This volume covers 2021, but was not released until December 29, 2023??? I guess Clarke was busy?
"Proof by Induction", by José Pablo Iriarte I enjoyed because it was about 2 mathematicians, 1 of them dead, working on 1 of those impossible proofs.
This was followed by "Integral Nothings", by Robert Reed - 2 math references in a row. This is a fun story to read, with sections focusing on people who are "the world's {$blah}est {$something}". Very powerful technology is fixing the world, surely that's a good thing?
"Paley's Watch" by Anil Manon was a fun story, about the discovery of a random alien artifact.
"Vaccine Season" by Hannu Rajaniemi I had already read in the 2021 edition of MIT Technology Review's "Twelve Tomorrows" annual collection, titled "Make Shift", blogged here. Here's what I said about the story then, after complaining about a raft of pandemic stories in the collection:
The last story, "Vaccine Season" by Hannu Rajaniemi, gave an incredibly hopefully future vision. Phew, thanks Hannu, I needed that!It is a great story, I enjoyed the reread.
"Where There are Cities, These Dissolve Too" by S. Qiouyi Lu is a very visceral story about garbage mining machines repurposed to be human piloted battle bots in the arena. It is also a story of love and betrayal. Kudos to ær for creating ær own pronoun?
"Hānai" by Gregory Norman Bossert is a cute story about the last member of a manatee-like race dancing the hula.
"The Equations of the Dead" by An Owomoyela has a nice, authentic noir feel to it.
"The Trolley Solution" by Shiv Ramdas is a very nice, very thoughtful exploration of the role of "AI" in education.
"Aptitude" by Cooper Shrivastava is interesting & somewhat playful, describing candidates for admission to a universe-building school undergoing their entrance exam.
"The Tide of Moon City" by Regina Kanyu Wang, translated by Xueting Christine Ni, I found sophomoric & completely trite. One wonders if it was the original story or the translation.
"A Rocket for Dimitrios" by Ray Nayler was incredibly fun, an alternative history where the US wins WWII & becomes the world's overlord via alien tech found from the flying saucer crash at Roswell. Can you say, disintegrator rays? Nayler's latest (2nd?) novel is just out, I am really looking forward to it.
"Jaunt" by Ken Liu was a great read. A post-covid story in which telepresence goes wild. MAGAts, of course, don't like it.
"The Water Beneath Our Feet" by Alice Towey was a nice story about a farming cyborg with a big heart.
"Elegba's Valley" by Tade Thompson was an interesting story exploring an attempt to implement Abundance in an African country.
"He Leaps For The Stars, He Leaps For The Stars" by Grace Chan brought to the surface of my thinking something that been trying to break through. The story is about a young man trying to win the solar system talent contest or some such. The candidate performers are bred specifically for this. From the time they can walk, they are taught to be singers, dancers, celebrities. I think the reason I find it hard to engage with most of the modern pop stars is that this is not actually too far from their life stories. They are on Disney shows from the time they are young children, by their late teens-early 20s they are ready for pop stardom. Completely manufactured.
"Complete Exhaustion of the Organism" by Rich Larson is gritty and penetrating as always. But, I'm not sure what the message of this story was, if it had one.
"Bots of the Lost Ark" by Suzanne Palmer is a cute bot story. It was surprising when a human being finally showed up in the story, which had heretofore had lots of interesting and creative bots' goings-ons.
So, 17 out of 31 stories mentioned above, 16 positive, 1 negative. Just over half. I guess I'll start posting that number. I am indeed a geek.
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