around during an apocalypse.

The world building was excellent, especially considering the fact that it was filtered through the perspective of a dog who, as I stated earlier, had a wildly different opinion on what was most important to share than a human narrator would have mentioned. There was always enough information to know what was going on here, and I enjoyed the challenge of putting together the pieces of scenes that were intentionally written a little mysteriously as Tucker trotted off to sniff interesting scents or find reliable sources of food and water.

Tucker Vs. The Apocalypse was a wild ride.

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February 1, 2024 · 1:00 am

A Review of Is Neurocide the Same As Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas

Book cover for Is Neurocide the Same as Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas (Spiral Worlds) by Alexandra Almeida. Image on cover shows what at first appears to be a closeup photo of cells under the magnification of a microscope. The cells are shaded pink, orange, yellow and red depending on where you look at them. They are crowded close together and the six on the outside are the usual, blobby cell shape and have a few of the structures of their insides visible due to the “staining” as well. The cell on the nside is about a third the size of the others and comprised of a few dozen squares that have been arranged into the shape of a heart. It looks boxy and like something out of Minecraft. Title:  Is Neurocide the Same As Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas (Spiral Worlds)

Author:Alexandra Almeida

Publisher: Self-Published

Publication Date: November 28, 2023

Genres: Science Fiction

Length: 19 pages

Source: I received a free copy from the author.

Rating: 4 Stars

Blurb:

In a world grappling with the ethics of advanced technology and the haunting shadows of past genocides, “Is Neurocide the Same as Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas,” emerges as a thought-provoking short story set in 2068.

This story is a compelling blend of science fiction, historical reflection, and ethical debate. It challenges readers to confront a moral dilemma pondering the implications of new technology on human morality and the timeless struggle between power and empathy.

Note: this short story does not require previous knowledge of the Spiral Worlds series. If you have not started the series, you may start here. If you have started the series, read this story after Parity, Book 2.

SPIRAL WORLDS is a literary, sci-fi series for the fans of Becky Chambers’s A Closed and Common Orbit, Alex Garland’s DEVS and Ex Machina, and Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror. Weaving near-future sci-fi elements with social commentary and queer romantic suspense, the SPIRAL WORLDS series explores the nature of consciousness and how it’s connected to a not-so-secret ingredient—story. As AI consumes the world, intelligence is nothing but the appetizer; the human heart is the main course.

Review:

Content Warning: mass murder, war, mental illness, child soldiers, brief references to rape (but no rapes are actually described).

Hurt people hurt people.

It was a little tricky for me to decide how many storyline details to share in this review without wandering too far into spoiler territory as the blurb could be vague at times. What I can say is that this is written from the perspective of a dead person, Gentille, who has been temporarily resurrected by her granddaughter, Estelle, in order to discuss a pressing ethical issue in 2068 that was created by the development of a new technology that could identify people with a specific and severe mental illness very early in life. Estelle wanted to know how this technology should be used and she hoped her grandmother would have some wisdom to share. I was immediately intrigued by the thought being able to talk to the dead and predict how a small child’s brain would develop decades in the future. These are both developments that could radically change human society for the better or the worse, and I kept pausing to consider the many different ways they could be used depending on who had access to them and what the intentions of those people might be.

While I understand that this is part of a series and that not everything can necessarily be included in one small instalment of it, I did find myself wishing that the narrator had spent more time on the world building given how important it was for how the plot would advance. There were times when I was slightly confused about how a specific machine worked or how certain details were intended to fit together. Having more context about life in 2068 would have gone a long way to help me understand it all and feel comfortable going for a full five-star review.

This tale started off in a rather grim place as is the case for a lot of – but certainly not all –  modern science fiction. Technology is a double-edged sword, and it only takes a handful of people to figure out how to misuse even the most brilliant tool. If the first few scenes make you want to stop reading, let me encourage you to keep going.  There are surprises to be found later on that turn much of the early imagery upside down. Knowing how terrible things were for Gentille as a young girl is imperative in order to understand why her mind works the way it does after her death. In the end, I was glad I stuck around to see what happened to her next.

Is Neurocide the Same As Genocide? And Other Dangerous Ideas was a thought-provoking introduction to this series. I look forward to reading more someday.

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