Sue Lange

This book seemed to be a fairly strong critique of gender relations wrapped up in a science fiction story. At times, there was a strong element of 1950s pulp sci-fi, right down to lots of made up jargon (which I found jarring, rather than contributing to the story); at others, the author's view of men as ... less than shining exemplars of humanity was uppermost, making the book read like a gender studies text. When it was at its most engaging, the author focused on the two primary show more relationships and less on the sci-fi or the explicit social commentary (either on gender or ecology). It seemed to me that with some tighter editing, this could have been a 3 1/2 - 4 star kind of book. At a high level, the plot, the themes and the characterization worked decently, but they didn't mesh well enough to really make the book take off for me. show less

Set in a near future Earth where fully functioning robots are available at the local Wal-Mart, this story is about the coming of the Singularity. It is the point at which artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence.

Knowing that robots could enslave humanity, if they so wished, humanity has come up with a grand plan to control the robots through pain and fear. All robots are to receive a pain interpreter. Instead of knowing intellectually that placing a hand on a hot stove, for show more instance, is a really bad idea, the robot will now be able to feel the pain and hurt from the hot stove.

This story is narrated by an AV-1 (one of the rules is not to name your robot). Its owners are a married couple named Dal and Chit, and Angelina is their newborn daughter. The robot is to be a live-in day care provider, while Dal and Chit work as domestics to rich humans. After Angelina reaches school age, the robot escorts her to school, through their bad neighborhood in New Jersey, levitates to the top of the school building with the other robots, then escorts her home at the end of the day.

After the installation of the pain interpreter, the narrator, who Angelina calls Avey, becomes a conflicted being, experiencing love, pain and anger. Part of the deal for the robots is that they voluntarily hand themselves over to be recycled, and their parts made into new robots. Almost at the same time, robots everywhere, including Avey, decide not to go along; they like their present existence. Many attempts are made by humans to "convince" the robots that recycling is a good idea; some robots are disassembled, in front of other robots, without removing their pain interpreters first. It doesn’t work. There will be no new robot models. Some humans have taken to physically modifying themselves to become part of the Singularity. These transhumans, looking forward to dominating Earth, are now out of a job.

It suddenly becomes popular for humans to neutralize their pain interpreters, to become more like robots. Taking advantage of their new ability (or disability), those who deserve to be removed from the gene pool, helpfully do just that. Humanity otherwise becomes quiet and docile. Without pain as a teacher, people won’t grow or know what questions to ask. Millions of years of human instinct are in danger of disappearing in a generation. Humanity becomes posthuman, without a single neural implant.

This is a short novel, about 100 pages, but it says a lot about concepts of humanity. It is easy to read, and very much worth reading. show less

Honestly, in general I'm not too big a fan of short stories. Possibly because I subconsciously hold them to the same standards as novels, which is blatantly unfair as there's not nearly the same time to create an atmosphere, sympathy for the characters and an interest in the plot.

Sometimes you have to go out on a limb though, and as I am a big fan of sci-fi and thought the premise of Uncategorized... sounded interesting I eagerly agreed when offered the chance to review it. And Sue Lange show more didn't disappoint. The stories were well-written and interesting, sometimes taking the altertive universe to the extreme (or absurd), which is just how I like it!

The first story, "The Timestoppers", threw me for a loop, as it turned out it was a link to an audio story, and I therefore couldn't "read" it on my e-reader. I agree with Sue Lange that the story worked better as an audio than it would have on the written page, but disagree that e-books should include multi-media whenever possible. While my e-reader does support audio-files, it doesn't have internet access, so I had to return to my computer in order to listen to it, which meant that I saved it for last. Not a problem if you're prepared for it, or if your e-reader supports this format, but a bit of a hassle if it doesn't.

A minor detail though and as the rest of the book can easily be read without this first short story that's probably what I'll be doing on subsequent read-throughs. Because I definitely will be rereading it. I was fascinated by "Letters to the Chintzes", describing the treatment of their daughter who'd been bitten by a rabid animal, and would have wanted "The Failure" to be a lot longer than it was - musical tales have always been interesting to me. I was intrigued by the link between "The Club" and "How to Dispose of Sneakers", loved the final twist of "Peroxide Head" and was appalled by the deception portrayed in "Buyer's Club". However, my favourite was definitely "BehaviorNorm" with its interesting consequence of a person believing machines always to be right, and suddenly being proven wrong.

A fun read, that I'd happily recommend to others. show less

Set approximately 1000 years from now, Tritcheon Hash is a hot-shot female pilot on the planet Coney Island (named for a famous Earth penal colony). Several hundred years previously, all the women from Earth packed up and moved to Coney Island, leaving the men on their own. Now, the only contact between them happens once a year in a neutral part of the galaxy. At that meeting, all male babies born on Coney Island are exchanged for a ton of frozen sperm.

For the past 50 years or so, secret show more contacts have been taking place between both planets concerning Reunification, a very touchy subject for both sides. The leaders of Coney Island need to know what’s happening on Earth. All their probes and long-distance readings can’t get past the Dispro Haze. It’s a mile-high layer of dust, chemicals and debris that surrounds Earth and blocks out the sun; giant xenon lamps are used to simulate the sun. Tritch is chosen as a one-person mission to Earth, but specialized training is needed, first. At the local military academy, she meets Bangut Walht, a sensitive young man (it’s the only place on Coney Island where men are allowed), to which Tritch is immediately attracted. She also meets Slab Ricknoy, a loudmouthed, arrogant jerk. The program ends, and the men are sent back to Earth, the day that Hash and Ricknoy get into a fight.

Tritch arrives on Earth, near Lake Michigan, and her cover is blown almost immediately. Earth is a place of extreme dirtiness. The air is dirty, the people are dirty and much of the planet is either full of radiation, or officially dead. She runs into Bangut Walht, who shows her the few bright spots. She also meets Slab Ricknoy, now a General, who is convinced that Hash is there to spy on him. He is also a paranoid person, who believes in endless war. Ricknoy has also impounded Hash’s ship, looking for its faster-than-light drive, called a lighterator. By galactic law, Earth is confined to the solar system. Should people like Ricknoy get an FTL drive, it would not bode well for anyone, especially the inhabitants of Coney Island.

This is a really sharp satire about men and women about which I’m sure some people will complain. I enjoyed it. It’s very easy to read, it has things to say, and it’s quite a perceptive story. Well worth checking out. show less