This short story collection blends elements of literary realism and paranoia-fuelled speculative fiction and, in doing so, manages to present the very worst aspects of both genres. As an enormous fan of literary fiction, speculative fiction and short stories, I wanted to enjoy the book. But its deficiencies are too numerous and egregious to overlook.

The first story, ‘Saying Goodbye to Yang’, is about a father slowly coming to terms with the terminal malfunction of Yang, an android he bought to look after his child, which itself has become like a son. This story – which has some touching, if schmaltzy, moments – struck me as refreshingly tender
for a sci-fi tale. But this is where the collection peaks.

After the first story, most of them are decidedly similar; their plots revolve around a feckless, nondescript man who is having problems with either his family or a woman who is chiefly described with synonyms of the word ‘beautiful’. A new technology or a shifted climate serves to exacerbate these problems, but never in a way that might make these stiff characters appealing.

While the new technologies and futuristic gimmicks in the stories range from children made in virtual reality to designer memories to digitally induced spiritual euphoria, the protagonists are so alike in voice and temperament as to be virtually identical. At times it seems as if the author cannot imagine more interesting problems for his characters to deal with in the future than those presented by their sex drives. Give this one a miss.

Reviewed by Cameron Colwell