I’ve read a number of good short stories recently, and figured I’d share.
First is “Utopia, LOL?” by Jamie Wahls. This is absolutely fantastic, we talked about it a bit on the Bayesian Conspiracy podcast, but seriously, read or listen to this. Rationalist and Transhumanists will love it. It is hilarious, and sneakily thoughtful, and hits you with a wallop of emotions when you aren’t looking. I will absolutely be nominating this for a Hugo next year.
Also, I gotta give the author mad props for fully embracing the “all fiction is contemporary” thing. This is perfect and aimed at TODAY like a laser-guided missile, and most of the humor will be lost to anyone trying to read it in even five years’ time. It takes a certain type of courage to say “I am writing this just for today’s audience, and posterity can eat it.” It’s a thing that maybe more of us should embrace, because all fiction is contemporary, and in twenty years very little is still relevant. Trading “Hitting Hard TODAY” for “Possible relevance in the future” is an very bad exchange, and IMHO we’d do well to aim for now far more than we do. But damn is it hard. Thus the mad props. <3
Second: Iterations, by Daniel H Wilson. A story of how people will cope in the future. Saying much more would give away too much, but it’s a beautiful and touching story, that left me very conflicted and with all sorts of thoughts. Again, good for transhuman-interested readers.
Finally: Love, Interest, by Justis Devan. A hilarious Harem-Anime-inspired crackfic. Which, again, ends up going very interesting places, while still being very entertaining. I thought I’d just skim the first few paragraphs to see how the author managed to spin what’s basically a joke-prompt, and I ended up getting sucked deep in and unable to stop until the story was over. Well done!