Murder by Memory
{4.5/5} “Murder trials were quite different when the victim could be brought in to testify in court — or when the shipmind could subpoena the killer’s own memories as evidence. One victim had even been able to name her murderer, since she’s realized she’d been poisoned and managed to make it to the Library and […]
Fugitive Telemetry
{4.5/5} “It’s usually easy to make friends with low-level bot pilots, but this one had been coded to be adversarial, directed to operated in stealth mode, and was wary of incursion attempts. It tried to alert its onboard SecSystem, but a the old saying (which I just made up) goes, if you can ping the […]
Exit Strategy
{5/5} “I knew interpreting the emotional subtext in the speech and appearance of real humans was completely different from interpreting it in shows and serials… But the interpretation I wanted to make of Bharadwaj’s vid statement was that Mensah was being held by GrayCris, who had threatened her life if Preservation didn’t make a formal […]
Rogue Protocol
{5/5} “I considered telling Miki that I was here to collect data on possible alien remnant violations by GrayCris… But if Miki told Abene, she would ask how it knew, and I knew Miki would tell her about me. It wouldn’t lie to a direct question. Who knew being a heartless killing machine would present […]
Artificial Condition
{5/5} “I told myself I still looked like a SecUnit without armor, hopelessly exposed, but the truth was I did look more human. And now I knew why I hadn’t wanted to do this. It would make it harder for me to pretend not to be a person.” Artificial Condition by Martha Wells, published in […]
All Systems Red
{5/5} “So I’m awkward with actual humans. It’s not paranoia about my hacked governor module, and it’s not them; it’s me. I know I’m a horrifying murderbot, and they know it, and it makes both of us nervous, which makes me even more nervous. Also, if I’m not in the armor then it’s because I’m […]
Sweet Harmony
{5/5} “There were actors and actresses, models and singers who ostensibly went for the naturalists’ approach, who were genetically beautiful from birth and didn’t need to worry about what they ate — if you believed the magazines. Harmony didn’t, but even if it was true, she knew that the natural look could never send such […]
Miniatures
{5/5} “I try to look at it philosophically. Seventy-six years is a fine run. And now I’m sort of the spokesperson for an entirely new class of objects: The dwarf planets. I understand it’s meant to be something of a consolation prize, but you know what, there are more of us dwarf planets out here […]
SF & fantasy collections & anthologies
Here’s an update to this list. Collections Best of the best I, Robot by Isaac Asimov Nightfall by Isaac Asimov Virtual Unrealities by Alfred Bester The Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury Keeper of Dreams by Orson Scott Card Maps in a Mirror by Orson Scott Card Exhalation by Ted Chiang Stories of […]
Cat Pictures Please and Other Stories
{5/5} “The element of change, as everyone knows, is Air. They say that every now and then when the wind blows in a certain direction, it can bring an excess of Air into people who’ve never been known for foolishness. So close your doors on those days; shutter your windows. Don’t go out onto the […]