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Take Us to a Better Place: Stories
Take Us To a Better Place: Stories is a collection of powerful, perceptive, and seamlessly crafted fiction from a diverse group of storytellers that tells multiple truths about the realities of our health and well-being and the world in which we live. Roxane Gay writes: “These collected stories...are hopeful and cautionary tales. They are, above all, a call to action, offering all of us the opportunity to rise to the occasion of contributing, in the ways we can, to a world where a healthier life is possible for all.”
Conjuring a present and future that is at once vivid and hopeful, as well as heartbreaking and perilous, these deeply human stories will linger long after you finish. The stories spark new ideas about what a healthy community might hold—and how we might get there.
The book features the literary talents of Hannah Lillith Assadi (finalist, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize), Calvin Baker, Frank Bill, Mike McClelland, and Achy Obejas (finalist, PEN/Faulkner); the bold visual storytelling of David Robertson and Selena Goulding; the searing science fiction writing of New York Times best-selling authors Martha Wells (winner of the Nebula, Hugo and Locus Awards) and Yoon Ha Lee (winner, Locus Award), and speculative fiction writers Karen Lord (finalist, Locus Award) and Madeline Ashby. The stories explore issues such as health care, climate change, immigration, gentrification, and post-traumatic stress disorder with keen observations, fully-drawn characters, and haunting narratives.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health. The Foundation is working alongside others toward its vision of a Culture of Health, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. It is in this spirit that the Foundation invited ten authors to write a story about what a Culture of Health means to them. This book is the result and is offered free to readers by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Visit www.rwjf.org/fiction for more information.
Conjuring a present and future that is at once vivid and hopeful, as well as heartbreaking and perilous, these deeply human stories will linger long after you finish. The stories spark new ideas about what a healthy community might hold—and how we might get there.
The book features the literary talents of Hannah Lillith Assadi (finalist, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize), Calvin Baker, Frank Bill, Mike McClelland, and Achy Obejas (finalist, PEN/Faulkner); the bold visual storytelling of David Robertson and Selena Goulding; the searing science fiction writing of New York Times best-selling authors Martha Wells (winner of the Nebula, Hugo and Locus Awards) and Yoon Ha Lee (winner, Locus Award), and speculative fiction writers Karen Lord (finalist, Locus Award) and Madeline Ashby. The stories explore issues such as health care, climate change, immigration, gentrification, and post-traumatic stress disorder with keen observations, fully-drawn characters, and haunting narratives.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the nation's largest philanthropy dedicated solely to health. The Foundation is working alongside others toward its vision of a Culture of Health, where everyone has a fair and just opportunity for health and well-being. It is in this spirit that the Foundation invited ten authors to write a story about what a Culture of Health means to them. This book is the result and is offered free to readers by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Visit www.rwjf.org/fiction for more information.
First published January 21, 2020
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About the author
Madeline Ashby
60 books531 followersMadeline Ashby is a science fiction writer and strategic foresight consultant living in Toronto. She has been writing fiction since she was about thirteen years old. (Before that, she recited all her stories aloud, with funny voices and everything.) Her fiction has appeared in Nature, Tesseracts, Escape Pod, FLURB, the Shine Anthology, and elsewhere. Her non-fiction has appeared at BoingBoing.net, io9.com, Tor.com, Online Fandom, and WorldChanging. She is a member of the Cecil Street Irregulars, one of Toronto's oldest genre writers' workshops. She holds a M.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (her thesis was on anime, fan culture, and cyborg theory) and a M.Des. in strategic foresight & innovation (her project was on the future of border security). Currently, she is represented by Monica Pacheco of Anne McDermid & Associates.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 85 reviews
December 8, 2024
This anthology was compiled from invited contributions by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation - an organisation that works to promote a “Culture of Health”. In the Afterword regarding the request to the authors, they say:
It was a tough read, moving from one depressing dystopian vision of the future to another. In most of the stories, the despair of one of the characters is partially mitigated by the care and companionship of others.
There were a couple of stand out stories, though. The opening story “The Flotilla at Bird Island” does offer genuine hope in the context of the aftermath of extreme climate change - and I had hoped that that story was setting the tone for the rest of the book (alas not). Also “Obsolescence” by Martha Wells (the main reason for me reading this anthology) is a more conventional science fiction short story, set in the universe before her Murderbot stories, where the ability to have your body altered (improved?) by artificial implants forms the basis of the “augments” of the Murderbot stories.
So 3-stars for “The Flotilla at Bird Island”, 4-stars for “Obsolescence“, but they don’t sufficiently lift the anthology as a whole for me to recommend it above a 2-star read overall.
We tried to convey our hope and optimism. But we also encouraged them not to shy away from the harsh realities, injustices, and pain of the present day. We asked them to imagine the good and bad consequences of our actions or inactions on the near and far future. We then asked them to tell us a story about that time and place, about a Culture of Health. Ignite our passion to create that better place.I’m not sure they quite hit that final point, though. The book would better be titled “A Significantly Worse Place, With Only the Faintest Glimmer of Hope” (and even that would be misleading about the hope in at least one story).
It was a tough read, moving from one depressing dystopian vision of the future to another. In most of the stories, the despair of one of the characters is partially mitigated by the care and companionship of others.
There were a couple of stand out stories, though. The opening story “The Flotilla at Bird Island” does offer genuine hope in the context of the aftermath of extreme climate change - and I had hoped that that story was setting the tone for the rest of the book (alas not). Also “Obsolescence” by Martha Wells (the main reason for me reading this anthology) is a more conventional science fiction short story, set in the universe before her Murderbot stories, where the ability to have your body altered (improved?) by artificial implants forms the basis of the “augments” of the Murderbot stories.
So 3-stars for “The Flotilla at Bird Island”, 4-stars for “Obsolescence“, but they don’t sufficiently lift the anthology as a whole for me to recommend it above a 2-star read overall.
July 21, 2024
The trigger for this anthology seems to be the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Culture of Health vision. Had to look them up, here you go: https://www.rwjf.org/en/building-a-cu...
Mike McClelland, “The Flotilla at Bird Island”, 30 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — “Kyle and Bobby, long-lost lovers from different backgrounds, live in a United States where encroaching coastlines are wreaking havoc on health and well-being. When they reconnect, the disparities and inequities between their two worlds: a South ravaged by global warming and an eco-protected island in North Carolina are thrown into harsh juxtaposition.“
Too inconsequential, a bit shallow.
Hannah Lillith Assadi, “Paradise”, 22 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — “Rita is a Syrian refugee whose family has escaped the conflict to Arizona—but not without a cost. Her mother was killed back home, and her father and brother carry bullet wounds. Facing xenophobia and racism at school and work, Rita and her brother struggle every day in the face of systems and individuals who fail to support refugees and immigrants.“
Pretty depressing and claustrophobic. I liked it more than I thought I would though.
Yoon Ha Lee, „The Erasure Game”, 29 pages 🍫🍫🍫🍫— “In a future society, two teens find out what happens when seemingly innocuous "community games" serve a more sinister purpose. It turns out that these popular means of social interaction are quietly eroding civil liberties and privacy as neighbors collect data on one another and report it to shadowy rulers and a power hungry elite.“
Hm, interesting. I liked the writing style. In the context of this story collection we see people being forced into doing better. Big Brother is definitely watching in this one and the will to live self-determined in the end trumps a safe, but constantly watched life.
Achy Obejas, „The Sweet Spot”, 20 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ — “Isa, a woman with progressive hearing loss, is separating from her wife. It's not her decision. There's lots wrong in the marriage but also lots right, and she has developed a number of dependencies--many, in fact--around her hearing loss. As the marriage falls apart, Isa has to reconfigure who she is and how she finds support.“
Great relationship story. Not sure if I really understood the ending. Acceptance?
David A. Robertson, „Reclamation“, 22 pages 🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎 — “Daniel Goodroad, an American Indian teenager, is losing hope. Just as he's about to give up, he encounters a horse. Forming a natural bond, the two meet up with a Native elder, who helps Daniel reconnect with his culture. Equipped with the tools to raise himself up in order to reclaim both culture and community, Daniel—now an elder—demonstrates the power of recollection, reclamation, and preservation.“
Big surprise, it‘s a comic! Nice artwork, sweet story.
Martha Wells, „Obsolescence“, 27 pages 🤖🚀🤖🪐🤖 — “On a space station near Jupiter, station manager Jixy discovers one of her friends, Greggy, an "augmented human," has been brutally murdered. A semi-mythical figure called Piecework has been blamed for similar attacks on other stations. Determined to protect the people on herstation, Jixy sets out to see if Piecework—or someone else—is responsible for the crime.“
The reason I got this anthology. No Murderbot, sadly. But a fast-paced murder/who-dunnit with a twist.
Madeline Ashby, „Viral Content“, 26 pages 🦠🦠🦠 — “When a popular high school football player dies from a mystery illness, Glory, a reporter for a large online media conglomerate, is determined to get to the bottom of what happened before it spreads any further. But she finds herself up against the local sports culture and the conflicting goals of her employer.“
The story didn‘t do much for me.
Calvin Baker, „Brief Exercises in Mindfulness“, 19 pages 🏚️🏬🏚️ — Harry and Dean are just starting their adult lives in New York. An encounter with Raquin, who was forcibly evicted from the apartment they now rent, illuminates the trauma of gentrification and the struggle to be heard and understood in today's world.“
Well, that was utterly depressing.
Karen Lord, „The Plague Doctors“, 25 pages 🩺🩺🩺🩺🩺 — “In 2079, a mysterious illness called grey pox is killing large portions of the population. When the illness finally reached the remote Pelican Island, a team of researchers including Audra Lee—whose own young niece has been affected—must muster all of their meager resources to help find a cure.“
Part of 2021's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy stories
Well-told dystopian story. I liked the characters and connected emotionally. Not a small feat in 25 pages. I looked up the author, The Best of All Possible Worlds looks interesting (pastoral romance, SF, aliens, two cultures mixing).
Frank Bill, „The Masculine and the Dead“, 33 pages 🔪🐕🎣🦌 — “Having lost his wife to disease, ex-marine Guy, a rugged samaritan in his small-town community, struggles to reconnect with his only child. It's not until he steps in to care for the neglected son of an opioid-addicted man that he learns emotional responsibility and the skills to rebuild his severed ties.“
Blue-collar, mid-west US, child abuse, a little too verbose at first. The writing style did not agree with me, the story had some ugly elements that I am not keen of. Not a fan of dialogue in local dialects. But the story as such was not bad.
All of the stories are available for free here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
Mike McClelland, “The Flotilla at Bird Island”, 30 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — “Kyle and Bobby, long-lost lovers from different backgrounds, live in a United States where encroaching coastlines are wreaking havoc on health and well-being. When they reconnect, the disparities and inequities between their two worlds: a South ravaged by global warming and an eco-protected island in North Carolina are thrown into harsh juxtaposition.“
Too inconsequential, a bit shallow.
Hannah Lillith Assadi, “Paradise”, 22 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️ — “Rita is a Syrian refugee whose family has escaped the conflict to Arizona—but not without a cost. Her mother was killed back home, and her father and brother carry bullet wounds. Facing xenophobia and racism at school and work, Rita and her brother struggle every day in the face of systems and individuals who fail to support refugees and immigrants.“
Pretty depressing and claustrophobic. I liked it more than I thought I would though.
Yoon Ha Lee, „The Erasure Game”, 29 pages 🍫🍫🍫🍫— “In a future society, two teens find out what happens when seemingly innocuous "community games" serve a more sinister purpose. It turns out that these popular means of social interaction are quietly eroding civil liberties and privacy as neighbors collect data on one another and report it to shadowy rulers and a power hungry elite.“
Hm, interesting. I liked the writing style. In the context of this story collection we see people being forced into doing better. Big Brother is definitely watching in this one and the will to live self-determined in the end trumps a safe, but constantly watched life.
Achy Obejas, „The Sweet Spot”, 20 pages ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️½ — “Isa, a woman with progressive hearing loss, is separating from her wife. It's not her decision. There's lots wrong in the marriage but also lots right, and she has developed a number of dependencies--many, in fact--around her hearing loss. As the marriage falls apart, Isa has to reconfigure who she is and how she finds support.“
Great relationship story. Not sure if I really understood the ending. Acceptance?
David A. Robertson, „Reclamation“, 22 pages 🐎🐎🐎🐎🐎 — “Daniel Goodroad, an American Indian teenager, is losing hope. Just as he's about to give up, he encounters a horse. Forming a natural bond, the two meet up with a Native elder, who helps Daniel reconnect with his culture. Equipped with the tools to raise himself up in order to reclaim both culture and community, Daniel—now an elder—demonstrates the power of recollection, reclamation, and preservation.“
Big surprise, it‘s a comic! Nice artwork, sweet story.
Martha Wells, „Obsolescence“, 27 pages 🤖🚀🤖🪐🤖 — “On a space station near Jupiter, station manager Jixy discovers one of her friends, Greggy, an "augmented human," has been brutally murdered. A semi-mythical figure called Piecework has been blamed for similar attacks on other stations. Determined to protect the people on herstation, Jixy sets out to see if Piecework—or someone else—is responsible for the crime.“
The reason I got this anthology. No Murderbot, sadly. But a fast-paced murder/who-dunnit with a twist.
Madeline Ashby, „Viral Content“, 26 pages 🦠🦠🦠 — “When a popular high school football player dies from a mystery illness, Glory, a reporter for a large online media conglomerate, is determined to get to the bottom of what happened before it spreads any further. But she finds herself up against the local sports culture and the conflicting goals of her employer.“
The story didn‘t do much for me.
Calvin Baker, „Brief Exercises in Mindfulness“, 19 pages 🏚️🏬🏚️ — Harry and Dean are just starting their adult lives in New York. An encounter with Raquin, who was forcibly evicted from the apartment they now rent, illuminates the trauma of gentrification and the struggle to be heard and understood in today's world.“
Well, that was utterly depressing.
Karen Lord, „The Plague Doctors“, 25 pages 🩺🩺🩺🩺🩺 — “In 2079, a mysterious illness called grey pox is killing large portions of the population. When the illness finally reached the remote Pelican Island, a team of researchers including Audra Lee—whose own young niece has been affected—must muster all of their meager resources to help find a cure.“
Part of 2021's Best American Science Fiction and Fantasy stories
Well-told dystopian story. I liked the characters and connected emotionally. Not a small feat in 25 pages. I looked up the author, The Best of All Possible Worlds looks interesting (pastoral romance, SF, aliens, two cultures mixing).
Frank Bill, „The Masculine and the Dead“, 33 pages 🔪🐕🎣🦌 — “Having lost his wife to disease, ex-marine Guy, a rugged samaritan in his small-town community, struggles to reconnect with his only child. It's not until he steps in to care for the neglected son of an opioid-addicted man that he learns emotional responsibility and the skills to rebuild his severed ties.“
Blue-collar, mid-west US, child abuse, a little too verbose at first. The writing style did not agree with me, the story had some ugly elements that I am not keen of. Not a fan of dialogue in local dialects. But the story as such was not bad.
All of the stories are available for free here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
May 31, 2020
If you enjoy this review, please consider visiting my blog for more
NB—I received a free copy of this anthology for review via Netgalley, all opinions are honest and my own
The idea for this anthology—a collection of stories meant to shine a light on various issues occurring and worsening, and show potential solutions—is an interesting one, and the stories that resulted take very different approaches. I do feel the need to include a content warning for this anthology, there are mentions of and possibly other issues that I have forgotten. If you’d prefer to avoid sensitive matter related to the topics I just listed, Take Us to a Better Place Stories may not be for you.
The anthology starts off weak, in my opinion, and grows better from there. None of the stories are truly bad, but the solutions they seem to suggest are not always realistic. For example, The Flotilla at Bird Island sets up a plausible world ravaged by climate change, but the solution suggested is far less fleshed out. The characters in this story were also not very sympathetic or realistic, and while I enjoyed the story (the line “I wanted to ask of we could fly a bit farther, in the space in between...” ) is beautiful and found several parts touching or entertaining, I didn’t think the story was effective at inspiring change.
Paradise by Hannah Lillith Assadi was much better, and though the topics covered in the story—xenophobia, systematic inequality etc—are huge and seemingly insurmountable, the story delivers an inspiring message of hope, family and community. Rita is an interesting and nuanced character, and her backstory is brought to life beautifully.
The Erasure Game by Yoon Ha Lee was the reason I requested this anthology, and similar to his Machineries of Empire series this short story includes some non-binary representation. The story itself is quite different in tone from the previous work I have read from this author though, being quite reminiscent instead of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. There’s a distinctly non-apocalyptic dystopian feel to the story, and the conclusion reads like a bleak indication of where our current situation could lead, rather than a path we might take to a solution. What solution can there truly be to a society that quietly cedes rights in exchange for convenience and efficiency?
Achy Obejas’s The Sweet Spot comes next, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic and intersectional portrayal of living with a disability, I found the conclusion of the short story jumbled and confusing. I didn’t truly understand what social issue was being spotlighted, and didn’t think any solutions were proposed, realistic or otherwise. I truly enjoyed the characters and situations set up, but was not satisfied with the way the story ended.
Reclamation by David A Robertson is a story told in the form of comic strips—not my preferred medium. The story itself is a hopeful one, but perhaps due to the structure I though it spelled things out in a way I found almost reductive. Fans of a more visual style will likewise disagree, and the change of pace was a welcome one within the collection.
If the anthology started slowly, there is no doubt that it finishes strong. Obsolescence by Martha Wells was hands down one of my favourite within the anthology, and the science-fiction style of the short story was a marked change from the more modern/near-future feeling of the other stories. The short story sets up a classic closed-mystery scenario that drives tension remarkably well, and the story was thrilling and well-paced, while also allowing for commentary, character development and world-building. The portrayal of diligence on the part of adults, and the need to foster the innovation and optimistic idealism of future generations could not be more relevant than in a time when a sixteen-year-old was (deservedly) named the Times Person of the Year.
Madeline Ashby’s Viral Content is another strong entry in the anthology, presenting a strong case for the need for an engaged and free media to prevent blatant wrongdoings from occurring in the same ways they have continually happened in the past. I found the future of mega-corporations sourcing ‘hyper-local’ news to be eerily believable, and the characters and situations presented in the story were also (sadly) this way. Censorship is in no one’s best interest, and Gloryanna’s determination to find the truth was a fascinating portrayal of the way even the largest of organisations can be undone by the determination of individuals to protect the innocent.
Brief Exercises in Mindfulness was another story that missed the mark a little for me, perhaps because I didn’t understand what message the story was trying to send about gentrification, mental health or gender politics. The story had a non-traditional structure somewhat similar to the cult-classic film Pulp Fiction, and much like the movie the ending is not what you might expect.
Karen Lord’s The Plague Doctors was another of my favourites from the collection, and reminded me very strongly of the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant. Another frighteningly plausible disaster-scenario is set up, with the solution once more being the insistence of ordinary people on finding a better way. I loved the way Audra’s personal life intersected with and mirrored the effect the plague had on her community, and the story itself elegantly mirrors class divides, refugee treatments and medical crises flawlessly. This story was engrossing and incredibly written, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
The Masculine and the Dead by Frank Bill closes out the anthology, and also proposed as the solution for a myriad of problems. While the solution may seem simple, it is realistic, and this anthology is an amazing reminder that problems that seem too big for one person to face, let alone fix, need only the concerted effort of a concerned group. Guy—the protagonist of this story—while a strong and capable man, ultimately needs a variety of connections and relationships to enact real change.
Take Us to a Better Place Stories leaves you with a few less illusions about the inevitability of the problems the world is currently facing, and a quiet understanding that if enough people wished and worked for a difference, true change could come about. I’ll end this review with a thought from The Plague Doctors, it seems fitting.
“A luxury bunker is too narrow a world at any price. No more moats and walls. We will tend the garden for everyone.”
Take Us to a Better Place Stories releases on January 21st, and is available free from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
NB—I received a free copy of this anthology for review via Netgalley, all opinions are honest and my own
The idea for this anthology—a collection of stories meant to shine a light on various issues occurring and worsening, and show potential solutions—is an interesting one, and the stories that resulted take very different approaches. I do feel the need to include a content warning for this anthology, there are mentions of and possibly other issues that I have forgotten. If you’d prefer to avoid sensitive matter related to the topics I just listed, Take Us to a Better Place Stories may not be for you.
The anthology starts off weak, in my opinion, and grows better from there. None of the stories are truly bad, but the solutions they seem to suggest are not always realistic. For example, The Flotilla at Bird Island sets up a plausible world ravaged by climate change, but the solution suggested is far less fleshed out. The characters in this story were also not very sympathetic or realistic, and while I enjoyed the story (the line “I wanted to ask of we could fly a bit farther, in the space in between...” ) is beautiful and found several parts touching or entertaining, I didn’t think the story was effective at inspiring change.
Paradise by Hannah Lillith Assadi was much better, and though the topics covered in the story—xenophobia, systematic inequality etc—are huge and seemingly insurmountable, the story delivers an inspiring message of hope, family and community. Rita is an interesting and nuanced character, and her backstory is brought to life beautifully.
The Erasure Game by Yoon Ha Lee was the reason I requested this anthology, and similar to his Machineries of Empire series this short story includes some non-binary representation. The story itself is quite different in tone from the previous work I have read from this author though, being quite reminiscent instead of Scott Westerfeld’s Uglies series. There’s a distinctly non-apocalyptic dystopian feel to the story, and the conclusion reads like a bleak indication of where our current situation could lead, rather than a path we might take to a solution. What solution can there truly be to a society that quietly cedes rights in exchange for convenience and efficiency?
Achy Obejas’s The Sweet Spot comes next, and while I thoroughly enjoyed the realistic and intersectional portrayal of living with a disability, I found the conclusion of the short story jumbled and confusing. I didn’t truly understand what social issue was being spotlighted, and didn’t think any solutions were proposed, realistic or otherwise. I truly enjoyed the characters and situations set up, but was not satisfied with the way the story ended.
Reclamation by David A Robertson is a story told in the form of comic strips—not my preferred medium. The story itself is a hopeful one, but perhaps due to the structure I though it spelled things out in a way I found almost reductive. Fans of a more visual style will likewise disagree, and the change of pace was a welcome one within the collection.
If the anthology started slowly, there is no doubt that it finishes strong. Obsolescence by Martha Wells was hands down one of my favourite within the anthology, and the science-fiction style of the short story was a marked change from the more modern/near-future feeling of the other stories. The short story sets up a classic closed-mystery scenario that drives tension remarkably well, and the story was thrilling and well-paced, while also allowing for commentary, character development and world-building. The portrayal of diligence on the part of adults, and the need to foster the innovation and optimistic idealism of future generations could not be more relevant than in a time when a sixteen-year-old was (deservedly) named the Times Person of the Year.
Madeline Ashby’s Viral Content is another strong entry in the anthology, presenting a strong case for the need for an engaged and free media to prevent blatant wrongdoings from occurring in the same ways they have continually happened in the past. I found the future of mega-corporations sourcing ‘hyper-local’ news to be eerily believable, and the characters and situations presented in the story were also (sadly) this way. Censorship is in no one’s best interest, and Gloryanna’s determination to find the truth was a fascinating portrayal of the way even the largest of organisations can be undone by the determination of individuals to protect the innocent.
Brief Exercises in Mindfulness was another story that missed the mark a little for me, perhaps because I didn’t understand what message the story was trying to send about gentrification, mental health or gender politics. The story had a non-traditional structure somewhat similar to the cult-classic film Pulp Fiction, and much like the movie the ending is not what you might expect.
Karen Lord’s The Plague Doctors was another of my favourites from the collection, and reminded me very strongly of the Newsflesh series by Mira Grant. Another frighteningly plausible disaster-scenario is set up, with the solution once more being the insistence of ordinary people on finding a better way. I loved the way Audra’s personal life intersected with and mirrored the effect the plague had on her community, and the story itself elegantly mirrors class divides, refugee treatments and medical crises flawlessly. This story was engrossing and incredibly written, and I enjoyed every moment of it.
The Masculine and the Dead by Frank Bill closes out the anthology, and also proposed as the solution for a myriad of problems. While the solution may seem simple, it is realistic, and this anthology is an amazing reminder that problems that seem too big for one person to face, let alone fix, need only the concerted effort of a concerned group. Guy—the protagonist of this story—while a strong and capable man, ultimately needs a variety of connections and relationships to enact real change.
Take Us to a Better Place Stories leaves you with a few less illusions about the inevitability of the problems the world is currently facing, and a quiet understanding that if enough people wished and worked for a difference, true change could come about. I’ll end this review with a thought from The Plague Doctors, it seems fitting.
“A luxury bunker is too narrow a world at any price. No more moats and walls. We will tend the garden for everyone.”
Take Us to a Better Place Stories releases on January 21st, and is available free from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
Currently reading
May 6, 2023Read for "Obsolescence" by Martha Wells, set in the same universe but many years before the Murderbot series. A nursery space station commander and one of her young charges investigate the murder of a beloved teacher. I love the world building here, the characters feel like real people, and the mystery is chilling and compelling.
Available for free online here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
Available for free online here: https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
July 23, 2025
Review of the short story, "Obsolescence" by Martha Wells
Jixy is the human administrator of a small educational outpost on Kidland Station, near Jupiter. She is horrified when an unprecedented murder occurs. The victim is an “augmented human” named Greggy, and the brutal crime scene indicates deliberate harvesting of his augment components. Jixy places the station on lockdown, desperate to find out whether the killer is an intruder--or someone she knows and trusts.
I don't typically read murder mysteries unless there is a fascinating framework of either paranormal or science-fiction elements. This story definitely fits the bill. I love Martha Wells's writing, especially the Murderbot Diaries, and though this story isn't directly part of the MB series, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the prehistory of construct-human relations before SecUnits existed.
Despite its short length, this story is a fully realized whodunit with shades of techno-thriller. Wells’s world-building is, as always, brilliantly efficient and immersive. This story also reflects her greatest artistic strength: seamlessly blending action and compellingly supportive relationships between human beings and cyborgs. One of my favorite parts of the MB series, which is strongly present here, is its ethical complexity. The moral questions consistently explored in MB are: What makes a person? Who owns a body with non-human parts? How can powerful corporations, who blatantly engage in slavery, both of humans and cyborgs, be held to account? Across the length of this series, these questions point, gradually and (I hope) inevitably, toward the downfall of the corporations that profit from slavery.
As an MB completist and fan of sci-fi mysteries with heart, I found this story deeply satisfying.
Jixy is the human administrator of a small educational outpost on Kidland Station, near Jupiter. She is horrified when an unprecedented murder occurs. The victim is an “augmented human” named Greggy, and the brutal crime scene indicates deliberate harvesting of his augment components. Jixy places the station on lockdown, desperate to find out whether the killer is an intruder--or someone she knows and trusts.
I don't typically read murder mysteries unless there is a fascinating framework of either paranormal or science-fiction elements. This story definitely fits the bill. I love Martha Wells's writing, especially the Murderbot Diaries, and though this story isn't directly part of the MB series, it offers a fascinating glimpse into the prehistory of construct-human relations before SecUnits existed.
Despite its short length, this story is a fully realized whodunit with shades of techno-thriller. Wells’s world-building is, as always, brilliantly efficient and immersive. This story also reflects her greatest artistic strength: seamlessly blending action and compellingly supportive relationships between human beings and cyborgs. One of my favorite parts of the MB series, which is strongly present here, is its ethical complexity. The moral questions consistently explored in MB are: What makes a person? Who owns a body with non-human parts? How can powerful corporations, who blatantly engage in slavery, both of humans and cyborgs, be held to account? Across the length of this series, these questions point, gradually and (I hope) inevitably, toward the downfall of the corporations that profit from slavery.
As an MB completist and fan of sci-fi mysteries with heart, I found this story deeply satisfying.
July 4, 2022
I like the premise of writing sci-fi based on the concept of health/disease, and I like that every story was illustrated. But sadly the whole collection is quite weak, even the stories by authors that I like (the Martha Wells one was at least an average murder thriller bit). Cannot recommend this at all.
February 8, 2021
Oddly, this did not take me to a better place. Some of the stories were downers, others more stopped than ended. All of the science fiction stories were better than the non-genre stories. Maybe SF authors have more experience at weaving a topic into a story.
But none of the stories were five-star for me. The anthology is supposed to revolve around the Culture of Health idea from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I couldn't see any common threads beyond "health" being part of the plots. I could give the whole thing 3.5 stars, but without a standout, I'm rounding down.
For an anthology that really does take you to a better place (mostly), I recommend "Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic". https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
But none of the stories were five-star for me. The anthology is supposed to revolve around the Culture of Health idea from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. I couldn't see any common threads beyond "health" being part of the plots. I could give the whole thing 3.5 stars, but without a standout, I'm rounding down.
For an anthology that really does take you to a better place (mostly), I recommend "Consolation Songs: Optimistic Speculative Fiction For A Time of Pandemic". https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5...
August 11, 2024
I've only read "Obsolescence" by Martha Wells, but I might read the others someday.
It's a nice short story murder mystery that expands on the Murderbot universe, although it takes place much earlier. I like the parallels that can be made and the details that aren't explicitly spelled out but add a better understanding of the world. These added clues about the history of SecUnits and corporations bump the rating up for me. If I hadn't read Murderbot, I'd probably give this one a 3.5 for being a simple yet intriguing space mystery.
It's a nice short story murder mystery that expands on the Murderbot universe, although it takes place much earlier. I like the parallels that can be made and the details that aren't explicitly spelled out but add a better understanding of the world. These added clues about the history of SecUnits and corporations bump the rating up for me. If I hadn't read Murderbot, I'd probably give this one a 3.5 for being a simple yet intriguing space mystery.
September 10, 2025
Read this for Obsolescence and it was creeeepy
Want to read
January 21, 2020I've read a lot of RWJF's publications in my professional life, so I'm intrigued that they are now publishing fiction. Also, look at that author list!
February 2, 2022
dnf @ 23%. i was so bored. this book is definitely not for me.
September 8, 2024
I like short stories because they offer variety, much content in a condensed form, and can be read when you are overall busy and don't have time for epic 1000 page novels.
This collection, though, was unfortunately not what I expected. I understand the main topic of health to be an interesting axis for the stories, but besides that, it's a haphazard gathering of random texts, some of them rushed, others unclear. It feels like an editor was lacking to bring quality into some texts, and there is too much forword and afterword and ideological and quite naive commentaries (maybe that was the premise of this collection anyway - but to say that technological development works against health, is simply a factual error tinted with a large amount of bias).
In any case, should someone be interested to read, here goes a short assessment of the different stories.
1 (The Flotilla at the Bird Island) 2/5 - bland and itritating characters, unrealistic psychology, the admiration of the narrotor towards the other character annonoying and not at all justified. It's about a post-apocaliptic world in which a rich guy builds a refuge for some people with rather unexplained technology.
2 (Paradise) - 4/5 - a beautiful, heartwrenching, and insightful story about a Syrian girl managing a new life in the USA and her family harmed by the war. It shows that not all is black and white also among people who should support each other. I liked this one.
3 (The Erasure Game) 3/5 - an interesting premise, a bit stiff writing style, characters not too relatable. I wish it was better written. It is a stub of something that could be nice. It's about about health-obsessed totalitarian society that tracks every step of its citizens, of course, for their own good. The ending took me aback.
4 (The Sweet Spot) - 2.5/5 - I don't get the point of this story, and I can't relate to the characters at all, especially to Isa. I have no idea what the ending means. The story is about relationship problems between two women while one is losing her hearing and the other finds a new lover.
5 (Reclamation) - 2,5/5 - a short comic book, I didn't know how to score. It was about the identity of Northen American Native inhabinants, finding a purpose in life, a bit about spirituality. The story is rather poorly written, very rushed, and rudimentary. It feels ideological. The drawings are nice, though not brilliant.
6 (Obsolescence) - 3,5/5 - the story by Martha Wells of Murderbot, and the reason why I reached out for this book as a Murderbot fan. The story is not about Murderbot, btw. ;) I enjoyed it quite a lot, but the author is capable of much more, and she wasn't at her best here. It feels like recycled material from something else, but it still holds together, somewhat. The story is about a murder at a space station and inequalities that caused it.
7 (Viral Content) - 3/5 - it is about a journalist making an investigation of a lost person in a futuristic setting involving health issues and inequalities. The premise is interesting, but the plot is jumping and unclear, the writing style is a bit rough, and at some point, the story becomes horribly rushed. The plot part when things are getting interesting is totally ommited and then only summarized in a couple of paras as if the author got tired and wanted to get over with it.
8 (Brief Exercises in Mindfulness) - 2.5/5 - Another story with a beginner feel - or lack of editing. I don't like how the pov is shifting all the time, how confusing the narrartion is, and it is not clear what the point exactly is. The story talks about a life crisis of a guy who does not fit in.
9 (The Plague Doctors) - 2/5 - This one is full of plot holes like Swiss cheese. It's really tough to find why what happened. Also, the worldbuilding is full of unclarities, and it is generally easy to get lost. It is about a pandemic and a doctor who tries to do something to prevent it.
10 (The Masculine and the Dead) - 4/5 - This might be my favourite story in the book. It is about a veteran struggling with PTSD and family issues, who gets to help a boy mistreated by his father. I think it is the most emotional story of all here, with much tension building up throughout the text. You can feel the characters, and you want justice to happen. Though I disaprove of hunting and would not like to be a soldier, I could totally feel and sumpathise with Guy and his philosophy of life and the way he dealt with his struggles through hard work, effort and supporting others. I know it is supposed to be about masculinity, but I think I feel myself in his morals and approach to work, also the type of work - doing things with my hands. Maybe I am masculine in that sense. ;)
As a downside, there are some unclear moments, and some dialogues are a bit rigit. The soldier life is too idealised, but it does not really spoil the story.
This collection, though, was unfortunately not what I expected. I understand the main topic of health to be an interesting axis for the stories, but besides that, it's a haphazard gathering of random texts, some of them rushed, others unclear. It feels like an editor was lacking to bring quality into some texts, and there is too much forword and afterword and ideological and quite naive commentaries (maybe that was the premise of this collection anyway - but to say that technological development works against health, is simply a factual error tinted with a large amount of bias).
In any case, should someone be interested to read, here goes a short assessment of the different stories.
1 (The Flotilla at the Bird Island) 2/5 - bland and itritating characters, unrealistic psychology, the admiration of the narrotor towards the other character annonoying and not at all justified. It's about a post-apocaliptic world in which a rich guy builds a refuge for some people with rather unexplained technology.
2 (Paradise) - 4/5 - a beautiful, heartwrenching, and insightful story about a Syrian girl managing a new life in the USA and her family harmed by the war. It shows that not all is black and white also among people who should support each other. I liked this one.
3 (The Erasure Game) 3/5 - an interesting premise, a bit stiff writing style, characters not too relatable. I wish it was better written. It is a stub of something that could be nice. It's about about health-obsessed totalitarian society that tracks every step of its citizens, of course, for their own good. The ending took me aback.
4 (The Sweet Spot) - 2.5/5 - I don't get the point of this story, and I can't relate to the characters at all, especially to Isa. I have no idea what the ending means. The story is about relationship problems between two women while one is losing her hearing and the other finds a new lover.
5 (Reclamation) - 2,5/5 - a short comic book, I didn't know how to score. It was about the identity of Northen American Native inhabinants, finding a purpose in life, a bit about spirituality. The story is rather poorly written, very rushed, and rudimentary. It feels ideological. The drawings are nice, though not brilliant.
6 (Obsolescence) - 3,5/5 - the story by Martha Wells of Murderbot, and the reason why I reached out for this book as a Murderbot fan. The story is not about Murderbot, btw. ;) I enjoyed it quite a lot, but the author is capable of much more, and she wasn't at her best here. It feels like recycled material from something else, but it still holds together, somewhat. The story is about a murder at a space station and inequalities that caused it.
7 (Viral Content) - 3/5 - it is about a journalist making an investigation of a lost person in a futuristic setting involving health issues and inequalities. The premise is interesting, but the plot is jumping and unclear, the writing style is a bit rough, and at some point, the story becomes horribly rushed. The plot part when things are getting interesting is totally ommited and then only summarized in a couple of paras as if the author got tired and wanted to get over with it.
8 (Brief Exercises in Mindfulness) - 2.5/5 - Another story with a beginner feel - or lack of editing. I don't like how the pov is shifting all the time, how confusing the narrartion is, and it is not clear what the point exactly is. The story talks about a life crisis of a guy who does not fit in.
9 (The Plague Doctors) - 2/5 - This one is full of plot holes like Swiss cheese. It's really tough to find why what happened. Also, the worldbuilding is full of unclarities, and it is generally easy to get lost. It is about a pandemic and a doctor who tries to do something to prevent it.
10 (The Masculine and the Dead) - 4/5 - This might be my favourite story in the book. It is about a veteran struggling with PTSD and family issues, who gets to help a boy mistreated by his father. I think it is the most emotional story of all here, with much tension building up throughout the text. You can feel the characters, and you want justice to happen. Though I disaprove of hunting and would not like to be a soldier, I could totally feel and sumpathise with Guy and his philosophy of life and the way he dealt with his struggles through hard work, effort and supporting others. I know it is supposed to be about masculinity, but I think I feel myself in his morals and approach to work, also the type of work - doing things with my hands. Maybe I am masculine in that sense. ;)
As a downside, there are some unclear moments, and some dialogues are a bit rigit. The soldier life is too idealised, but it does not really spoil the story.
November 13, 2025
The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation commissioned eleven writers to create ten short stories to “help us envision alternatives to present-day inequities” in health and wellness. (p. 274) The term “health” is broadly defined— “physical and mental and emotional, social and spiritual.” (p. 8) “We turned to writers to help us envision a Culture of Health,” comment Michael W. Painter and Jody Struve for the Foundation, “because history has shown us that stories have the power to shape our culture.” (p. 275)
The stories I enjoyed focused on human relationships, ethics, and compassion. For example, “Paradise,” by Hannah Lillith Assadi, is a story about a Syrian refugee girl faced with the challenges of the health bureaucracy in Arizona. “Reclamation,” by David A. Robertson, shows the impact of intergenerational trauma with the spotlight on a Dakota Indian boy. “The Masculine and the Dead,” by Frank Bill, features a widowed Marine veteran dealing with an abused neighbor boy and in the process, finding reconciliation with his young adult son.
The stories using fantasy and technology to imagine how health and wellness might be managed in the distant future were less interesting to me. Although “Star Trek” and “Star Wars” have enormous popular appeal, I never acquired a taste for science fiction. Nonetheless, hats off to those futurists who accepted the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s challenge to explore how healthcare issues might evolve decades from now.
The strength of Take Us to a Better Place is the high-level commentary in the foreword, introduction, and afterword, where the stories are analyzed within the framework of the overall project. In addition to the stories, the book has illustrations by artists commissioned for the project. I like the idea of addressing public issues such as health and wellness with art and stories. Essays on such subjects will come alive as I mentally recall these stories.
After I finished the book, my thoughts returned to the words in Romans 8:24-25. “Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” As we seek to move to a better place with greater equity and quality of health and wellness, we do so without a clear blueprint. Yet waiting for it with patience does not mean passive inaction. We should stay alert to possibilities, not merely in technology, but in compassion.
Read
August 1, 2025The theme is health. The Forward by Roxane Gay sets the tone for what the rest of the anthology is meant to achieve. This is followed by an Introduction and several stories that explore a range of topics dealing with health. Now, the majority of the stories are more like cautionary tales in that they are not frolicking happily ever after pieces- in fact, quite the contrary in some cases. I was only familiar with the names of a handful of the authors. But, that is the beauty of an anthology- taste-testing in smaller morsels, the authors' works.
Now, confession time, I chose to pick this free anthology up (thank you to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for sponsoring the antho and making it free to readers) because I have enjoyed several Martha Wells' stories, novellas and novels in fantasy and sci-fi genres. Her entry in Take Us to a Better Place is set in her far-future sci-fi Murderbot Diaries' world with this story, Obsolescence, a prequel set long before Murderbot came along.
Obsolescence presents a murder mystery set on a small space station that is a training center for young children. The station commander and a young Nancy Drew wannabe kid track evidence to the killer of an old out-moded Rover who is a well-loved teacher and mentor to the children. It was well-developed for a shorter piece and had really good tension. I think I got more out of it than someone who'd never read the Murderbot Diaries because when the story mentioned 'Rovers' and 'Corporations' I had the series background to take more from it. Yes, series fans will really appreciate this one, but I think newcomers can still enjoy it and get a taste for Martha Wells' storytelling ability.
Overall, this was a fast read and doesn't apologize for hitting hard on the consequences for not heeding the need for various forms of health care. The world and future are a dreary place when things are askew. So it wasn't necessarily full of entertaining reading, but was good reading.
Now, confession time, I chose to pick this free anthology up (thank you to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for sponsoring the antho and making it free to readers) because I have enjoyed several Martha Wells' stories, novellas and novels in fantasy and sci-fi genres. Her entry in Take Us to a Better Place is set in her far-future sci-fi Murderbot Diaries' world with this story, Obsolescence, a prequel set long before Murderbot came along.
Obsolescence presents a murder mystery set on a small space station that is a training center for young children. The station commander and a young Nancy Drew wannabe kid track evidence to the killer of an old out-moded Rover who is a well-loved teacher and mentor to the children. It was well-developed for a shorter piece and had really good tension. I think I got more out of it than someone who'd never read the Murderbot Diaries because when the story mentioned 'Rovers' and 'Corporations' I had the series background to take more from it. Yes, series fans will really appreciate this one, but I think newcomers can still enjoy it and get a taste for Martha Wells' storytelling ability.
Overall, this was a fast read and doesn't apologize for hitting hard on the consequences for not heeding the need for various forms of health care. The world and future are a dreary place when things are askew. So it wasn't necessarily full of entertaining reading, but was good reading.
October 7, 2021
It's more like a 3.5 really.
Of course, in an anthology you're always going to find stories you like better than others. Most of these had some valuable contemplations about the roles of community, (income) inequality, politics,... in health outcomes.
It's a free read (no, really!) so I'd still recommend this to anyone who might be interested in contemplating the future of our healthcare system through different angles and prompts.
However, I felt like there was still something missing from this whole book. I sort of missed seeing authors like Tara Moss here, someone whose perspective would be influenced by their lived experience as a chronically ill author. I don't know every writer's lived experience but somehow still felt like this was missing.
Of course, in an anthology you're always going to find stories you like better than others. Most of these had some valuable contemplations about the roles of community, (income) inequality, politics,... in health outcomes.
It's a free read (no, really!) so I'd still recommend this to anyone who might be interested in contemplating the future of our healthcare system through different angles and prompts.
However, I felt like there was still something missing from this whole book. I sort of missed seeing authors like Tara Moss here, someone whose perspective would be influenced by their lived experience as a chronically ill author. I don't know every writer's lived experience but somehow still felt like this was missing.
April 24, 2025
My understanding of the prompts for these short stories were supposed to inspire hope and a culture of health, well-being and community, but most of the stories instead felt very hopeless and dystopian. I read specifically for Martha Wells, whose story I still enjoyed though isn't her strongest writing. One or two others in the anthology held my interest as well. The rest was a slog to get through with little enjoyment or cathartic payoff or resolution. Depressing and many failed to fit a sci-fi genre.
March 1, 2025
I was drawn to this book mainly for Martha Well's story. The writing of the other stories was sometimes confusing, sometimes great, but mostly perfectly adequate. Overall, this collection achieved its goal of provoking to you to consider what our future culture of health should look like, and I recommend it.
April 16, 2024
Almost didn’t finish at 90% because I hated the last short story so much. Martha Wells’s was great as always, and a couple others were interesting enough, but the rest was SO depressing. I was expecting hopepunk sci-fi but it definitely did not inspire hope and only a couple were really sci-fi.
Read
August 22, 2025I went looking for this for the pre-Murderbot story by Martha Wells, of course. Which was enjoyable and an interesting look into what eventually evolved into the Murderbot 'verse. But there were plenty of other interesting stories in here, too, and I did not regret reading the lot.
July 18, 2024
Great collection of short stories, with a dystopian/futuristic twist. Loved it!
June 28, 2025
A depressing mess of dystopia and despair
This book should come with a warning label. Depictions of self harm, sexual abuse, gaslighting, alienation, disability, disempowerment and a truly bleak portrait of just how low the bar is for hope in many marginalized communities.
These are not stories of health, they stories of how far away from health we are and how low the bar is for improvement.
Read at your own risk.
This book should come with a warning label. Depictions of self harm, sexual abuse, gaslighting, alienation, disability, disempowerment and a truly bleak portrait of just how low the bar is for hope in many marginalized communities.
These are not stories of health, they stories of how far away from health we are and how low the bar is for improvement.
Read at your own risk.
April 14, 2020
Trying to pick a book to read during a plague is not easy. For once in my life I didn't want complete escapism; I wanted something relevant to what was going on around me. But still some escapism! This book of excellent short fiction related to healthcare is just what I needed. Amazing, entertaining, not always comfortable but always good. Highly recommend y'all read it nao.
Read
September 22, 2021there's a really cool short story set in the murderbot universe here, this should be put in the murderbot series list of books. we learn a lot about the rovers, ancestors of the secunits, and we can see the various corporations already lurking in the background, ready to take over. Healthcare was already a theme in the murderbot universe so it was really cool to see it explored more in depth :)
May 3, 2025
Again, I only read the Martha Wells story, but I enjoyed it so much, it was such an interesting look at the past of the Murderbot world!
*First Read July 10th, 2023*
I only read the short story set in the Murderbot world, Obsolescence, and it was a fantastic murder mystery, set at the beginning of human space expansion and it was so good!
*First Read July 10th, 2023*
I only read the short story set in the Murderbot world, Obsolescence, and it was a fantastic murder mystery, set at the beginning of human space expansion and it was so good!
Read
October 2, 2020I give up. It may have gotten more interesting after the two (two!) introduction/preface things that summarized all the stories, and after the very awkward first story, but if I've been procrastinating going back to it for ten months, I think it's pretty obvious that I'm not going to finish it.
October 21, 2023
Like most short story collections, this one had hits and misses (which will surely differ by reader). My favorites were "Obsolescence," "The Plague Doctors," and "The Erasure Game."
I encourage you not to skip the foreword or afterword, and the little blurbs with the author bios at the end where each author tells a bit about what their story meant to them in the "Culture of Health" context of the anthology was really enlightening and helped things fall into place.
Average story rating: 2.9/5
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June 17, 2023:
I'm also using this space to review "Compulsory" (Murderbot #0.5) since it can't be listed in the goodreads database (for being originally published in a magazine).
Compulsory by Martha Wells (approx 4 pages)
3 stars
This was a really short story, about Murderbot stationed in a mine shortly after hacking its governor module (it's currently on episode 44 of watching Sanctuary Moon). This shows us that Murderbot, fresh to the concept of free will, is already willing to subvert protocol to save human lives. And not even humans it's attached to or friends with.
"Apparently getting free will after having 93 percent of your behavior controlled for your entire existence will do weird things to your impulse control."
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June 17-18, 2023:
Obsolescence by Martha Wells (pages 164-195; 31p)
4 stars
This was really good and really sad.
A precursor to Wells' Murderbot universe, this story takes place on a space station in Earth's solar system. It sounds like human space exploration has not yet left the solar system, although there are a lot of stations set up within our ss and various mining operations on planets, moons, and asteroids, as well as planetary governments for Luna and Mars.
This station, creatively named Kidland, is a school/station admin training facility and employs a lot of elderly workers. Our main character, Jixy, is the youngest adult on the station at 35 and the only one without augments. Augments are prevalent for medical reasons, and though there doesn't seem to be a Feed right now, there are interfaces that coordinate augments and biological processes. The government had a volunteer program for human volunteers (mostly with catastrophic medical problems) to be very heavily augmented (replacing all limbs) and work as Rovers to build on and colonize Luna and Mars. But as we learn through the story, the shady corporation practices familiar in Murderbot's time have already begun.
It was interesting having more of a mystery/thriller/detective vibe as opposed to the action and hacking we get with Murderbot. We also get into some horror vibes as things progress. This really felt like a futuristic detective show and that was fun. We also got some deep emotions and character explorations, impressive for such a short page count.
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June 24 & 27, 2023:
The Flotilla at Bird Island by Mike McClelland
3.5 stars
I liked the vibe in this story, and the concept was really interesting.
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Sept 7 & 19, 2023:
Paradise by Hannah Lillith Assadi
2.5 stars
I was bored at first but in a small way the story became interesting to me. In the beginning, I was intrigued by how we were examining and using language in a lot of different ways. I was very annoyed that I couldn't always translate the Arabic; I saw online that some of it is spelled phonetically. But I'd rather have meaning than sound. I didn't really care for the snapshot nature of the plot rather than there being a satisfying arc or ending, although the final scene was my favorite part.
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Sept 19 & 20, 2023:
The Erasure Game by Yoon Ha Lee
3.5 stars
I really enjoyed this story, especially up until the ending, even though it was really confusing to be dropped into the middle of such a specific environment and having to pick up details on the way. Idk if it's because I didn't get to read it all in one day or what, but the ending felt very rushed and flat and unresolved to me. But most of it was really interesting and exciting. It reminded me a lot of The Every by Dave Eggers. I'd like to read more set in this world.
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Sept 21 & 22, 2023:
The Sweet Spot by Achy Obejas
2.5 stars
I really don't know what to make of this story, and the ending didn't help. There was a lot of jumping around and I don't feel like things really circled back and tied together like they should have. Help, does someone else "get" this?
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Sept 25, 2023:
Reclamation by David A Robertson & Selena Goulding (illst.)
2.5 stars
A ~20 page graphic which felt really short. Nice meaning though.
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Sept 25-26, 2023:
Viral Content by Madeline Ashby
3 stars
I actually got chills at the ending.
Felt like a lot of buildup with too short of a wrap-up to be fully satisfying though. A hometown investigative-journalism high-school-football virus juvie coverup. Sounds like a lot going on, but it all works.
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Oct 10-11, 2023:
Brief Exercises in Mindfulness by Calvin Baker
1.5 stars
I'm not entirely sure what the point of this story was supposed to be, other than "life is depressing and no one actually has their shit together" maybe, which most of us don't need a reminder for.
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Oct 11 & 21, 2023:
The Plague Doctors by Karen Lord
4.5 stars
I love virus/plague stories.
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Oct 21, 2023:
The Masculine and the Dead by Frank Bill
1.5 stars
I hated this story to start with. Unnecessarily fluffed up descriptions that weren't even clear all the time. Writing everything out in hick speak. Poor rural veteran, been done a hundred times before. I skimmed a lot, honestly. At least the main character was aiming for "betterment" for everyone and actually getting somehwere. And the story turned out okay when we got more into the bonds between Guy, Bo, and Hodge. An unexpectedly happy ending.
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Original notes April 29, 2023:
[Contains a short story in the Murderbot universe]
https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
I encourage you not to skip the foreword or afterword, and the little blurbs with the author bios at the end where each author tells a bit about what their story meant to them in the "Culture of Health" context of the anthology was really enlightening and helped things fall into place.
Average story rating: 2.9/5
----------------------------------------------
June 17, 2023:
I'm also using this space to review "Compulsory" (Murderbot #0.5) since it can't be listed in the goodreads database (for being originally published in a magazine).
Compulsory by Martha Wells (approx 4 pages)
3 stars
This was a really short story, about Murderbot stationed in a mine shortly after hacking its governor module (it's currently on episode 44 of watching Sanctuary Moon). This shows us that Murderbot, fresh to the concept of free will, is already willing to subvert protocol to save human lives. And not even humans it's attached to or friends with.
"Apparently getting free will after having 93 percent of your behavior controlled for your entire existence will do weird things to your impulse control."
----------------------------------------------
June 17-18, 2023:
Obsolescence by Martha Wells (pages 164-195; 31p)
4 stars
This was really good and really sad.
A precursor to Wells' Murderbot universe, this story takes place on a space station in Earth's solar system. It sounds like human space exploration has not yet left the solar system, although there are a lot of stations set up within our ss and various mining operations on planets, moons, and asteroids, as well as planetary governments for Luna and Mars.
This station, creatively named Kidland, is a school/station admin training facility and employs a lot of elderly workers. Our main character, Jixy, is the youngest adult on the station at 35 and the only one without augments. Augments are prevalent for medical reasons, and though there doesn't seem to be a Feed right now, there are interfaces that coordinate augments and biological processes. The government had a volunteer program for human volunteers (mostly with catastrophic medical problems) to be very heavily augmented (replacing all limbs) and work as Rovers to build on and colonize Luna and Mars. But as we learn through the story, the shady corporation practices familiar in Murderbot's time have already begun.
It was interesting having more of a mystery/thriller/detective vibe as opposed to the action and hacking we get with Murderbot. We also get into some horror vibes as things progress. This really felt like a futuristic detective show and that was fun. We also got some deep emotions and character explorations, impressive for such a short page count.
----------------------------------------------
June 24 & 27, 2023:
The Flotilla at Bird Island by Mike McClelland
3.5 stars
I liked the vibe in this story, and the concept was really interesting.
----------------------------------------------
Sept 7 & 19, 2023:
Paradise by Hannah Lillith Assadi
2.5 stars
I was bored at first but in a small way the story became interesting to me. In the beginning, I was intrigued by how we were examining and using language in a lot of different ways. I was very annoyed that I couldn't always translate the Arabic; I saw online that some of it is spelled phonetically. But I'd rather have meaning than sound. I didn't really care for the snapshot nature of the plot rather than there being a satisfying arc or ending, although the final scene was my favorite part.
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Sept 19 & 20, 2023:
The Erasure Game by Yoon Ha Lee
3.5 stars
I really enjoyed this story, especially up until the ending, even though it was really confusing to be dropped into the middle of such a specific environment and having to pick up details on the way. Idk if it's because I didn't get to read it all in one day or what, but the ending felt very rushed and flat and unresolved to me. But most of it was really interesting and exciting. It reminded me a lot of The Every by Dave Eggers. I'd like to read more set in this world.
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Sept 21 & 22, 2023:
The Sweet Spot by Achy Obejas
2.5 stars
I really don't know what to make of this story, and the ending didn't help. There was a lot of jumping around and I don't feel like things really circled back and tied together like they should have. Help, does someone else "get" this?
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Sept 25, 2023:
Reclamation by David A Robertson & Selena Goulding (illst.)
2.5 stars
A ~20 page graphic which felt really short. Nice meaning though.
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Sept 25-26, 2023:
Viral Content by Madeline Ashby
3 stars
I actually got chills at the ending.
Felt like a lot of buildup with too short of a wrap-up to be fully satisfying though. A hometown investigative-journalism high-school-football virus juvie coverup. Sounds like a lot going on, but it all works.
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Oct 10-11, 2023:
Brief Exercises in Mindfulness by Calvin Baker
1.5 stars
I'm not entirely sure what the point of this story was supposed to be, other than "life is depressing and no one actually has their shit together" maybe, which most of us don't need a reminder for.
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Oct 11 & 21, 2023:
The Plague Doctors by Karen Lord
4.5 stars
I love virus/plague stories.
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Oct 21, 2023:
The Masculine and the Dead by Frank Bill
1.5 stars
I hated this story to start with. Unnecessarily fluffed up descriptions that weren't even clear all the time. Writing everything out in hick speak. Poor rural veteran, been done a hundred times before. I skimmed a lot, honestly. At least the main character was aiming for "betterment" for everyone and actually getting somehwere. And the story turned out okay when we got more into the bonds between Guy, Bo, and Hodge. An unexpectedly happy ending.
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Original notes April 29, 2023:
[Contains a short story in the Murderbot universe]
https://www.rwjf.org/en/about-rwjf/ho...
August 31, 2025
3.5 stars
This was kind of a mixed bag as far as anthologies go. Some of the stories I enjoyed quite a bit: "The Flotilla at Bird Island," by Mike McClelland, "Reclamation," by David A. Robertson, "Obsolescence," by Martha Wells (the reason I picked this up in the first place), "Viral Content," by Madeline Ashby, and "The Plague Doctors," by Karen Lord. The other stories, while I can absolutely see their merit, just weren't really for me for one reason or another. I would still recommend this anthology, though, both the book and audiobook. (The narrators did a very nice job.) I love that it includes so many different perspectives from its slate of authors and poses so many interesting questions about humanity and our relationship to health and healthcare, looking at how that relationship affects our daily lives, individually and communally, and how it might affect us in the future in both positive and negative ways.
CW: violence, war violence, blood/gore, dead bodies & discussions of autopsies, murder, death, illness (including pandemic/plague with quarantining & mass death), medical situations, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hate crimes, child abuse (possibly including CSA, not specified), ableism (including use of at least one slur), substance use/abuse, self-harm, suicide/attempted suicide, mental illness (PTSD, depression, anxiety), homophobia (including slurs), discussion of internment camps/detention centers (I think that's everything, but in all likelihood, I've missed something, so I apologize if that's the case.)
This was kind of a mixed bag as far as anthologies go. Some of the stories I enjoyed quite a bit: "The Flotilla at Bird Island," by Mike McClelland, "Reclamation," by David A. Robertson, "Obsolescence," by Martha Wells (the reason I picked this up in the first place), "Viral Content," by Madeline Ashby, and "The Plague Doctors," by Karen Lord. The other stories, while I can absolutely see their merit, just weren't really for me for one reason or another. I would still recommend this anthology, though, both the book and audiobook. (The narrators did a very nice job.) I love that it includes so many different perspectives from its slate of authors and poses so many interesting questions about humanity and our relationship to health and healthcare, looking at how that relationship affects our daily lives, individually and communally, and how it might affect us in the future in both positive and negative ways.
CW: violence, war violence, blood/gore, dead bodies & discussions of autopsies, murder, death, illness (including pandemic/plague with quarantining & mass death), medical situations, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hate crimes, child abuse (possibly including CSA, not specified), ableism (including use of at least one slur), substance use/abuse, self-harm, suicide/attempted suicide, mental illness (PTSD, depression, anxiety), homophobia (including slurs), discussion of internment camps/detention centers (I think that's everything, but in all likelihood, I've missed something, so I apologize if that's the case.)
December 18, 2024
I picked up this book because it was listed as having a Murderbot Diaries short story in it. The story in question takes place in the universe of Murderbot Diaries, but does not include Murderbot himself. It was an alright short story, a closed-door mystery, but the ending felt forced, rushed, and unfulfilling. The rest of the stories in the book were equally unfulfilling, with only two that had satisfying resolutions, one that had a confusing ending, and the rest were just outright depressing endings.
Reading the description of the book, I thought it would be more hopeful, but they were tragically realistic in their portrayal of the human condition, especially when it comes to healthcare disparity in relation to wealth and privilege. Some of the stories are set very close to our present, if not just outright in our present, and some are set far off in a future that can only be imagined in sci-fi, but the struggles are very real regardless of when and where they take place.
I wouldn't recommend this to a lot of people just because it really drags you through an emotional gutter. It's much more for the reader who likes cerebral writing and sitting with what the stories challenge you to think about. It would be good for sparking deep discussions on the various topics, perspectives, and emotions that the stories draw upon and bring up — perhaps for literature and ethics courses.
Reading the description of the book, I thought it would be more hopeful, but they were tragically realistic in their portrayal of the human condition, especially when it comes to healthcare disparity in relation to wealth and privilege. Some of the stories are set very close to our present, if not just outright in our present, and some are set far off in a future that can only be imagined in sci-fi, but the struggles are very real regardless of when and where they take place.
I wouldn't recommend this to a lot of people just because it really drags you through an emotional gutter. It's much more for the reader who likes cerebral writing and sitting with what the stories challenge you to think about. It would be good for sparking deep discussions on the various topics, perspectives, and emotions that the stories draw upon and bring up — perhaps for literature and ethics courses.
August 31, 2025
3.5 stars
This was kind of a mixed bag as far as anthologies go. Some of the stories I enjoyed quite a bit: "The Flotilla at Bird Island," by Mike McClelland, "Reclamation," by David A. Robertson, "Obsolescence," by Martha Wells (the reason I picked this up in the first place), "Viral Content," by Madeline Ashby, and "The Plague Doctors," by Karen Lord. The other stories, while I can absolutely see their merit, just weren't really for me for one reason or another. I would still recommend this anthology, though. I love that it includes so many different perspectives from its slate of authors and poses so many interesting questions about humanity and our relationship to health and healthcare, looking at how that relationship affects our daily lives, individually and communally, and how it might affect us in the future in both positive and negative ways.
CW: violence, war violence, blood/gore, dead bodies & discussions of autopsies, murder, death, illness (including pandemic/plague with quarantining & mass death), medical situations, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hate crimes, child abuse (possibly including CSA, not specified), ableism (including use of at least one slur), substance use/abuse, self-harm, suicide/attempted suicide, mental illness (PTSD, depression, anxiety), homophobia (including slurs), discussion of internment camps/detention centers (I think that's everything, but in all likelihood, I've missed something, so I apologize if that's the case.)
This was kind of a mixed bag as far as anthologies go. Some of the stories I enjoyed quite a bit: "The Flotilla at Bird Island," by Mike McClelland, "Reclamation," by David A. Robertson, "Obsolescence," by Martha Wells (the reason I picked this up in the first place), "Viral Content," by Madeline Ashby, and "The Plague Doctors," by Karen Lord. The other stories, while I can absolutely see their merit, just weren't really for me for one reason or another. I would still recommend this anthology, though. I love that it includes so many different perspectives from its slate of authors and poses so many interesting questions about humanity and our relationship to health and healthcare, looking at how that relationship affects our daily lives, individually and communally, and how it might affect us in the future in both positive and negative ways.
CW: violence, war violence, blood/gore, dead bodies & discussions of autopsies, murder, death, illness (including pandemic/plague with quarantining & mass death), medical situations, racism, xenophobia, Islamophobia, hate crimes, child abuse (possibly including CSA, not specified), ableism (including use of at least one slur), substance use/abuse, self-harm, suicide/attempted suicide, mental illness (PTSD, depression, anxiety), homophobia (including slurs), discussion of internment camps/detention centers (I think that's everything, but in all likelihood, I've missed something, so I apologize if that's the case.)
February 22, 2025
I read this only for one specific short story, "Obsolescence" by Martha Wells. It's listed as a Murderbot story, but doesn't feature them. Instead, this is set in the old Earth solar system, a few hundred years after humans bootstrapped off the planet and have spread out across the system. It takes place on a remote station where dozens of humans and rovers (former humans augmented into robot forms) coexist to raise children. Then comes the day Greggy is found murdered, and Jixy, the youngest human adult aboard, must solve his death. The evidence begins to pile up, Greggy's comms are missing, the murder weapon is not from the station but was brought aboard. With the help of a particularly observant kid named Lilly, Jixy tracks down the killer, which surprises her.
While I found the narration a bit jumbled, things eventually become clear by the end. This story kind of illustrates the idea of what a truly a rogue SecUnit would be doing in the Murderbot universe. I'm curious if this will ever be referenced in later Murderbot stories somehow. If it's truly canon or just a in-universe myth.
3.25 stars.
While I found the narration a bit jumbled, things eventually become clear by the end. This story kind of illustrates the idea of what a truly a rogue SecUnit would be doing in the Murderbot universe. I'm curious if this will ever be referenced in later Murderbot stories somehow. If it's truly canon or just a in-universe myth.
3.25 stars.
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