Gene > Recent Status Updates

3/3/2024 - I've been looking forward to reading this book for a long time. It seems like it could be a good fun time like Robert Aspirin's Myth Adventures, but this one is just too slow and uninteresting. I'm bailing at 16%

Anxiety is the dizziness of freedom - 5 - Another story examining free will, but this time from the standpoint of being able to see more directly what you would've done in a parallel universe.

Omphalos - 4 - Interesting story based on scientists working on being the researchers proving proof of God

The great silence - 2 - more of an essay than a story. Written by a parrot

The truth of fact, the truth of feeling - DNF - Too boring to finish. Tried to connect a near-future tech allowing people to record their lives from birth to a story set in 1700's China about a young man learning to write. What?

Dacey's Patent Automatic Nanny - 3 - weak story about automatons

The lifecycle of software objects - 5 - I don't usually like philosophical discussions, but this one about digital pets was too engrossing to give up.

What's expected of us - 2 - the free will debate always bores me, and this one ending on a joke didn't help

Exhalation - 4 - A sealed-off universe of steampunk robots discovers that the air pressure is decreasing, leading to an eventual death of said universe. Weird stuff

The merchant and the alchemist's gate - 2 - Way too long and rambling

RED LETTER DAY Kristine Kathryn Rusch - 5 Possibly the best story in the book. Why wouldn't you write a letter to your teenage self if you could?

RED LETTER DAY Kristine Kathryn Rusch - 5 - possibly the best story in the book. Why wouldn't you write a letter to your teenage self if you could?

PALELY LOITERING Christopher Priest - 2 - interesting, in that it seemed to be a pastiche of the old style of sci Fi written in late 1890's, but the story was a bit too convoluted to really follow too well.

THE PUSHER John Varley - 0 - absolutely disgusting story about using relativistic travel for grooming thing girls

TWEMBER Steve Rasnic Tem - 1 - WTF did I just read? Storms of broken time risking across the land like tornadoes, I think. Pointless.

TRAVELLER’S REST David I. Masson - 3 - a little difficult to follow, but an interesting concept about time progressing at different rates

“IN THE BEGINNING, NOTHING LASTS . . .” Mike Strahan - 5 - absolutely devastating story about the world running in reverse

AFTER-IMAGES Malcolm Edwards - 4 - interesting idea of slowing of time around a nuclear blast

THE VERY SLOW TIME MACHINE Ian Watson - 4 - Utterly fascinating but missed the landing with a spiritual, new age mumbo-jumbo ending

COMING BACK Damien Broderick - DNF - Could not figure out who the characters were, what was happening or even if it was supposed to be told in 1st person or 3rd

LEGIONS IN TIME Michael Swanwick - 5 - wonderfully strange, loved every bit of this awesome little story. Would love to see more of this world

WOMEN ON THE BRINK OF A CATACLYSM Molly Brown - 3.5 - a little longer and more repetitive than it needed to be

THE CHRONOLOGY PROTECTION CASE Paul Levinson - 4 - kind of complex way to re-tell the plot of Final Destination

REAL TIME Lawrence Watt Evans - 5 - I guessed the ending but that didn't make it any less fun

THE CATCH Kage Baker - 4 - I guess I need to read The Company stuff now

TIME GYPSY Ellen Klages - 5 - PERFECT! This is exactly what I love about time travel stories. Exploring other time periods with the POV of a more enlightened individual

DEAR TOMORROW Simon Clark - 5 - wow! Powerful story of loss, grief, and moving on. Maybe there was actual time travel?

NEEDLE IN A TIMESTACK Robert Silverberg - 5 - well done story of a long running feud over a woman.

TRY AND CHANGE THE PAST Fritz Leiber - 5 - So nice to come across a Fritz Leiber story here, and this one didn't disappoint. Love how the old master framed it as a FOAF-type story and therefore a bit more summarized in it's telling than most people probably like. But I appreciate that there wasn't a need for excess dialogue and world building. Here's the story... And we're done!

DARWIN’S SUITCASE Elisabeth Malartre - 4 - Intriguing idea about Darwin and his influence