Bridesicle

by Will McIntosh (Writer)

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, LGBT, Speculative Fiction, Fantasy, Death

Unknown Binding

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Will McIntosh is a Hugo Award-winning science fiction author, and a winner or finalist of many other awards. His alien invasion novel Defenders, is currently optioned for a feature film, while his Middle Grades novel The Classmate has been optioned for a TV series by Disney/ABC.

Along with ten novels that have been translated into nine different languages, Will has published over sixty short stories in magazines such as Asimov's Science Fiction, Clarkesworld, and Lightspeed.

Will was a psychology professor before turning to writing full time. He lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, and is the father of twins. You can follow him on Twitter @willmcintoshSF.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

WELCOME TO DECEMBER PROJECT!

this explanation/intro will be posted before each day’s short story. scroll down to get to the story-review.

this is the FIFTH year of me doing a short story advent calendar as my december project. for those of you new to me or this endeavor, here’s the skinny: every day in december, i will be reading a short story that is 1) available free somewhere on internet, and 2) listed on goodreads as its own discrete entity. there will be links provided for those of you who like to read (or listen to) short stories for free, and also for those of you who have wildly overestimated how many books you can read in a year and are freaking out about not meeting your 2020 reading-challenge goals. i have been gathering links all year when tasty little tales have popped into my feed, but i will also accept additional suggestions, as long as they meet my aforementioned 1), 2) standards, because i have not compiled as many as usual this year.

IN ADDITION, this may be the last year i do this project since GR has already deleted the pages for several of the stories i've read in previous years without warning, leaving me with a bunch of missing reviews and broken links, which makes me feel shitty. because i don't have a lot of time to waste, i'm not going to bother writing much in the way of reviews for these, in case gr decides to scrap 'em again. 2020 has left me utterly wrung out and i apologize for what's left of me. i am doing my best.

DECEMBER 23: BRIDESICLE - WILL MCINTOSH

in the future, things are very weird, indeed. some things are the same: dating is awkward, mothers are critical, men lie to women, true love waits, but death is not quite the end, and if you don't quite achieve your happily ever after, there are ways to get the next best thing, even if you have to have a baby with a stranger to get there.

that's all, folks! back to baking!

read it for free here

DECEMBER 1: PG - COURTNEY SUMMERS
DECEMBER 2: THE JUMPING MONKEY HILL - CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE
DECEMBER 3: ORIGIN STORY - T. KINGFISHER
DECEMBER 4: THE GREAT SILENCE - TED CHIANG
DECEMBER 5: A CLEAN SWEEP WITH ALL THE TRIMMINGS
DECEMBER 6: BORED WORLD - ANDY WEIR
DECEMBER 7: VAMPIRE - ROBERT COOVER
DECEMBER 8: A STATEMENT IN THE CASE - THEODORA GOSS
DECEMBER 9: STET - SARAH GAILEY
DECEMBER 10: MARGOT'S ROOM: EMILY CARROLL
DECEMBER 11: HORROR STORY - CARMEN MARIA MACHADO
DECEMBER 12: TERRAIN - GENEVIEVE VALENTINE
DECEMBER 13: IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED, TRY, TRY AGAIN - ZEN CHO
DECEMBER 14: GHOUL - GEORGE SAUNDERS
DECEMBER 15: DURING THE DANCE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 16: CLEARING THE BONES - CELESTE NG
DECEMBER 17: THE WAITER'S WIFE - ZADIE SMITH
DECEMBER 18: DEMOLITION - FIONA MCFARLANE
DECEMBER 19: NO PERIOD - HARRY TURTLEDOVE
DECEMBER 20: DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE - GG
DECEMBER 21: RUB-A-DUB-DUB - TONY MILLIONAIRE
DECEMBER 22: HANSA AND GRETYL AND PIECE OF SHIT - REBECCA CURTIS
DECEMBER 24: I, CTHULHU, OR, WHAT'S A TENTACLE-FACED THING LIKE ME DOING IN A SUNKEN CITY LIKE THIS (LATITUDE 47° 9' S, LONGITUDE 126° 43' W)? - NEIL GAIMAN
DECEMBER 25: CHRISTMAS TALE - MARK LAWRENCE
DECEMBER 26: THE MONSTERS OF HEAVEN - NATHAN BALLINGRUD
DECEMBER 27: TWO DREAMS ON TRAINS - ELIZABETH BEAR
DECEMBER 28: THE MARTIANS CLAIM CANADA - MARGARET ATWOOD
DECEMBER 29: UNDER THE WAVE - LAUREN GROFF
DECEMBER 30: MR. SALARY - SALLY ROONEY
DECEMBER 31: A/S/L - EMMA CLINE

come to my blog!

[Abbey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bridesicle is a futuristic Sci-fi short story depicting how we will live on after we die. For women at least, as it's shown in the story, if you're covered under insurance you can be cryogenically frozen after you've died, and revived in a dating center. Where wealthy men can pay to pick out a wife and have her revived. The main character Mira, in herself, is very interesting. A lesbian rejected by her mother whose only hope of survival is to convince a random stranger that she is in love with them, and not going to divorce them after she's revived. While an extremely creepy concept, the story does a good job warning us about how our choices for society in the future can affect a specific class or group. Such as how Lycan, a caring person wanted to revive Mira himself but was too poor to do so. And the other men who were richer often didn't have this caring personality in the story.

[Wealhtheow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mira wakes up to find that she was killed in an accident, and that she's been temporarily revived as part of a dating service. Her only chance at permanent revival is convincing someone that she's in love with them. Suuuuper creepy premise, but the story is well aware of how disturbing it is. There are a lot of cool thought experiments in this story, from what it feels like to be both dead and not-dead at the same time and the concept of "hitchers"--accepting a person to live in your mind. I quite liked this, and look forward to reading the full length novel based on this concept, Love Minus Eighty.

[Dihia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Winner of the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Short Story
Winner of the 2010 Asimov's Reader Poll
Finalist for the 2010 Nebula Award for Best Short Story
Bridesicle is a short story published in January 2009 by the science-fiction author Will McIntosh. This short story revolves around the after-death, bad memories, and love. Mira woke up after 80 years of her death in a '' Bridesicle '' center. The leaders of this center are single men who are looking for a woman to get married. They can revive a woman of their choice, converse with her and if they are interested they can revive her forever. Our Mira is gay, will she accept a relationship with a man to live forever?

[Anastasia Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the story had a very interesting idea, it allows for the reader to be very imaginative. The reader has to imagine what this place looks like and how each person looks like with the details the author gives you. This short story was very well written, I like how the author uses the perspective of Mira, it shows what it would be really like to be in this dating center. If the story had a different person's perspective it would be completely different because we would not be able to see the true meaning of the light being turned on and off.

[Savannah Wagemann]

This story has many things that are happening in it. I like this story because there are many different things that are going on within in. I like finding out new things and learning about new things. There are things that you are learning about her dying and then being able to come back to life over and over again.

[Damian Dubois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Having just read the full length novel I thought I'd hunt down the short story it was based upon. Although the basic premise is obviously the same there were a few added extras, one of which was the concept of 'hitchers'. Hitchers being the deceased taking up residence in another's mind. I thought that a fascinating idea but just like Mira I'm not sure having your Mum with you 24-7 would be great for any prospective, external relationship. Not sure why the idea was dropped from Love Minus Eighty though.

[E · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short, interesting read about a future where the attractive and young deceased become a potential dating pool for the wealthy as seen from the perspective of someone who is dead and senseless when she is not on an awkward date with a potential husband.

[Jon Norimann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent short story about online dating taking the next step to dating dead people.

[Norma · Rating 5 out of 5]

( Format : Audiobook )
"No thoughts, no dreaming, nothing."
Set in a future where dying, if not yet prevented, could be postponed with the choice of being absorbed by a loved one and sharing mind and body with them, or cryogenic freezing in the expectation of revival some time later. Mira had died in a car crash, waking decades later to a voice, a face, a male, telling her that if deemed a suitable marriage prospect, she could be revived, repaired and alive again: greatly to be desired given that in the death state there were 'no thoughts, no dreaming, nothing'.

This short story offers a fascinating, if terrifying, potential future, and is very human, too. Narrated by the excellent Jeff Hayes it becomes unmissable.
The book can be downloaded for free from Soundbooth Theatre. The author, Will MacIntosh, later used this award winning short story as the basis for a full length novel, Love Minus Eighty.

[aes ❀ · Rating 4 out of 5]

this felt very much like a black mirror episode to me especially bc i’m pretty sure iirc may episode nga that had a similar concept to the hitchers in this story and tbh medj ??? pa ako nung una bc i thought medj distracting yung concept nung hitchers nung una bc parang nakabuntot lang siya sa main concept nung bridesicle places pero in the end ig it worked out naman. still, i liked the premise and the tone was set immediately from the start of the story. i loved the ending of this especiallly with the parallels of the distant loveless marriage vows between some random guy to an unwilling bridesicle who would be revived but doomed, compared to mira’s earnest proposal to jeanette and while mira could not revive her, they’re more wives to each other than any of the other couples made in this bridesicle place.

[slauderdale]

The provided URL (http://multiverse.lamost.org/blog/wp-...) no longer seems to work, but there's a version here (https://web.archive.org/web/201008210...). Unsettling, oogy little story that brings together two very different speculative fiction premises: the cryogenic "bridecicles" of the title, and the notion of "hitchers." If I wasn't actually reading McIntosh's novel Hitchers at the moment, this might have confused me, but hitchers basically boil down as ghosts who have found a sentient human host that allows (or is unable to prevent) them to hitch along.

[Glen Engel-Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow. This is a seriously whacked-out story. Lots and lots of concepts here, with at least a half-dozen surprises along the way, and still a fairly short story. One of the best stories I’ve read in years, one that will keep me thinking about it. The basic concept is simple: if you die, you can be frozen, but the cost to revive you might not be in your contract, so you have to wait until someone who can afford it is willing to revive you. And, because we are a transactional species, the likely reason someone would revive you is that they are seeking a mate. Once you accept the concept, the story speeds along, urging you to find out what happens next. Highly recommended.

[Fatimah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mira died and she woke up in a cryogenic dating pool, -hence the title, bridesicle- 'thanks' to her insurance. The only way to get revived is to get chosen by a potential lover and get married. One problem, she is gay.

Set in the future, the story introduced a concept of hitcher, where you can upload someone's mind into yours. Hugo Award for Best Short Story (2010), available online here

[Cynthia Davis · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might have been my favorite of the 5 sci-fi stories that I read for class over the weekend. I like it because there is SO MUCH going on in it. There's two huge sci-fi technological elements: 1) the ability to cryonically freeze dead people and then to revive them and refreeze them over and over again; and 2) the ability to "hitch" to oneself a person who has died.

The gender dynamics of the story are also interesting. Is it only women in this new world who are frozen? And living men get to choose from the frozen women? If it is only women, WHY?

[Seth · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can see why people who can suspend their disbelief for it would like this story, but I just can't. I think if I tried to explicate all the political, economic, cultural, and scientific reasons why I cannot take the premise seriously, I'd be here all day, so suffice to say that while I think there are plenty of good reasons to be leery of cryonics, this particular 'possibility' is... not one of them. In lieu of "Bridesicle", I recommend Analogue: A Hate Story, which has obvious similarities but none of the silliness.

[Ash · Rating 4 out of 5]

After reading his other story, I wanted to read Will’s Hugo award winning short story. It’s a futuristic sci-fi story about what happens if humans develop a technology to revive dead humans. Imagine a dating service where you can date and marry a dead woman, who will be quite willing to marry you just so that she can be revived. Hitching was another interesting concept, almost like carrying the soul of a dead person on you until you die. Interesting story, unique concept.

[rixx · Rating 2 out of 5]

[Bridesicle](http://will.tip.dhappy.org/blog/Profi...) by *Will McIntosh* is not as good as its title – cryo facilities where people can be revived by prospective partners. He tries to capture the horror of it all, but (maybe due to it being so short) it fell flat for me.

[Marj Gaber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting intersection of capitalism, technology, Future Misogyny TM, and contemporary queer rights (this was written before gay marriage was legalized) packaged in this story about a woman who finds herself trapped in a morbid speed dating scenario.

[Eija · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kryomorsian - Portti 3/2010

[Zogguz · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disturbing.

[Julia · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://scificats.files.wordpress.com...

[Kristina]

I like how McIntos decided to make more prominent the problem of intimate relationships laying emphasis on the complexity and mysteriousness of what makes us human, while placing all this inside a strikingly contrasting scientific context. A very enjoyable and thought-provoking story that I'd give a five-star rating if the love interest was of the opposite gender. I'm writing this without malice towards anybody - it's just a personal preference, so I hope the LGBTQ community accepts my apologies in case it finds my statement offensive.

[Carolyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating Hugo Award-winning short story with strong feminist undertones. The protagonist is female and queer, finding that her body has been preserved after death. She is 'revived' for one purpose alone: dating. All of such women must go on short speed dates with socially-inept men, with hundreds of years sometimes passing between each. Their only hope at a continuation of life and thought is to convince one of these men to marry them. Though this short story is meagre in size, it contains a remarkable number of thought-questions. I have never read a feminist work as written by a male-identifying author. Yet, Bridesicle is decidedly feminist. I feel I've won myself a secret and powerful literary ally.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read three of McIntosh's short stories that were later extended into novels (this, which inspired Love Minus Eighty and also probably Hitchers, Soft Apocalypse, and Defenders), and this was by far my favorite. McIntosh does a good job developing a character who exists almost as a disembodied mind, and only for short periods at a time with long gaps in between. It felt like a complete story unto itself, and not just a preview for the larger world. Both the cryogenic freezing and the "hitchers" are interesting ideas, and the way they interact is clever.

[Courtney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reminded me of a Blackmirror episode

[Mathew Walls · Rating 3 out of 5]

The characters are well-written but the premise is pretty dumb. At some point it's got to be cheaper to revive people than pay for them to be stored indefinitely, and there would have to be some really restrictive marriage laws to make the business work at all, which seems unlikely.

[Vince · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful writting! Onward to Love Minus Eighty for sure!! Great concept.

[Sebastian H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cuento corto, ganador del Hugo 2010. Y la preparación perfecta para meterme de lleno en Love Minus Eighty, la ampliación del concepto a novela completa.

[Brandi (Brandi Janee's Bookshelf) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was really weird but interesting.