{"id":13750,"date":"2021-06-11T20:46:37","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T20:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=13750"},"modified":"2021-06-11T20:46:37","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T20:46:37","slug":"asimovs-sf-magazine-readers-awards-for-2020-novella-finalists","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/?p=13750","title":{"rendered":"Asimov\u2019s SF Magazine Readers\u2019 Awards for 2020: Novella Finalists"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Summary:
\nThese are the six novella finalists for the 35th<\/sup> Asimov\u2019s SF Magazine Readers\u2019 Awards (the stories were published in 2020), and they are the strongest group of all, with three more than worthwhile stories from Will McIntosh, Connie Willis, and Derek K\u00fcnsken.<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Editor, Sheila Williams<\/p>\n

Nic and Viv’s Compulsory Courtship<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 novella by Will McIntosh \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nMaelstrom<\/strong> <\/em>\u2022 novella by Kristine Kathryn Rusch –
\nTake a Look at the Five and Ten<\/strong><\/em> \u2022 novella by Connie Willis \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+
\nSemper Augustus<\/strong><\/em> \u2022 novella by Nancy Kress \u2217<\/strong>
\nTool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County<\/strong><\/em> \u2022 novella by Derek K\u00fcnsken \u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong><\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

Every year Asimov’s SF<\/em> magazine runs a poll so readers can vote for their favourite stories, covers, etc. from the previous year. The magazine also makes (most of) the material freely available online1<\/sup> for a short period so, even if (unlike me) you aren’t a subscriber, you can have a look at what kind of material they run.
\nHere is my take on the novella finalists:<\/p>\n

Nic and Viv\u2019s Compulsory Courtship<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Will McIntosh (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, July-August 2020) sees Viv and her partner Ferruki out on a date when the Hempstead town AI texts her:<\/p>\n

GOOD EVENING VIV. THIS IS TO INFORM YOU THAT, BASED ON AN ADVANCED ROMANTIC COMPATIBILITY ANALYTIC I\u2019VE BEEN DEVELOPING, I HAVE IDENTIFIED AN IDEAL PARTNER FOR YOU. I\u2019D LIKE THE TWO OF YOU TO MEET TOMORROW AT 6 P.M., AT TANGERINE TOWER ROOFTOP CAFE. IN FACT I\u2019M SO CONFIDENT IN MY CALL ON THIS THAT I THINK WE SHOULD TENTATIVELY SCHEDULE THE WEDDING DATE! THIS IS A NEW SERVICE I\u2019M PERFORMING TO IMPROVE THE WELL-BEING OF OUR COMMUNITY, AND NO ONE WILL BENEFIT MORE THAN YOU AND NICHOLAS.
\nLOVE,
\nJOURNEY<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Viv calls Journey to protest, pointing out she is already engaged (as the AI knows) and, in any event, she doesn\u2019t need its advice on dating. However, when Viv refuses to meet her suggested date Journey threatens to throw her out of the high-tech paradise that is Hempstead. Although Viv realises she could appeal to the Town Council, that would (a) take time, and (b) the council usually agrees with everything the AI decides\u2014so she decides to go through with the date. Then she finds out that Nic is the janitor at the hospital where she works at as a doctor.
\nThe rest of the story proceeds along standard rom-com lines, with the two of them reluctantly meeting for their date. When they do so Viv sees that Nic looks like a Neanderthal type who (a) also has a girlfriend, Persephone, and (b) doesn\u2019t know the difference between \u201cmoot\u201d and \u201cmute\u201d. Then Viv\u2019s fianc\u00e9 Ferruki arrives and drops a hint about his forthcoming karate black belt test. After he leaves Nic tells Viv he is obviously insecure, but Viv defends Ferruki\u2019s \u201cenrichment activity\u201d and then asks what Nic\u2019s is: interpretative dance.
\nGenerally the date does not go well so, towards the end of their time together, Journey insists that they make a proper effort to get to know each other and offers them 10,000 bucks if they meet for eight dates. Or else.
\nThese dates (the Mars sim, a visit to the food bank, etc.) provide some hilarious set pieces, in particular the one where they are both in a steam tent with a female \u201cexperience leader\u201d called Sharon trying to get the group to connect with their inner selves. She hears one member\u2019s traumatic experience before moving on to Nic:<\/p>\n

Sharon pressed her fist to her palm and bowed slightly to Rita. \u201cThat\u2019s a powerful insight. Thank you for sharing.\u201d She looked at Nic, who was next in the circle. \u201cNic? Do you have anything to share?\u201d
\nNic wiped his forehead with the back of his sleeve. \u201cI\u2019m hot. I\u2019m really hot.\u201d
\nSharon\u2019s smile was kind, if a little tight. It had grown tighter each time Nic\u2019s turn had come around. \u201cDig deeper, Nic. What do you feel?\u201d
\nNic squeezed his eyes closed. \u201cI feel hot. I wish I had a giant block of ice I could lie on.\u201d
\nViv bit her lip, keeping her gaze on the flames. She knew if she looked at Nic, she\u2019d lose it.
\n\u201cOkay. We\u2019ll come back around to you. Keep digging.\u201d Sharon looked at Viv, her smile relaxing. \u201cHow about you, Viv? How do you feel?\u201d
\nViv stifled a laugh.\u00a0Hot<\/em>, she was dying to say.\u00a0Really, really hot<\/em>. This was serious, so she kept the joke to herself. \u201cI was thinking about the purpose of this ritual, whether we create this artificial suffering as a means of reaching an altered state of consciousness, or if it\u2019s really some sort of proving ground, to show we can take it, something to brag about to our friends.\u201d
\n\u201cInteresting,\u201d Sharon said. \u201cTry to draw that back to your own experience. Are you, personally, using it as a proving ground? Do you feel you have something to prove to your friends? Try to push through your intellect, dig down to how you feel.\u201d
\nI feel hot<\/em>. It was on the tip of her tongue, and it was suddenly the funniest thing Viv had ever thought. She bit her lip harder, trying not to laugh. Everyone in the circle had been pouring out their souls, speaking their truths. Except Nic. Each time his turn had come, he\u2019d said the same thing:\u00a0I feel hot<\/em>. Each time he said it, it got funnier.
\nSharon moved on. \u201cBeto. How do you feel?\u201d
\nI feel really fucking hot<\/em>. Viv burst out laughing. She couldn\u2019t hold it in anymore. She laughed so hard her stomach hurt, even though everyone was staring at her, confused.
\n\u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d she managed. \u201cI\u2019m just so\u00a0hot<\/em>.\u201d
\n\u201cRight?\u201d Nic said. \u201cThank you.\u201d\u00a0 p. 29<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As well as the set pieces the story is also peppered with some very funny one liners:<\/p>\n

\u201cShoot. I just remembered I have work in the morning,\u201d Viv said.
\n\u201cYeah. Me, too. There\u2019s a toilet I need to replace.\u201d
\nViv laughed. \u201cYou sound almost eager to get in there and replace that toilet.\u201d
\nNic shrugged. \u201cI get a lot of satisfaction from replacing a toilet, so it\u2019s a win-win for me.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat is it about replacing a toilet that gives you satisfaction?\u201d
\nNic studied her face. \u201cIs that a serious question, or are you just mocking me?\u201d
\n\u201cMostly I\u2019m just mocking, but I\u2019d like to hear your answer, in case it\u2019s mockable, too.\u201d\u00a0 p. 32<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Apart from the almost continual hilarity (I laughed out loud several times) provided by both Viv and Nic and their partner\u2019s interactions, the pair also discover that the reason that Journey has embarked on this matchmaking endeavour is because its contract is up for renewal, and it fears it will be scrapped in favour of a newer model AI. Viv also finds out that Journey is partly made of human material, and is a cyborg of sorts.
\nThe story eventually rolls round to its (spoiler) admittedly predictable but satisfying conclusion. The dates end without the successful conclusion that Journey wanted to show its continual worth, and it then finds out that it is going to be replaced. Nic (who has now split up with Persephone) confesses his love to Viv, but she knocks him back. Then Nic invites Viv to his solo dance recital, another hugely funny set piece that shows Nic to be a not particularly skilled but wildly enthusiastic dancer. During his performance Nic offers to improvise to any music or sounds the audience offers, and we subsequently see his car-crash interpretation of drum music, a baby crying (Ferruki\u2019s choice), an Albanian ballad, a bear roaring, etc. During this, Ferruki, who has accompanied Viv, provides a constant stream of sarcasm and disdain and, when he and Viv are later trapped in an elevator for several hours, she eventually climbs out of the top to get away from him. They later split up.
\nThe final section sees Viv and Nic get together. Then they rescue Journey, and take the AI to improve one of the less successful surrounding townships. The story ends a few years on with Journey talking to the couple\u2019s daughter Lucy.
\nWith this level of comedic talent McIntosh should be working in Hollywood, not SF.
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+ (Very good-Excellent). 17,600 words.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Maelstrom\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>by Kristine Kathryn Rusch (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, September\/October 2020) is an account written by the daughter of Captain Ferguson of the\u00a0Gabriella<\/em>, a ship that sets out to explore the Najar Crater on Madreperla and is lost in one of the maelstroms that occur there. We are told about the experience of an earlier ship:<\/p>\n

Rumors floating around Ciudad Orilla promised vast stores of untold wealth inside that crater on Madreperla, from sea creatures with bones made of the finest glass to minerals needed for every single engine. The water that filled part of the crater, the stories went, contained healing properties, and had more nutrients than anything that humans had concocted thus far.
\nThe\u00a0Maria Segunda<\/em>, a ship that had land-to-sea-to-space capabilities, set out to learn which of those rumors had a basis in fact.
\nShe arrived on the rim on a Thursday, set down on what her crew thought was an ice shelf, and by Friday morning, found herself in the midst of what the crew later described as an ice storm.
\nOnly it was unlike any storm they had ever seen. A massive wind swirled around them, and they were caught in the center of it. But that didn\u2019t stop ice pellets, rock, and other materials that seemed harder than rock from hitting the outside of the ship. The\u00a0Maria Segunda<\/em>\u00a0had defensive shields, but they were rotating shields, built to stave off laser weapons. The normal heat and weather shields that any land-to-space ship had were not up to dealing with this particular anomaly, whatever the heck it was.
\nIn the space of an hour, the damage to the ship\u2019s exterior was so severe that there was a good chance the ship might not make it out of the relatively weak atmosphere of Madreperla.\u00a0 p. 15<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This passage, with its\u00a0Star Trek<\/em>\u00a0tech (\u201crotating shields\u201d, \u201cheat and weather shields\u201d), flabby prose (\u201cwhatever the heck it was\u201d), and tell-instead-of-show approach (all of it) illustrates the overall quality of the story.
\nAnd, after this section, matters do not improve when the daughter then interviews one of her father\u2019s one-time crewmates in an over-described space pub called the Elizabeta\u2014we get a page and a half about its skanky surroundings, and the owner, before the daughter asks about her father and the ship.
\nThen, later on, we are back at the pub\u2014again\u2014with other characters:<\/p>\n

So, on that final Sunday, she slides her whisky back to Beta, and walks out of the bar in search of Ferguson. Imelda finds him sitting in an \u201coutside\u201d table along the so-called promenade.
\nMost commercial districts of star ports have several promenades. On the exclusive levels, the promenades are designed to make patrons think they\u2019re outside in some exotic natural environment, complete with expensive water features and fake sunlight.
\nOn most levels, the promenades resemble city centers of faraway famous places, with some replicas of the cultural icons hovering nearby. Or, if the displays aren\u2019t permanent, there\u2019s a rotating spectacle of VR images that show the tourist highlights of the planet below.
\nBut the promenade outside of the Elizabeta is nothing more than chairs and tables and some gambling booths. The ceiling is as brown as the walls that are as brown as the floors. There\u2019s nothing special or even \u201coutside\u201d here, just a place to be away from the bar\u2019s noise, while still receiving the bar\u2019s service.
\nCaptain Giles Ferguson is sitting out there alone, his fingers wrapped around a stein of a particularly skunky local beer called Ragtop. He drinks nothing but Ragtop at the Elizabeta, but unlike some of his shipmates, he never had the beverage delivered in quantity to the ship.\u00a0 p. 21<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I can see the point of the first and fifth paragraphs, but do we really need a lot of vague blather about what would normally be seen on the promenade outside of the pub? This is a writer thinking out loud about background details rather than reducing them to a pithy line or image.
\nThese interviews are followed by accounts of (a) the corporate shenanigans behind the trip (it seems that tech triggers the storms but the insurers were content to underwrite the trip); (b) her father\u2019s marital backstory; (c) the recruitment of another captain to act as a rescue ship should the need arise; (d) what might have happened to the\u00a0Gabriella<\/em>\u00a0when it arrived over the crater (three scenarios where the second-hand speculation about what may have occurred is about as riveting as you would expect); and, finally, (e) the findings of the inquiry.
\nIt is bad enough that this is all told in mind numbing detail, is set in the thinnest of space opera realities, and that there is no plot progression whatsoever (at the end of the piece we are in exactly the same place as we were when we began), but throughout the story it is blindingly obvious that that the maelstroms are caused either by aliens, or by some current or leftover defence tech (the narrative grudgingly has one of the crew of the\u00a0Maria Segunda\u00a0<\/em>state late on in the story that it felt like they were fighting a \u201clive thing\u201d). This idea, however, is almost completely unexamined: whether this is because the writer couldn\u2019t come up with an intriguing explanation or whether it\u2019s because there is another twenty thousand words to be milked out of this idea remains to be seen.
\n\u2013 (Awful). 21,450 words.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Take a Look at the Five and Ten<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Connie Willis (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, November\/December 2020) opens at a Thanksgiving dinner where Ori the narrator (a sort of adopted stepdaughter of the husband of the couple) has to cope with a variety of snooty and\/or eccentric relatives: the wife and daughter are supercilious, the aunt constantly corrects and scolds everyone and laments the decline in standards, and Grandma Elving talks incessantly and with great detail about a Christmas job she had in Woolworths as a teenager. The wife can\u2019t stand Grandma Elving\u2019s endless stories and constantly tries to change the subject, but Dave Lassiter, the daughter\u2019s boyfriend, is interested because he is studying neuroscience and is finishing a project on TFBM\u2014traumatic flashbulb memory\u2014and realises that Grandma\u2019s vivid memories may be a case of that.
\nThen, on the Monday after the dinner, Ori gets a call from Gramdma asking for a lift to the doctors. However, when they get to their destination, Ori discovers that Grandma has arranged to meet Lassiter, who wants to interview her for his TFBM research project. The rest of the first part of the story sees Lassiter undertake many long interviews with Grandma, eventually becoming convinced that her intense memories are trauma related. Later on, after making little progress in discovering what the buried trauma might be, there are hints that it might possibly involve a young man called Marty who worked on the lunch counter with Grandma.
\nDuring this period Lassiter and Ori spend a lot of time together, and this is redoubled when Grandma suggests that they go to the city to look at the store to see if it will jog her memory:<\/p>\n

The wind was definitely blowing today, a biting wind that whipped icily around the corners, but Grandma Elving didn\u2019t seem to notice, she was so busy remembering what stores had once been there. \u201cThere was a shoe repair shop there,\u201d she said, pointing at the Planet Fitness gym. \u201cIt had a neon sign that said, \u2018Soles While You Wait.\u2019 With a \u2018U\u2019 instead of the word You.\u2019 It was right next to a Christian Science reading room, and I always thought the sign should be in their window instead.\u201d
\n\u201cWhat about the store?\u201d Lassiter said, turning her wheelchair so she was facing the building where the Woolworth\u2019s had been. \u201cDo you remember where the door was?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, it was right there,\u201d she said, pointing at one of the windows of the 7-Eleven. \u201cIt was a big double door, and above it was the store\u2019s name in gold letters on a red background\u2014F.W. Woolworth & Co.\u2014and in the corners, 5c and 10c,\u201d and it looked like she was seeing it right now.
\nAnd seeing the whole store. \u201cThe candy counter was near the door,\u201d she said, pointing, \u201cand so was Christmas merchandise\u2014tinned fruitcakes and bath sets and shaving mugs, and over in the corner was Gift Wrapping. I loved working in Gift Wrapping because you could see outside, the cars and the people hurrying by with their shopping bags and packages, all bundled up in their hats and scarves and boots.\u201d
\n\u201cWhere would the lunch counter have been?\u201d Lassiter asked.
\n\u201cThere,\u201d she said, pointing to the left. \u201cIt stretched half the length of the store. It had stools all along it and booths coming out from it, like that,\u201d she said, gesturing.
\n\u201cAnd you and Marty and Ralph worked behind the counter?\u201d
\n\u201cYes, I made the sandwiches and dished up the blue plate specials, and the boys grilled the hamburgers and hot dogs and made the fountain drinks, which was good. The first cherry Coke I tried to make, I got cherry syrup all over, and Marty said\u2014\u201d
\nShe stopped short. \u201cThe cosmetics and notions departments were in the middle,\u201d she said, starting again, \u201cand over there,\u201d she pointed to the right, \u201cwas Gloves and Scarves, and behind it was Stationery, which I loved working in because Andy worked there. He was so cute.\u201d
\n\u201cBefore, when you were telling us about the lunch counter and Marty,\u201d Lassiter said, kneeling down next to her wheelchair, \u201cdid you remember something?\u201d
\n\u201cNo,\u201d she said, but doubtfully, and then burst out, \u201cIt\u2019s so maddening! Every time I think I have it, it disappears!\u00a0 p. 179-180<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After this they go and have lunch, where Grandma disappears into the loos for an inordinate amount of time leaving Ori and Lassiter together to talk. Then, when Grandma returns, she remembers the Christmas manger figurines she had been collecting at the time, and how Marty bought two of them for her. Subsequently she dispatches Lassiter and Ori to scour the thrift stores for a set, in the hope that the figurines will jog her memory. Eventually they find what they are looking for, and Grandma reveals that Marty died when he was young.
\nHowever, we eventually find out towards the end of the story (spoiler), when Grandma ends up in hospital during Xmas dinner, that she already has a set of figurines at home\u2014and that the interviews, the trip into town, lunch, and the search for the figurines, and all the time that they spend together, was actually Grandma\u2019s plan to matchmake Ori and Lassiter. And, worse, Ori learns that Marty wasn\u2019t killed, which leaves her with the unenviable task of telling Lassiter that Grandma\u2019s manufactured trauma is not true and that his research is based on falsified information, something that will likely cause him to fail his course.
\nThe final part of the story reveals that Grandma\u2019s vivid memories were created by a feeling of intense happiness while she stood at the door of Woolworths one evening. Ori has her own experience of this when she hears Lassiter say that he didn\u2019t her earlier hypothesis that this was the case as it would have meant that he couldn\u2019t go on seeing Grandma\u2014and her.
\nThis is a well told and entertaining romcom (the daughter provides a couple of amusing interference episodes during the story), and the evocative final description of Granma\u2019s flashbulb moment, as well as Ori\u2019s epiphany in the lift, are fittingly seasonal. They are also enough to overcome the late switcheroo of the trauma plot device.
\nI note in passing that this is a mainstream piece, not SF or fantasy.
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>+ (Good to Very Good). 21,650 words.<\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Semper Augustus<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Nancy Kress (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, March-April 2020) opens (after a somewhat irrelevant introductory passage where a young woman gives birth in the back of a truck) with a grandmother telling a young child called Jennie to stop repeating what is said to her (Jennie turns out to have \u201cselective savant memory\u201d or \u201cecho-memory\u201d).
\nWe then see that the grandmother is highly protective of Jennie and has never lets her go out to play but eventually, when the child turns eight, she has to go to school. Before this Gramma shows her, as a warning about the world, a graphic news clip about a young girl who has been murdered. On the way to school Gramma continues the child\u2019s education when they pass wealthy professionals helicoptering into their workplace:<\/p>\n

Gramma stopped tugging at Jennie\u2019s hand. \u201cOkay, I guess you need to know some things before you start school. I should of said it before. The aliens, \u2018Lictorians\u2019 the government calls them, have all kinds of fancy tech. They landed in China, so the Chinese got the tech and then sold some of it to companies in America. All that means is rich people got richer, like always. But this time, way way richer. And those of us on the bottom lost more and more jobs to the Likkie robots and AI and supertrains and all the rest of it. I used to have a good factory job at Boeing, before automation. Between the Likkies and your grandfather, I lost everything. And welfare just gets less and less. So now you understand.\u201d\u00a0 p. 135<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This future world of economic inequality is the backbone of the story (although the explanation for the way things are is fairly superficial and never really explored in any detail\u2014why would the masses not vote for change, for example?)
\nJennie is tested at school and put into Ms Scott\u2019s class for gifted children, where she meets Imani, the alpha female of the class, and then Ricardo, who modestly identifies himself as a \u201cgenius.\u201d As Jennie settles into her education we find out more about the world around her, and her grandmother\u2019s precarious financial situation. Then, one day on the way to school, the nearby robot factory blows up and Jennie learns about \u201cT-boc\u201d, the Take Back Our Country rebels who target the wealthy or \u201cblingasses\u201d living with their robots behind Q-field force shields.
\nIn Jennie\u2019s teenage years there are more significant developments. On one occasion she is told by her grandmother that her mother is being prosecuted for murder. Gramma takes Jennie to the city where the trial is but leaves her alone in a rented \u201ccoffin room\u201d with instructions not to leave, but Jennie slips out to an internet caf\u00e9 and finds that her mother, apparently a prostitute, is on trial for the murder of a client. Later Jennie also learns about an aunt called Grace, but Gramma refuses to tell Jennie anything about her. Then, in her final teen years at school, she comes home one day and finds that Gramma has been murdered.
\nAll these events take place against a background of closer bonds with her school friends, gang problems at school, and what is now an insurgency between T-boc and the government\/rich.
\nThe second part of the story sees Jennie discover a valentine card (presumably sent to her mother) in her dead grandmother\u2019s papers, which prompts a car journey with her friends to two log cabins in the middle of nowhere, one of which is burnt out. On return she meets Grace at her grandmother\u2019s house. Grace has inherited Gramma\u2019s property, and Jennie ends up going to stay with her.
\nGrace is a dress designer and Jennie eventually becomes, over the next couple of years, a famous and wealthy model with a rich boyfriend. We now see how the rich live behind their Q-shields, and later get a brief glimpse of one of the enigmatic Lictorians at a fashion show (which suffers a T-boc cyberattack that sets some of the models\u2019 clothes on fire). Grace and the friends that Jennie makes in this rich society are, needless to say, selfish, shallow types unconcerned about the welfare of the less well off.
\nThe third leg of the story sees Ricardo tell her (in a rare call\u2014she has lost touch with her childhood friends) that Imani\u2019s mother and brother have been murdered in a gang-related incident. Jennie visits them and there is some social awkwardness. Then, after her trip, when a wealthy boyfriend\u2019s robofactory is blown up (along with a demand for UBI\u2014universal basic income), and a T-boc supporting village razed in reprisal, his vicious response (\u201cBarbecue T-boc! Yum!\u201d) provokes Jennie to leave him, give up modelling, and join T-boc.
\nJennie becomes increasingly involved with the group, and eventually takes part in an operation that kills sixteen humans. When a pro-UBI Senator is shot, however, Jennie confides her growing doubts about T-boc\u2019s strategy to an elderly woman psychologist, who tells Jennie she also wants T-boc to change direction. Their conversation is overheard by one of the other cell members, and they are eventually put on trial. During this the cell leaders get Jennie to use her echo-memory to repeat every conversation that she and the old woman have had.
\nIt\u2019s in this part of the story that my interest began to fade. Before this it is a reasonably good piece about a young woman growing up in a deprived and challenging environment, but the T-boc section is boilerplate resistance\/us-and-them material populated with two dimensional characters. Unfortunately much worse follows in the final part, where (spoiler) Jennie flees T-boc and goes back to the log cabins to hide with her friends. When T-boc sends a helicopter to bring them back, and the pilot moves to kill them, who should pop up but her mother Cora, who shoots the pilot. If this co-incidence isn\u2019t enough, she also commits her own terrorist attack on the rest of the story, blowing it up with revelations of her infection by a meteor-borne space virus in the 1970s, which made her near-immortal and of interest to the Lictorians (who seem to be the ones that were behind her earlier jail break). And we also learn that Cora was Gramma\u2019s mother!
\nMore plot explosions follow, including an extraction by the Lictorians, and Jennie telling their alien ambassador about her echo-memory, which indicates she also has the mutation. After negotiations she agrees to co-operate with the aliens and help with their research (we find the reason they are here is to try and get the secret of immortality for their own people) but only if they agree to several demands\u2014at this point in the story we get Jennie\u2019s mini-manifesto: nullify Q-shields, unless the government taxes robots and provides UBI; set up a foundation to aid small business; sell the US advanced tech like the Chinese; etc., etc. Oh, and the\u00a0Semper Augustus<\/em>\/tulip mosaic virus stuff mentioned by Ricardo early in the story gets trotted out again.2<\/sup>
\nAs I mentioned above, for the first half\/two-thirds or so this isn\u2019t bad but it goes spectacularly off the rails at the end. Jennie\u2019s naivety about what T-boc becomes isn\u2019t convincing, and the story never really has anything sensible to say about how to fix the structural inequalities of the world it sets up, short of trotting out the idea of UBI, which sounds like a good idea but may have its own problems (Finland trialled it and then stopped3<\/sup>).
\nThe main problem, though, is that the final immortality section is just a huge\u00a0deus ex machina<\/em>\u00a0that creates an ending at odds with the rest of the story, and introduces a huge new subplot in the last few pages. A kitchen-sink piece, and probably longer than it needs to be too (by the time you get to the end of the story a lot of the preceding detail about Jennie\u2019s life is completely irrelevant).
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u00a0(Mediocre). 40,300 words.4<\/sup><\/p>\n

\u2022<\/p>\n

Tool Use by the Humans of Danzhai County<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0by Derek K\u00fcnsken (Asimov\u2019s SF<\/em>, July\/August 2020) opens in China in 2010 with a young woman called Pha Xov telling an ambitious young man called Qiao Fue that she is pregnant. Qiao chooses to pursue wealth and power over marrying her and providing for the child.
\nThe story then skips forward ten years (over its length the tale telescopes forward to 2095) and we see the daughter born of that relationship with her grandmother. The child is called Lian Mee (the mother marries someone else but the husband doesn\u2019t want the child around), and we watch as she grows up and goes to college. There she has a life changing experience when a professor sexually harasses her, telling Lian that, if she wants to pass her course, she must come to his apartment. After much agonising she goes\u2014but he isn\u2019t there, and she graduates anyway.
\nThe experience has a profound effect on her, and accelerates her work on moral AIs. Soon she starts her own company (so she can have a decent employer), Miao Punk Princess Inc., and hires a programmer called Vue Yeng to help her start up a cheap cache internet company that will help fund her AI work.
\nAn early example of Lian\u2019s work are the training AIs she develops, which learn from sensors attached to skilled builders and craftsmen, and are destined to train compete novices in the future. These AIs are more than just training programs however, as one man on a building site finds out when he gropes one of Lian\u2019s female employees. Lian removes his AI training sensors and says he won\u2019t be paid for a week.
\nAfter developing Human Resources AIs (which in one episode stop an employer sweeping yet another sexual harassment case under the carpet), Lian eventually manages to convince the local bureaucrats to roll out her anti-poverty AIs. These help the poor but also start acting on their own initiative, which we see when a man called Kong Xang abandons his newly born Down\u2019s syndrome baby on a factory doorstep. After Qiao Fue (Lian Mee\u2019s father, whose life story also occasionally features) declines to pick up the child after being diverted there by the software in his car, the AIs intervene:<\/p>\n

Mino Jai Lia cried out at the knock at her door. She lived alone. The knock happened again. Her children and grandchildren didn\u2019t live in the village anymore. She barely received visitors during the day and never during the night.
\n\u201cWho is it?\u201d she yelled. \u201cGet out of here before I call the police!\u201d
\nThe threat was no good. She didn\u2019t have a phone, and the next neighbor was four li away.
\n\u201cWho is it?\u201d she said, turning on the single bulb and putting her feet into plastic shoes.
\n\u201cAnti-poverty AI,\u201d a voice said. A light shone under the door.
\nThe anti-poverty AI delivered her groceries every second day and took away her trash.
\n\u201cAnti-poverty AI,\u201d came the stupid answer, but she recognized the voice.
\nShe unlatched the door and opened it. A spidery robot stood there with a bag in its arms. And another stood behind it with more groceries than she ever got. The little running lights showed two other robots in the dark beyond.
\n\u201cHello Mrs. Mino,\u201d the AI said. \u201cSorry for disturbing you.\u201d It started advancing, then stopped when she didn\u2019t move. She backed up and two robots walked in like big spiders, cameras whirring. Their feet were muddy.
\n\u201cOff the mats!\u201d she said.
\nThe robots stepped around the fiber mats keeping the mud from her feet. The first AI held a bundle.
\n\u201cA baby,\u201d she said wonderingly. Robots shouldn\u2019t be taking children out at night. She was about to berate them when she saw the baby\u2019s face under the light. \u201cOh, baby . . .\u201d she said sadly.
\nWhen she was just a girl, her aunt had a baby like this. No one ever saw the baby after it was born. These robots hadn\u2019t stolen someone\u2019s baby.
\n\u201cI am the Anti-Poverty AI supervisor, Mrs. Mino,\u201d the robot said.
\nShe\u2019d never heard of AI supervisors. Only regular robots came with her groceries, and they didn\u2019t talk much.
\n\u201cWe are seeking your assistance in caring for this baby. If you raise this child, I will authorize your placement on a special poverty vulnerability list. Your deliveries of groceries, firewood, and clothing will be increased and diversified. A medical AI will visit once per month.\u201d
\nThe robot behind the supervisor set the bags down and began revealing blankets, baby clothes, a baby hammock, wipes, formula, disposable diapers, as well as bags of cooked pork and chicken, foods that for years she\u2019d only seen on holidays. She neared. A flat little face surrounded fat lips puckered in hunger.
\n\u201cWhat\u2019s the baby\u2019s name?\u201d she said.
\n\u201cKong,\u201d the supervisor said, pausing. \u201cKong Toua.\u201d
\nA good name, a good Miao name for a boy. Toua meant first.
\n\u201cThis place will need to be fixed up,\u201d she warned. \u201cThis is no place for a baby.\u201d
\n\u201cI will authorize a construction AI to visit and assess your needs,\u201d the supervisor said.
\nMino Jai Lia took the warm baby gently from the netting.\u00a0 p. 174<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This abandonment episode spawns another two threads in the story. The first of these is Mino\u2019s care of Toua and a number of other Down\u2019s children, and we see Toua eventually grow up and develop to the point where, with an embedded AI assistant, he is able to care for other children and also go on errands, e.g. to hospitals to pick up other abandoned Down\u2019s children. The other thread sees Toua\u2019s father, Kong Xang, become estranged from his wife Chang Bo (who, co-incidentally, is later hired by Lian Mee and set to work on a building site where she is taught to lay bricks by a training AI) and begin his descent into alcoholism and homelessness.
\nWhile all this is going on Qaio Fue acquires power and wealth, partly through his development of life extension technology. This culminates with Qaio raising a clone as a successor (he never meets his daughter Lian Mee, although he is aware of her)\u2014but even though the clone has the same genetics Qaio can\u2019t provide the same upbringing, and his \u201cson\u201d is too laid back to be interested in corporate politics and wealth when there is UBI that covers his needs.
\nEventually (spoiler) Lian Mee, now widely known as \u201cMiao Punk Princess\u201d (which would have been a better title for the story) dies. But her work survives her\u2014as we see when Kong Xang is found by an anti-poverty AI on the streets of Guiyang, and offered the chance to go back to Danzhai. When he eventually arrives at the care home he finds it is operated by Down\u2019s syndrome staff and their AIs. One of them is his son, Toua, who confronts Kong Xang and tells him that he is a bad person before saying he will look after him. Kong Xang breaks down, and gives his son the bracelet he removed before abandoning him.
\nThis is a compelling (and occasionally emotional) read, and an intriguing look at how AI could eventually provide a pragmatic and compassionate utopia on Earth (or at least move us substantially in that direction): the story could perhaps be seen as the other side of the coin to Jack Williamson\u2019s\u00a0With Folded Hands<\/em>. That said, this impressive, multi-threaded piece isn\u2019t perfect\u2014the issue of how China\u2019s current totalitarian leadership would react to autonomous moral AIs is almost completely ignored (although there is a brief episode where Lian concedes that Legal AIs have to be under state control), and I\u2019m not sure that the Qaio Fue thread fits into the story particularly well (I suspect the arc of Lian\u2019s father\u2019s life is meant to be a foil for the rest of the story, but it seems instead to be about a powerful man who is thwarted by his lack of self-knowledge).
\nOverall, a novel\u2019s worth of ideation squeezed into a very good novella.
\n\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u2217<\/strong>\u00a0(Very Good). 23,350 words.<\/p>\n

\u2022\u2022\u2022<\/p>\n

A mixed bag of stories once again, but there are three more than worthwhile novellas here.5<\/sup>\u00a0 \u25cf<\/p>\n

_____________________<\/p>\n

1. Unfortunately the stories were put online<\/a> the day the Hugo nominations closed, which is a pity as I would have voted for three or four if I had seen them in time (I didn\u2019t bother nominating anything).<\/p>\n

2. The Wikipedia page on the Tulip mania, referenced in Kress\u2019s story, perhaps the first speculative asset bubble, is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

3. The Wikipedia page on Universal Basic Income is here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4. Semper Augustus<\/em> is on the borderline (40,000 words) between a novella and a novel so I\u2019ve gone with Asimov\u2019s<\/em>\u00a0categorisation as a novella.<\/p>\n

5. Here are the (too me, odd) results of the poll we had on my Best Science Fiction and Fantasy Short Fiction<\/em> Facebook group (~sixteen voters):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

However, when we voted on all sixteen stories (again, around 16 voters), the McIntosh and the Willis went from the bottom of the poll to the top (memo to self: pay no attention to polls with such low numbers of voters):<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n\"rss\"<\/a>\"rss\"<\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summary: These are the six novella finalists for the 35th Asimov\u2019s SF Magazine Readers\u2019 Awards (the stories were published in 2020), and they are the strongest group of all, with three more than worthwhile stories from Will McIntosh, Connie Willis, and Derek K\u00fcnsken. _____________________ Editor, Sheila Williams Nic and Viv’s Compulsory Courtship \u2022 novella by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-asimovs-science-fiction"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Pcj7-3zM","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13750"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13769,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13750\/revisions\/13769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sfmagazines.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}