Special Double Review
by Victoria Silverwolf & Robert L Turner III
Entanglements: Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends
edited by
Sheila Williams
(The MIT Press, September 15, 2020, pb, 240 pp.)
“Invisible People” by Nancy Kress
“Echo the Echo” by Rich Larson
“Sparklybits” by Nick Wolven
“A Little Wisdom” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Your Boyfriend Experience” by James Patrick Kelly
“Mediation” by Cadwell Turnbull
“The Nation of the Sick” by Sam J. Miller
“Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer
“The Monogamy Hormone” by Annalee Newitz
“The Monk of Lingyin Temple” by Xia Jia
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Since 2011, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has published anthologies featuring original science fiction stories. Unlike others in the series, the current volume has a specific theme. All the tales deal with the effect of advanced technology on human relationships. The result is a mixture of hard and soft SF, with an emphasis on the way that people may interact in the near future.
“Invisible People” by Nancy Kress deals with a married couple and their adopted daughter. A visit by FBI agents reveals that a secretive organization violated the law by genetically modifying the child before birth. With the aid of a talented private investigator and a wealthy businesswoman, the couple learns the reason for the modification, and faces a difficult moral choice.
The author skillfully blends convincing futuristic details, plausible biotechnology, and richly developed characters into a story that is both suspenseful and thought provoking. The nature of the girl’s genetic alterations raise serious issues about freedom and responsibility, without providing easy answers.
In “Echo the Echo” by Rich Larson, the narrator tries to convince his elderly, ailing grandmother to wear a device that will record her consciousness. The intent is to create a simulation of herself, for the benefit of her relatives after she dies. An advanced computer-dating program leads the grandson to a brief affair with a woman who has a tragic secret.
The metaphor of echoes, applied to both the recording of the grandmother’s mind and to the way the lovers come together for a single night, tenuously links the two parts of the story. Otherwise, they do not fit together well, with completely different moods and themes.
“Sparklybits” by Nick Wolven features a boy raised by a group of wealthy professional women. The child has difficulty relating to people, only fully communicating with a rogue artificial intelligence. The women hire a technician to remove the AI, despite the devastating effect this will have on the boy. With the child’s only full-time mother, the technician figures out a way to solve the problem while keeping the boy happy.
The way in which the group parenting works is unclear. (The technician even remarks that he doesn’t understand it, as if anticipating the reader’s reaction.) The private language of gestures shared by the boy and the AI is interesting, but much of the story is unconvincing.
The protagonist of “A Little Wisdom” by Mary Robinette Kowal is a woman suffering from Parkinson’s disease. A robot dog assists when the symptoms affect her movements. When a tornado strikes the building holding the art exhibit she curates, she manages to keep those trapped inside calm and lead them to safety.
The futuristic elements of this story are almost entirely irrelevant to the plot. The same events could happen in today’s world, with very few changes. Although the unlikely heroine of the disaster is appealing, there is no real reason why this tale should be science fiction. (Readers not familiar with the city of Nashville, Tennessee, may not realize that the setting, a full-scale model of the Parthenon, is a real place.)
In “Your Boyfriend Experience” by James Patrick Kelly, the narrator reluctantly agrees to go on a date with a robot companion designed by his lover, in order to test the machine’s reactions. After a wild evening, the narrator discovers his lover’s real motive.
The narrator is a gourmet cook, and much of the story takes place at dining establishments, from an exclusive restaurant to a bowling alley with unusual snacks. This is the most intriguing aspect, although it has nothing to do with the plot. Although readers may enjoy the frenetic pace, they may feel unfulfilled.
The narrator of “Mediation” by Cadwell Turnbull is a widow who loses herself in her work as a plant geneticist. The family’s artificial intelligence tries to resolve her conflicts with her adult children, suggesting that she continues a family tradition as if her husband were still alive. She permits the AI to simulate a conversation with the dead man, allowing her to release the anger she kept hidden when she lost him.
The author makes an analogy between the narrator’s designing of drought-resistant crops and her emotional state that is not always clear. In other ways, this is an effective portrayal of mourning.
In “The Nation of the Sick” by Sam J. Miller, the narrator designs computer software that reprograms itself continuously. A woman obsessed with changing the world hires him, in order to use his talents in her quest to create a utopia. Alternating sections deal with the narrator’s brother, who seems doomed to destroy himself with drug abuse.
Although the two narratives come together at the end, for most of the story they seem unrelated. The disappearance of the woman, apparently by suicide, is an unnecessary addition to a plot that already verges on melodrama.
The main characters in “Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer are high school students. Many of them wear devices that censor their perceptions. If they hear profanity, or encounter controversial material in a textbook, the machine removes their memory of the incident. Certain students discover a way to block the technology, and start a secret study group, in order to learn about things they would otherwise never remember.
The characters seem like real teenagers, making an otherwise implausible premise acceptable. The censorious parents, and the even more restrictive private school some students attend, come across as caricatures.
The title of “The Monogamy Hormone” by Annalee Newitz refers to a substance that supposedly ensures the user will be romantically involved with only one person. A woman who cannot choose between two lovers, although skeptical about the drug, uses it in an attempt to make a decision.
The story’s conclusion comes as no surprise. The characters are likable, and the story is a pleasant trifle.
“The Monk of Lingyin Temple” by Xia Jia, translated from Chinese by Ken Liu, takes place in a Buddhist temple equipped with highly advanced devices. One of the residents is a woman who participated in a violent crime when she was too young to face punishment by the authorities. A relative of the victims tracks her to the temple, intent on revenge. Technology that allows one to experience the suffering of another leads to an unexpected encounter between them.
The setting and use of Buddhist concepts will seem exotic and unfamiliar to many Western readers. The author argues for the necessity of empathy, even for one’s enemies. A more questionable theme involves a device that keeps constant track of one’s actions, so that one is always aware of one’s state of karma. Although presented as a benefit to its users, many readers will see it as oppressive.
Victoria Silverwolf would like to point out that this book also contains an interview with Nancy Kress.
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Tomorrow’s Lovers, Families, and Friends
edited by
Sheila Williams
(The MIT Press, September 15, 2020, pb, 240 pp.)
“Invisible People” by Nancy Kress
“Echo the Echo” by Rich Larson
“Sparklybits” by Nick Wolven
“A Little Wisdom” by Mary Robinette Kowal
“Your Boyfriend Experience” by James Patrick Kelly
“Mediation” by Cadwell Turnbull
“The Nation of the Sick” by Sam J. Miller
“Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer
“The Monogamy Hormone” by Annalee Newitz
“The Monk of Lingyin Temple” by Xia Jia
Reviewed by Robert L Turner III
“Invisible people” by Nancy Kress kicks off the collection with a near future couple who are surprised by an FBI visit. They are shocked to learn that their adopted daughter may have been illegally gene-modified. As the parents gradually learn the purpose of the changes they must decide whether to reverse the changes or not.
This story is an almost perfect discussion of the interlevering of science, group dynamics, and social forces. The writing is crisp, and the development and reveal are outstanding. While there are a couple of minor notes that fall flat, they don’t take away from what is an excellent piece.
Set about 20 years from now, “Echo the Echo” by Rich Larson centers around the “web,” a prototype device that records your thoughts and actions and creates an echo of you that is preserved after your death. The narrator has come to visit his 97-year-old grandmother to convince her to wear it and store herself in the web. While in town he finds a hookup who also has a connection with the web. The story is solid, but the emotional pulls seemed a bit trite and the message overly obvious. The piece is worth reading once, but won’t remain in your memory once you finish.
“Sparklybits” by Nick Wolven is an interesting and complex story that hints at many things without actually touching on them. Jo is the stay at home mother in a group mother co-op and their son Charlie is failing to develop as planned. Instead he has latched onto a wild AI and learned to communicate with in a private language shared by those two alone. Pressured by the other mothers, the AI, Sparklybits, is trapped and removed from the home, but as you would expect in a short story like this, there is a little secret reveal at the end. I wanted to like the story because of its allusions to a number of social trends, but in the end, while decent, the story feels empty. I don’t care about the AI, the mother or son, and so the text passes by without any impact.
“A Little Wisdom” by Mary Robinette Kowal is almost a good story. Kowal is a good technical writer and paints a vivid picture with her text but fails at the structural level. Set in a relatively near future Nashville, Gail, the curator of the Nashville Parthenon Galley arrives prepared to battle with the park director over a planned display; however, a freak tornado creates a crisis that she helps people endure through the art she plans on displaying. If I went into a full critique of the text, it would sound like nitpicking, but the core problem is that Robinette Kowal adds so many superficial details that they end up burying the narrative in irrelevancies. Additionally, the parallel between Gail’s Parkinson’s disease, her conflict with her wife and the conflict with the park director feel strained. Finally, as a former Nashvillian, there were a number of touches that threw me out of the story. Ironically, the story’s theme of grandeur vs. intimate detail is buried by throwing too much into the telling. A pared down version of this story with cleaner narration would have been beneficial.
“Your Boyfriend Experience” by James Patrick Kelly presents us with a couple, Dak and Jin, who are supposed to test out the newest sexbot created by Jin’s company. Dak, already struggling with the relationship, is uneasy about the whole thing. As he goes out on his “date” with Tate the sexbot, he has to face his concerns with his relationship with Dak and what the bot will mean for them both. Kelly does a very good job of getting into the emotional struggle of the main character and then creates situations within his world that will tease out key elements. The narrator’s fragile ego, lack of understanding, and fear of change are well portrayed but never overwrought. This story will be especially attractive to readers who enjoy character studies and deep emotional exploration.
Cadwell Turnbull’s “Mediation” smoothly blends grief, research and family dynamics into a solid story that packs an emotional punch. The narrator is a plant researcher who is dealing with the death of her husband and not dealing with her children. While the idea isn’t particularly new, the perspective and writing made for a very engaging story and although I knew where things would end up, it was a good read. I particularly like how well the plants act as a metaphor for grief. The metaphor is clearly presented (explicitly at the end) but works well and isn’t heavy handed.
“The Nation of The Sick” Sam J. Miller is a story that presents as its core argument that those who suffer are best suited to solving the worlds ills, and the intimation is that all suffer. The story is written in the form of a personal letter/obituary that the narrator writes to Cybil, the visionary software designer who reworks the world through iterative design processes that open prosperity to the poor and downtrodden instead of the corporate elite. The paeon to Cybil is interspersed with the narrator’s conflicted feelings with his drug addicted brother. By parts grim and utopian, “The Nation of The Sick” is decent, but not memorable. The heavy-handed emphasis on the “sick,” makes the narration about Sybil and healing feel like fantasy, not the end result of actions within the story.
“Don’t Mind Me” by Suzanne Palmer is a rehashed version of the Handmaiden’s tale. Jake, a high school student, wears a minder that erases any words, history, literature, or science not approved by his fundamentalist parents. The action starts once he is introduced to a group who has found a way to circumvent the minder and learn about the greater world. While the idea is interesting, it feels a bit played out and lazy. There are uncountable stories about evil Christians forcing their viewpoints on others. This is very much in the same genre, complete with labor camps, hypocritical standards etc. This would perhaps have been more interesting if the author has flipped it and used a left-wing bias as the basis of her world. At least that would be more in line with current trends in social media and academia. Overall, the story falls flat. It feels trite and rehashed without bringing up anything new.
“The Monogamy Hormone” by Annalee Newitz is a passable story that tries too hard. Edwina is in love with two people, Chester, the outgoing thrill seeker and Augie the introvert and she can’t decide between them. When a friend gives her a sample of a new drug that is supposed to promote monogamy, she just falls deeper in love with both. At the end she discovers that both are OK with the other and can happily start a family as a triad. The story suffers from a number on limitations, but the central one is that there is no real challenge, growth or change. Nothing that happens in the first 80% of the story impacts the conclusion. The parallel with the main character’s job of putting beneficial bacteria on school walls is a stretch and so has to be made explicitly at the end of the text. It fails to support the story and feels superfluous.
In “The Monk of Lingyin Temple” Xia Jia, with able translation provided by Ken Liu, melds Buddhist thought with technology and personal tragedy to create a very substantial story. On the eve of the Liberation Rite at the Lingyin temple, Householder Zhou arrives to deal with his own personal karmic burden. The temple has pioneered a nanotechnology called LINGcloud that allows for a calculation of karmic debt as well as providing the ability to share other’s pain. As Zhou, and others, pass through the rituals of the week, he discovers healing while facing his past decisions. While this summary is inadequate, a more detailed description would, I feel, lessen the value of reading the story itself. The text is designed to be discovered, step by step and acts as an opening to self-evaluation and consideration of the interconnectedness of life. In form it models its content. The blending of ancient ideas, personal demons, and technology is very well done, and the tone is a perfect fit for the story.
Robert Turner is a professor and long-term SF reader.