After the Gold RushEdited by
Juliana Rew
(Third Flatiron Pub., Summer/Fall 2022, pb, 126 pp.)
“Past the Projectons” by James Tager
“Down on the Klondike” by David Cleden
“Sunrunner” by Robert Bagnall
“Moving On” by Andrew Wright
“To Vanquish Other Blooms” by Tim Borella
“Showdown at Sueño Hueco” by Wulf Moon
“Reassessed Value” by David Hankins
“Amphibios” by Julie Biegner
“Earth’s Last Immortals” by Erin Cullen
“Last Light in the Dark” by Shannon Fox
“Live From the Troll Factory” by Edward Barnfield
“The Front of the Pack” by Lauren C. Teffeau
“Last Bite at the Klondike” by Liam Hogan
“All Our Signs Align” by Eve Morton
“Facing Reality” by Yelena Crane
“Unwinding the Clock” by Brandon Case
“The Last of the Gen Xers” by Angelique Fawns
“Currency Change Announcement” by Elizabeth Davis
“Amore for Life” by Cray Dimensional
“Genie in a PET Bottle” by Daniel M. Cojocaru
“Goldberry” by Tom Easton and Jeff Hecht
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
This anthology contains seventeen science fiction stories themed around the bust after a boom. Four of the stories were flash fiction.
“Past the Projectons” by James Tager
His illegal simulation technology is malfunctioning for Steven in this SF short. Socially challenged, Steven depends on the software to provide the artificial life he immerses himself in.
Now the Casablanca simulation is flickering, and the system needs a reboot. But when Steven heads down to the basement, he meets an unexpected side-effect of the system and his chosen lifestyle.
The prose was easy to read, and the plot entertaining, though the ending fizzled a little.
“Down on the Klondike” by David Cleden
In this short SF story, Jamal wins the right to remotely pilot a klondike rover on the Moon from his Earth-bound apartment. He gets one 30-minute slot for $999. He can’t afford it but takes it anyway and turns down several profitable second-market offers. If he finds ice, they’ll pay him twenty thousand dollars.
As his time slot approaches, Jamal has a search plan but remains nervous. After all, if he damages the klondike, it could cost him over a million dollars. Twelve minutes into his time, he finds the lunar surface slowing him down too much, so he won’t make it to his best prime location for finding ice. Instead, he opts for a riskier idea and then loses control of the klondike.
This was a simple but entertaining yarn.
“Sunrunner” by Robert Bagnall
Amparor Incorporated steals the sunlight in this short fantasy, leaving the poor in a twilight-like gloom. Parra is a sunrunner, a programmer who hacks Amparor’s mirrored sunships to steal some of that sunlight back for the poor. However, the bounty hunters are closing in on her to collect the dead or alive reward.
With her jeep’s batteries almost drained, she comes upon a mother and daughter living off the grid at the edge of the tree line. Here, Parra finds a chance to give her work a higher purpose.
This well-structured story was set in a forbidding future where corporations monopolize the ultimate crop.
“Moving On” by Andrew Wright
Harry lives on Cape Cod Island in this SF short. Once upon a time, they called it Cape Cod, but the relentlessly encroaching sea had severed the cape from the continent. Harry’s friends were all leaving, but Harry hung on doggedly, despite his wife’s hopes for abandoning the doomed land.
A storm is coming, one of many that keep battering the sinking island. When Harry hears that the wind is shifting to expose his sheltered boat, he must get his vessel out of the water, but the storm is already churning the waves.
This was an appealing short snippet that showed the consequences of climate change on a small section of the world.
“To Vanquish Other Blooms” by Tim Borella
In this SF short, scientists replace natural bees with tiny drones programmed to pollinate crops. The real bees died out, thanks to humankind’s interference with the natural order.
Now Paola is investigating strange behavior by a hive of bees. A farmworker is dead, and these bees could be responsible. However, Paola couldn’t see how that was possible. That is until she saw a large group of drone bees clustered around a tree.
The plot ended on a cliffhanger, which took away from the story’s overall appeal.
“Showdown at Sueño Hueco” by Wulf Moon
Moon’s SF short is set on Proxima Centauri, where Takeo is investigating a crime. The planet is far from being fully terraformed, and Takeo sees it as the old west from centuries before.
At the biodome where someone committed a murder, Takeo finds a bioengineer celebrating the Hispanic ritual “Day of the Dead” with her fellow scientists. However, this ceremony takes a bizarre turn when the women welcome Takeo as their next victim.
This was an entertaining and easy-to-read story that was never intended to have a big message.
“Reassessed Value” by David Hankins
Liam’s farm is about to be repossessed in this short SF set on a distant planet. His pioneering discovery made this planet rich, but a corporation took over and now claims eminent domain over his orchard. It’s enough to make him want to commit violence if not for his granddaughter’s presence.
He has five days to find a quarter million to pay his taxes, and he tries everything. Then one night, he catches a young man stealing the last of his food. And when he discovers this man is one of the corporation’s ex-lawyers, it’s all he can do not to shoot him there and then. But instead, he shows some charity. And some good deeds aren’t punished.
This character-driven story covers a common idea in a heartwarming way, making for a good read.
“Amphibios” by Julie Biegner
In this thoughtful Cli-Fi short, two girls, Asia and Cazzy, form an unexpected alliance against the corporation Agram that controls the metaverse. The girls rail against the previous generation’s destruction of the world, which has wiped out most of life on Earth.
Asia laments the departure of the last frog, a creature that pre-dates the dinosaurs, and she is determined to flood the metaverse with free images of the goliath frog. The girls prepare to make their point. But Agram is equally ready to destroy any threat to their dominance.
This story was set in a blisteringly hot future and gave a chilling end.
“Earth’s Last Immortals” by Erin Cullen
After Kiley kills herself, he is the last of the immortals in this short SF. To remain immortal, he must commit to a daily regime of tablets that repair and replenish any day-to-day damage done to his body. Initially, others made the same commitment.
But after five centuries, he and Kiley were the final two. And Kiley jumps off a cliff to leave him as the last. There are other humans, but they choose to live a normal lifespan, refusing the daily regime of the immortals. It’s time for him to make a decision that has been five centuries in the making.
The prose was good, but the plot was slow and lacked any grab appeal.
“Last Light in the Dark” by Shannon Fox
Centuries after leaving Old Earth behind, humankind has established a large federation in this SF short. Mikhail is an actor with a conscience that won’t allow him to play debasing roles. However, he also supports a young nephew with an expensive medical condition, so he agrees to act in a movie about alien genocide. It gnaws at his conscience, and it doesn’t take long before he has destroyed his career and ability to support his nephew.
This was an often-seen trope that has been explored in all genres. The end was predictable and too on the nose to enjoy.
“Live From the Troll Factory” by Edward Barnfield
The world is stumbling under the weight of more climate disasters than people can adjust to in this SF short. Josh runs an internet trolling operation that once worked to turn a company’s negative online press into good reviews.
But now Josh’s bevy of internet-savvy boys wage war against the negativity of the climate news. But the weather is eroding the internet’s effectiveness as Josh refuses to give up.
This story portrayed a climate future where the ever-accelerating pace of disasters wore humanity down.
“The Front of the Pack” by Lauren C. Teffeau
The FBI agent questions Landis in this SF short. The fixer makes sure any science lab with money can get what they need during its research. Legality or morality are not concerns of his. Nor is the fact the FBI arrested him and is now questioning him in a secure location.
The agent has the usual approach to getting to the truth. She appeals to his sense of morality or threatens him with a lifetime in jail. Landis couldn’t care less. After all, he has his own way out of this little dilemma.
The story snippet was barely longer than a flash story and dealt with the logic of taking risks during research.
“Last Bite at the Klondike” by Liam Hogan
In this short SF, two miners take as much ore as possible from the asteroid dubbed the klondike. The asteroid just missed Earth, and the other miners took that opportunity to leave with their prizes.
That left these two pushing the limit before they were too far from Earth to make it back. Still, the other miners left plenty of food and whiskey to let them party hearty should they decide to stay.
The story’s prose was fine, and the tale explored the fact that not everyone acts how we would expect.
“All Our Signs Align” by Eve Morton
Aliens visit the Earth in this SF short. Luckily for Graham, these benevolent aliens introduce humanity to a shared universe. For Graham, it places him between two worlds, something he was comfortable with as both his parents were deaf. Graham spoke verbally outside of his home while signing at home.
The aliens can’t communicate in human sounds, so Graham finds a new calling as he teaches them how to sign. For five years, Graham brings these different cultures together through their shared signing. But then the human techs develop an AI translator. Can it replace the more empathetic communication through signing?
This story snippet carried a few hidden messages about togetherness and tolerance.
“Facing Reality” by Yelena Crane
Logan’s job in this SF short is pulling people back from VR. Five years ago, ninety percent of the world hooked into Virtual Reality for life, and the world crashed. There was no one to maintain the grid. And no one to care for people after all the doctors joined the VR.
Logan has a second mission, to find his daughter Jean who was sixteen when she checked out of reality. Not all people want saving, and many people are beyond saving. Still, Logan searches for people with needed skills in the hope of stumbling on Jean.
This was a nicely structured story that portrayed an unsettling future.
“Unwinding the Clock” by Brandon Case
In this short SF, Jake must live with his grandmother after going into debt during the last cyber pyramid scheme. But today, everyone is talking about the clock apps that count down to self-destruction based on a complex color scheme. The last clock running gets all the revenue from the clock app sales.
Recognizing the clock app as another pyramid scheme, Jake steers clear of investing in one, though his friends do their best to sell him one of theirs. The time ticks down. With fewer clocks still functioning, billions of dollars are at stake, and the hype dominates the news. Wanting to get away from the pressures, Jake returns home. But that doesn’t take him out of this cyber game.
The story was intriguing and engaging. The reader was left wondering how long before someone copies the idea.
“The Last of the Gen Xers” by Angelique Fawns
It’s 2050 in this SF short, and Frank loves his blue Cadillac Deville, which the government banned twenty years ago. He also loves his bulldog, but they’re also banned for environmental reasons. A run-in with a traffic cop convinces Frank it’s time to take action.
The appeal of living in the Free States, a hundred miles to the south, seems to be his best choice. But how can he escape into the neutral zone in a car that he can’t disguise as anything except a gas-guzzling relic of another age?
This entertaining story was easy to read and a warning to everyone that the world will eventually leave them behind too.
“Currency Change Announcement” by Elizabeth Davis
The government warns visiting aliens in this flash SF story. Given the slow speed of light, aliens using FTL drives are using information sent years ago, but neither gold nor dollars are still acceptable today. Now the people of Earth have found a more practical currency.
The story gave a tongue-in-cheek answer to the boom and bust cycles of the world’s economy.
“Amore for Life” by Cray Dimensional
In this flash SF story, Genevieve’s matchmaking bot, Oren, is malfunctioning. It matched a gay actor to a straight politician. It’s frustrating because she had hoped the bot would find a match for her one day. What she didn’t know was the bot had an ulterior motive for its mistake.
The ending to this yarn felt contrived.
“Genie in a PET Bottle” by Daniel M. Cojocaru
At first, she couldn’t believe her luck in this flash fantasy. She had her own genie in a bottle. And this genie had no limits on how many wishes you got, just so long as you didn’t ask for the impossible. So, she asked for the usual riches and good health for herself. But then she asked the genie to help the world, and it disappeared.
This flash story says that even a genie can’t solve all our problems.
“Goldberry” by Tom Easton and Jeff Hecht
Alyx is struggling to avoid the foreclosure of her farm in this flash SF story. All she has is open-range chickens and an old gold mine that played out a century ago. But she found a solution that started with genetically engineered blueberry bushes that could extract gold atoms from the soil.
This story felt convoluted, with an ending that was predictable halfway through.
In summary, After the Gold Rush was an eclectic mixture of speculative fiction that revolved around the end of a period in time. The overall quality varied, but there were a few emeralds and no cubic zirconium stones.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com. There are links to join his mailing list for a weekly newsletter on the recent release of his debut novel, the Defender of Vosj.