Down Among the Dead Men

Transhuman; edited by Mark L. Van Name and T.K.F. Weisskopf (Baen Books, 2007, ISBN 978-14165-5523-0; cover by Dave Sealy).

(Two background items: Vernor Vinge's now-classic paper on the Singularity. I would also recommend a look at Accelerando by Charles Stross, as the themes explored in that book often dovetail nicely with the themes explored in these stories...or diverge dramatically. Either way, you can get it for free at that link.)

(Several stories have introductions and/or afterwords, this bumps up the overall story count.)

Firewall (David D. Levine): An isolated base on the Moon is infiltrated by the singularity event. Can they believe what they are being told about life being better after the Singularity?

Reunion (Mark L. Van Name): A computer programmer who thinks who is a downloaded program. Is he? Or is he one of many who are suffering from similar delusions? His quest for identity takes him to an series of high school reunions and the realization that maybe what he is does not matter as much as who he is and how he acts.

The Guardian (Paul Chafe): The best story in the collection (so far). A policeman is uploaded into a security system after his death. As he becomes better and better at "his" job, more capabilities are added. Chafe subtly works this in by increasing the detail of the writing, increasing the tempo of the plot. And, an unexpected ending (not where I thought it was going to go, to be sure).

Being Human (Wen Spencer): Spencer takes the approach that the Singularlity event will not quite be "the rapture of the nerds", with everybody ending up in some computerized wonderland. Instead, people will be digitized as they die. This is quite a creepy little tale, reminding me of Ray Bradbury's idyllic towns in Something Wicked This Way Comes or The Martian Chronicles. Idyllic with dark undertones, that is.

Made up of: Introduction (Mark L. Van Name); Firewall (David D. Levine); Reunion (Mark L. Van Name) (extensive afterword); The Guardian (Paul Chafe) (extensive afterword); Being Human (Wen Spencer) (extensive afterword); In Command (John Lampshead); G@vin45 (Daniel M. Hoyt); Home for the Holidays (Ester M. Friesner); Soul Sprinter (Wil McCarthy); Whom the Gods Love (Sarah A. Hoyt); Wetware 2.0 (Dave Freer); Escape (James P. Hogan); About the Contributors.

Counts as 8 entries in the 2008 Year in Shorts.

Posted by Fred Kiesche at March 30, 2008 12:27 PM