Critic Badge - A Book

 I have decided to use an anthology rather than a novel.  The chosen anthology is "The Best Science Fiction of the Year".  The year is 2015 and I'm using Audible so I can get on with my cross stitch at the same time.  Two lots of badge work for the price of one!  The cross stitch isn't as bad as I thought it would be, I could get into these crafty things. 😀

"Today I am Paul" by Martin L. Shoemaker

An android caring for a dementia patient.  Not too bad, the narrator did a good job of the robotic voice, and the other characters were distinctive.  Not a happy tale, obviously.  The android takes on Family personas when the person cannot be there for the patient.  It also mimics the lady's deceased husband.

He finally rescues her from a fire that wasn't really dramatic enough, and ends up living in the family's basement, waiting for the next generation to age and require his skills.  Melancholy.

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"Calved" by Sam J. Miller

Earth is suffering (as it often does in SF stories) and we aren't really told why.  Apparently, the author has set this short story in the Universe of his novel Blackfish City, searching for that on Goodreads tells me that the action plays out on a floating city constructed after the climate wars.  The city is called Qaanaaq, and as I'm on Audible, it seems to be pronounced "Kanuck", so I assumed we were in Canada as no mention was made of the city floating.

Protagonist is a divorced ice miner, and he's home visiting his son, Theed, who seems to be just reaching late teens.  It is hard to tell on Audible, but it seems to imply that there are a few visits over several years.  The son is being bullied, we aren't told why and the protagonist assumes it's because of the colour of his skin. Protagonist gives Theed his favourite T-shirt.  Later he thinks it has been stolen and, when he sees a random stranger wearing it, he decides to get it back by force.  By this point I had already realised that the son must be gay and had given it to his boyfriend.

By the time the Protagonist realises that Theed is gay and that he's attacked the love of his sons life, it's too late.  He's already wrapped up the shirt and given it to Theed as a gift. That's it.  It didn't need to be set in Future Earth.  I'd be interested to read Blackfish City, though.

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"Three Bodies at Mitani" by Seth Dickinson

The three bodies are three humans who have been sent to follow up on the fates of seed ships sent from Earth centuries before.  They travel in cryo (or this Universes version of cryo) and when they arrive at the target planet their job is to judge the new world as worthy of continuing to develop, or not.

We learn that the last planet they visited, Jotunheim, was allowed to continue, despite one of three voting for its destruction.  The same problem occurs at this planet, Mitani, an all-female society where there is no art, no culture, no play, just work to further the society until you are no longer viable and then gladly commit suicide.

This time they decide to speak to a representative of the planet and see if they can plead for their survival.  It's unclear what arrives, it seemed like an android, or AI of some type.  The three bodies decide to take the AI back to Earth with all its memories and destroy the planet.  So yes, mass genocide.

The narrator isn't great at this one, which doesn't help.

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