Status Updates From Pump Six and Other Stories

What was that?

Read “Pump Six,” which is the only piece of Bacigalupi’s I’ve read that is written in the first person. It’s also by far his zippiest story, with a welcome goofball energy.

Read “Softer,” a dark, brief portrait of a man in a particularly nasty moment.

Read “Yellow Card Man” a second time, and was once again knocked out by it. Bacigalupi at his brutally clear-eyed best.

Bacigalupi’s writing is almost always pretty grim, but “Pop Squad” is VERY grim. Hauntingly effective.

Read “The Tamarisk Hunter,” a disturbingly plausible portrait of folks caught in a water rights battle during a huge drought in a near-future American West.