Entanglements
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Description
For fans of anthologies like Soonish and Netflix's Black Mirror
In a future world dominated by the technological, people will still be entangled in relationships—in romances, friendships, and families. This volume in the Twelve Tomorrows series considers the effects that scientific and technological discoveries will have on the emotional bonds that hold us together.
The strange new worlds in these stories feature AI family therapy, floating fungitecture, and a futuristic love potion. Imagine genetic alterations to code for altruism, or digital avatars that can interface with other avatars on dating sites, running sample conversations to find appropriate matches, or artificial assistance animals.
Contributions include Xia Jia's novelette set in a Buddhist monastery, translated by the Hugo Award-winning writer Ken Liu; and a story by Nancy Kress, winner of 6 Hugos and 2 Nebulas. A full story list:
James Patrick Kelly, Your Boyfriend Experience
Mary Robinette Kowal, A Little Wisdom
Nancy Kress, Invisible People
Rich Larson, Echo the Echo
Sam J. Miller, The Nation of the Sick
Annalee Newitz, The Monogamy Hormone
Suzanne Palmer, Don't Mind Me
Cadwell Turnbull, Mediation
Nick Wolven, Sparklybits
Xia Jia, The Monk of Lingyin Temple, translated by Ken Liu
Also includes an interview with Nancy Kress by Lisa Yaszek, and Tatiana Plakhova's beautiful "data abstract" illustrations serve as frontispiece to each of the stories.
Book Information
Posts
Entaglements is an anthology of stories about the impact of future technology and other developments on interpersonal relationships. In doing that, it focusses more on the emotional impact than on hard SF, exploring how relationships of any kind change but still, in their core, are about caring about each other and leaving an impression in someone’s life. There is a diversity in the relationships portrayed, ranging from parent – children, to friendships, to lovers, and even if you are not really into romance or family drama, that’s not a problem at all, since these are still more SF stories than anything else. I especially liked the positive portrayal of interactions between generations. A lot of the stories are quite similar in style, apart from outliers like the last story by Xia Jia, were the cultural influences are very apparent, and quality, making this a consistent anthology were readers that like one story most likely enjoy all of them. The stories are written for a modern audience, some actively pushing progressive ideas, some being more open to any conclusion the reader might come to. The emotions of the main characters were easy to grasp for me and I enjoyed the variety of themes and ideas discussed, like childcare and relationship models or memory. The tone is predominately optimistic, which was also nice. There was only one story that I didn’t care for, but that was more because of the topic than because of its execution. My favorites were the ones by Mary Robinette Kowal, Annalee Newitz and Sam J. Miller, either because of artistic decision, the way they made me feel for the protagonists or just how interestingly the concept was handled. If you like character focused stories or science fiction that is more about the effects on everyday life, give this collection a shot. I really appreciated how logical conclusions about possible developments in the near future were presented here. That said, if you’re looking for wild new ideas that no one has discussed in SF before, that’s not what this it, but if you want to see known theories played out in an emotional and maybe realistic way, this is really enjoyable. *I have received an arc from netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review*
Description
For fans of anthologies like Soonish and Netflix's Black Mirror
In a future world dominated by the technological, people will still be entangled in relationships—in romances, friendships, and families. This volume in the Twelve Tomorrows series considers the effects that scientific and technological discoveries will have on the emotional bonds that hold us together.
The strange new worlds in these stories feature AI family therapy, floating fungitecture, and a futuristic love potion. Imagine genetic alterations to code for altruism, or digital avatars that can interface with other avatars on dating sites, running sample conversations to find appropriate matches, or artificial assistance animals.
Contributions include Xia Jia's novelette set in a Buddhist monastery, translated by the Hugo Award-winning writer Ken Liu; and a story by Nancy Kress, winner of 6 Hugos and 2 Nebulas. A full story list:
James Patrick Kelly, Your Boyfriend Experience
Mary Robinette Kowal, A Little Wisdom
Nancy Kress, Invisible People
Rich Larson, Echo the Echo
Sam J. Miller, The Nation of the Sick
Annalee Newitz, The Monogamy Hormone
Suzanne Palmer, Don't Mind Me
Cadwell Turnbull, Mediation
Nick Wolven, Sparklybits
Xia Jia, The Monk of Lingyin Temple, translated by Ken Liu
Also includes an interview with Nancy Kress by Lisa Yaszek, and Tatiana Plakhova's beautiful "data abstract" illustrations serve as frontispiece to each of the stories.
Book Information
Posts
Entaglements is an anthology of stories about the impact of future technology and other developments on interpersonal relationships. In doing that, it focusses more on the emotional impact than on hard SF, exploring how relationships of any kind change but still, in their core, are about caring about each other and leaving an impression in someone’s life. There is a diversity in the relationships portrayed, ranging from parent – children, to friendships, to lovers, and even if you are not really into romance or family drama, that’s not a problem at all, since these are still more SF stories than anything else. I especially liked the positive portrayal of interactions between generations. A lot of the stories are quite similar in style, apart from outliers like the last story by Xia Jia, were the cultural influences are very apparent, and quality, making this a consistent anthology were readers that like one story most likely enjoy all of them. The stories are written for a modern audience, some actively pushing progressive ideas, some being more open to any conclusion the reader might come to. The emotions of the main characters were easy to grasp for me and I enjoyed the variety of themes and ideas discussed, like childcare and relationship models or memory. The tone is predominately optimistic, which was also nice. There was only one story that I didn’t care for, but that was more because of the topic than because of its execution. My favorites were the ones by Mary Robinette Kowal, Annalee Newitz and Sam J. Miller, either because of artistic decision, the way they made me feel for the protagonists or just how interestingly the concept was handled. If you like character focused stories or science fiction that is more about the effects on everyday life, give this collection a shot. I really appreciated how logical conclusions about possible developments in the near future were presented here. That said, if you’re looking for wild new ideas that no one has discussed in SF before, that’s not what this it, but if you want to see known theories played out in an emotional and maybe realistic way, this is really enjoyable. *I have received an arc from netgalley in exchange for a free and honest review*