Reviews and Comments

Really interesting exploration of time, memory, and consciousness. Felt like it broke my brain a bit. But in the end it reminded me that I don't like the concept of AI, but if AI ever made it to the point of consciousness, I'd want to defend it's right to exist. I wouldn't want it to forced into labor and tasks other consciousness has deemed undesirable. I would want it to be a conscious worker with autonomy

The second story in this collection is Stochasti-city: Novella by Tobias S. Buckell. Totally different vibe, late/post-capitalism Detroit, following a down and out vet in a city where mercenaries have replaced police, corporations wield considerable power and the equivalent of critical mass bike activism turned into asymmetrical warfare.

Every time I read it I think, this is like a fantasy of struggle written by someone who has done the research but lacks the social connections to green/left/anarchist organizing to create a story that feels like the logical leap from our current context into struggle as things get worse and further polarized (read:class). Really fun all the same, you can get caught up imagining the world's behind the characters and communities you meet and leaves me wanting to know more about this world. Probably the story that was most influence or more parallels Robert Evans toe dipping into fiction.

I really liked this collection so have come back to it. Just finished the first story, "cascadia" about a post-fractured and collapsed global capitalism PNW and a community deep in the woods which is some kind of anarcho-communist/green-anarchist cyber punk community. It was very good for world building in the collection, but there is two other pieces in the book that had my imagination going wild and I am really excited to get to those.

All the stories in this book look at different anarchist communities in this world but is written by non-anarchists sci-fi authors (as far as I can tell). Great series.

Really a fantastic book. Spanning world of octopus, smart bacteria and delving deeply into communication and translations between galactic beings. Can't wait to start the next book.