Well-Read

This is another of the short stories nominated in the 2011 Nebula awards, and was first published in Lightspeed Magazine in October of 2011.

I found this story quite unsettling. It’s set in a future where both men and women are being sent off in large numbers to a protracted and bloody war. Casualties are high, but with the wonders (?) of modern technology the soldiers are able to “back-up” their memories and mind state before going in to battle, and the military are able to restore this to even the smallest piece that is left of the individual.

We’re talking about a piece of thigh, a torso, or in the case of Rebecca’s husband, a pair of hands. These “veterans” are then returned to their families and loved ones to be live as normal lives as possible.

This turns out to be every bit as awful as I sounds, and Rebecca’s reaction is just as I imagine I would react. And imagine it I did: Castro writes well and captures Rebecca’s emotional state beautifully. A great short story that has stayed with me since reading it.

Link to the story: Her Husband’s Hands

This short story has been nominated for a Nebula Award by the SFWA, so I’m reading and reviewing each of the nominated works ahead of the awards weekend and making my predictions on the winners.

To be honest, I’m not sure what qualifies this as SF. Goldman ties his choose-your-own-adventure format (remember those?) to the mathematical axiom of set theory that is the story’s title; the axiom also becomes a topic of discussion between characters in the story. I guess the integration of this axiom of choice into the arc of the story gets the speculative fiction tick.

Putting that aside, I did find myself getting absorbed into the tale of a blues musician who barely survives a plane crash and then finds his life unravelling in the aftermath. I started to find the choice gimmick a little irritating as the story went on, as I was engaged with the character and wanted to see where the tale went. I can see what Goldman was trying to convey with these constant choices, and he did so very well, but at the same time the story itself was compelling enough on its own.

I would like to read a more linear version of the guitar player’s journey, but then I guess it wouldn’t be on the Nebula nominations list then would it? Now as far as the nominations goes: not my top pick so far.

Link to the story: The Axiom of Choice (PDF)