Shine marks Jetse de Vries' debut as an editor, and is perhaps the most eagerly awaited anthology in several years. Debate about whether optimistic SF is desirable, or simply a Pollyanna movement has been gradually subsumed in a welter of tweets and blogs; now the book is finally here. Does it live up to expectations?
Eric Gregory's 'The Earth of Yunhe' takes the reader to a future China suffocating beneath ash and pollutants. The remedy takes the form of nanite soil a hyper-complex algorithm, but the real problem is not pollution, but the government unwilling to compromise. Highly Recommended, and a promising opening.
Less so is Jacques Barcia's 'The Greenman Watches the Black Bar Go Up, Up, Up' which despite having all the elements necessary to make a great story, stubbornly refuses to hang together. Reviewing and editing alike are entirely subjective, and it may simply be that it dosn't suit the reviewer's tastes.
Jason Stoddard
'Overhead' by Jason Stoddard shuttles setting between Earth and the Moon, and an embryonic lunar colony. Stoddard raises the stakes, bringing an intensity absent from much of the other fiction, making the payback all the greater. Highly Recommended.
In an unnamed city in what may or may not be the near-future, sculptor Manon makes her centre-piece for the park she's helping to clear, in Holly Phillips' marvellous 'Summer Ice,' the only reprint in the collection. Such ambiguity could be irritating, but there is so much dirt and detail to make up for it that it's hard not to be won over. Highly Recommended.
To a West African village with Paula R. Stiles, and 'Sustainable Development,' which is short and slyly wicked, and strangely reminiscent of R.A. Lafferty's 'Parthen,' in that no one talks directly about the men. Recommended.
Aliette de Bodard
"The Church of the Accelerated Redemption" gives those concerned with their effect on the environment the chance to earn back some karma via the use of 'Artificial Intercessors' -- sub-singularity AIs that pray on behalf of the Church's sponsors. Both Gareth L Powell and Aliette de Bodard who wrote the story, have earned considerable reputations in their own right; in collaboration de Bodard brings scientific weight to the story, while Powell's innate romanticism makes it soar. An outstanding early contender for Year's Best lists.
Lavie Tidhar takes the reader back to Vanuatu, the setting for 'How To Make Paper Aeroplanes,' his contribution to the Interzone Mundane issue. Again, while the story of 'The Solnet Ascendancy,' ticks all the boxes, it never really worked for the reviewer. A shame.
'Twittering the Stars' is precisely as it title suggests, an extended list of tweets from a spaceship; in this case it's a mining expedition to quarry lithium and iridium from the asteroid belt. It's weakness is that like all tweets it's in reverse chronological order. Editor de Vries argues that it doesn't, that it's better read back to front. Not true. There's a reason stories are constructed as they are, and the reader would be advised to read it in chronological order, that is, back to front.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia's 'Seeds' sounds like a revival of every eco-activist's nightmare of Franken-crops, but in this case the tone is inverted and the horror is that of the hapless Customer Service Rep. Short but effective.
Alastair Reynolds
One of the highlights of the whole book is Alastair Reynold's absolutely crazy 'At Budokan.' It's an extended shaggy-dog story that unfolds beautifully, but what makes it such a stand-out is that Reynolds actually makes it seem entirely plausible, and shows such a sense of humour. Highly Recommended.
Gord Sellar's delightful 'Sarging Rasmussen, A Report (by Organic)' sees networking extended to a science and applied to intra-organizational politics in a way that will be instantly recognizable to any survivors of 'How-to' seminars run by HR Departments; if that sounds dry, it's anything but as the titular Organic oozes and schmoozes his way into beds and negotiations alike. Highly Recommended.
De Vries admits that there is a danger of near-future stories being rendered obsolete by on-going events, and there seems a risk of that with 'Scheherazade Cast in Starlight,' but perhaps future Iranian elections will yet make Jason Andrew's lyricism come true. It is certainly to be hoped for.
Eva-Maria Chapman's 'Russian Roulette 2020' is among the most contemporary stories in the book. But while it's full of great concepts and detail, it's marred by the lush overblown romance between Rada and MV.
Kay Kenyon
'Cast-off World' by Kay Kenyon is one of three great stories that end the anthology on a high, a tale of a girl and her grandfather cast adrift on a sea of pollution, at risk from over-zealous nanobots and pirates alike. It's unflinching, but the use of child-like language to explain the strangeness is entirely appropriate, and there is a moment of transcendence at the end. Outstanding.
Ken Edgett's 'Paul Kinshosa's Children' takes the reader from 1980 to 2074, in a story that weaves (alternate) SF history in with a near-future narrative that is not so much optimistic as visionary, and will leave some readers with a lump in their throat. Outstanding.
Madeline Ashby's 'Ishin' takes the reader to a future Afghanistan surveilled to the max, but like several of the other stories delights in inverting the reader's expectations and sees society's life under an unending microscope as something to be rejoiced in. The characters are likeable which makes the ending all the more poignant. Outstanding.
De Vries has assembled an excellent anthology. There are no real duds, and fully half the stories are absolutely outstanding; while there are no hard and fast correlations, the majority of the latter are among the longer stories. If another collection of stories as good as this is published this year, it will be an annus mirabilis. Shine is one of the best single anthologies of recent years.
Colin Harvey - Author six novels, and editor of four anthologies; professional reviewer since 2003, including six years at Strange Horizons. Member of ...
