In "Zen and the Art of Starship Maintenance," a cloud-based contractor finds a human war criminal clinging to the hull of the ship. The clones of "All the Colours You Thought Were Kings," about to attend their coming-of-age ceremony, are also plotting treason. During "A Temporary Embarrassment in Spacetime," two outlaws go on the run after stealing a device from a space cult.
Take a faster-than-light trip to the future. Discover where memes rise and fall in moments. Here are the new, adventurous, and extremely efficient-takes on interstellar battles, sentient spaceships, and galactic intrigue. The future is sooner than you think, and there's only so much time to visit.
***
After battle with the Fleet of Honest Representation, after seven hundred seconds of sheer terror and uncertainty, and after our shared triumph in the acquisition of the greatest prize seizure in three hundred years, we cautiously approached the massive black hole that Purth-Anaget orbited. (ZEN AND THE ART OF STARSHIP MAINTENANCE BY TOBIAS S. BUCKELL)
***
(Tachyon Publications, 13 August 2024, e-galley, 336 pages, ARC from the publisher via @NetGalley_UK)
***
***
I read Science Fiction sparingly. If a story is too alien, for example, the characters barely resemble humans or the writing it set in an alien galaxy it leaves me cold. I prefer science fiction with more human and earthly tones. I love the work of John Wyndham and George R. R. Martin wrote some amazing science fiction before Game of Thrones became a thing. This is a mixed bag of stories for me. I enjoyed them for the most but a couple of stories were too 'out there' for me. I especially enjoyed All the Colours You Thought Were Kings by Arkady Martine, A Temporary Embarrassment in Space Time by Charlie Jane Anders, A Good Heretic by Becky Chambers and The Justified by Ann Leckie. I'd recommend these stories.
