Tom the Universe

Short Story by Larry Hodges
Read for Escape Pod by Mat Weller
An Escape Pod original, text & audio free online

The singularity in Tom's brain has expanded to become the universe. Now he quite literally plays god, trying to set things up exactly as his life was, so he can have some petty revenge and/or save the universe from himself.

If you ignore the highly bullshit "science", and more annoyingly, the attempt to make it seem like it's supposed to be plausible, this is a neat story about how all the power and intelligence in the world can't make you more emotionally mature or a better person. The writing isn't bad, but the end is muddled and doesn't make all that much sense when you think about it. It wasn't awful, but nothing to recommend here.

2.5 brain branes out of 5.

Mama, We are Zhenya, Your Son

Short Story by Tom Crosshill
Text and Audio published free, Lightspeed April 2011

Reading by Stefan Rudniki

A little boy in Russia, and his dog, are taken to be experimented on, to test the Quantum Mind hypothesis, and to see if a young enough child can learn to intuit quantum events, the better to operate some sort of quantum engine the Russians have invented.

The entire story is told by the child protagonist in letters to his mother, and the writing reminds me immediately of the earlier-this-year Lightspeed story, Postings From an Amorous Tomorrow. Here, as there, I'm not turned off by presumed manipulations of using a child protagonist in an unhappy story, although the cutesy elements of the writing sometimes intrude on the story more than I'd like, Zhenya has a unique point of view, which shifts through the narrative and focuses on things like his pet dog, rather than the scientific details. This is good.

There are some horror elements to this story, and I imagine it would be out-and-out horror if told from, say, the mother's point of view. But mostly it's about a poor, mistreated kid who begins to understand parallel universes and quantum probability.

It's a good read, but I recommend the Audio Recording, downloadable and streamable at the Lightspeed page. Rudniki does an excellent job with the misspellings and the Russian accent, and the whole story honestly seems better with his performance. If you have the choice, download the audio.

3.5 big fluffy gnome hats out of 5.

The Cartographer Wasps and the Anarchist Bees

Short Story by E. Lily Yu

Text & Audio free from Clarkesworld

A story that reads like a Chinese fable, but tells a story of the rise and fall of empires, subjugation, and revolution.

But the fantasy isn't just a straight centaur = black man allegory, the bees and wasps have interesting and unusual cultures of their own, and the discussion of their politics and governments made me chuckle several times at how appropriate or interesting an idea was, rather than think "Oh, just like American politics." I quite like the way insect life-spans actually matter to the cultural development too.

This is not just a story about internal and international politics and changes, it is also an examination of how outside influences can affect the conflict between countries. I won't spoil the story, but the fact that they are wasps and bees actually matters, as they exist in the real world, not some fantasy land where all the people are really wasps and bees. The story opens with this theme, with events being kicked off by a boy throwing a rock and the wasp nest, and it expands to become central to the story by the end. Oh, and I really like the fate of the bee-anarchists, it seems really appropriate, although I like their idealism.

3.5 bee-narchists out of 5.