Redstone SF #14, July 2011

“The Memory Gatherers” by Morgan Dempsey
“ownzored” by Cory Doctorow (reprint, not reviewed)

Reviewed by Jo-Anne Odell

 “The Memory Gatherers” by Morgan Dempsey tells us of a post-apocalyptic world. Kera has invented a device that gathers memories, saving them on a thumb drive. She uses her tech savvy to build an AI version of her father from the composite of memories others retain of him. When her creation comes to life, it’s more than she bargained for. 

It’s a tribute to the confidence and leadership of Redstone’s editors that they’re willing to publish fledgling authors, but I shouldn’t be able to tell by reading the first paragraph. Cleaner and tighter, this tale might have been more compelling. I was willing to buy into most of it, but the idea of rebuilding a complete personality from a few, second-hand memories struck me as a big, unexplained leap, rather like teaching someone to repair military jets by working on toasters.