“Wirless” by Charles Stross (Ace, 2007)

From the author of the Hugo-nominated Saturn’s Children comes a collection of short stories featuring a number of novellas and one previously unpublished work.  Wireless kicks off with the strongest in the collection in “Missile Gap”: its 1962 and the Cold War is in full sway with the Cuban Missile Crisis, and then something catastrophic happens.  Somehow all the continents and oceans of Planet Earth are transported across the universe to the Large Magellanic Cloud where everything is situated on a giant flat disc that is greater than the landmass of a million Earths.  The inhabitants of this new Earth now find themselves trapped there, the gravity too great to pass beyond the disc.  And then there are the new continents beyond the known landmasses to be investigated.  Meanwhile the Cold War is still going on.  One of the best science fiction stories I’ve ever read, leading into some very interesting works including mobile farms that are a pest and a cyber adventure co written with Cory Doctorow.  Wireless is a great collection for those who know Stross well and are looking for more original material, or for those looking to discover this author for the first time.

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Originally written on August 13th, 2009 ©Alex C. Telander.

Originally published in the Sacramento Book Review.

“Saturn’s Children” by Charles Stross (Ace, 2008)

Charles Stross, author of a number of books including Halting State and Glasshouse, boldly goes where no author has really gone before with an entire book about robots and no humans.  He presents a universe in the distant future where humanity has over-industrialized and commercialized themselves to oblivion, becoming extinct.  All that remains is the considerable population of robots who performed and continue to perform a variety of services.  This is a universe where there are those that do jobs without question, whether it be transportation, manufacturing, or some other day-to-day job that is required to continue the functioning of this civilization.  Then there are those robots whose jobs have become obsolete.

Freya Nakamichi-47 is a femmebot, which is exactly what you think it is.  She is the last of her kind still functioning, able to perform duties for an extinct species, unsure what to do with herself in the twenty-third century.  Meanwhile the civilization of robots continue the hopes and dreams of humanity in exploring space, mining asteroids, and building extravagant cities on distant planets.  Having learned from Homo sapiens’ mistakes, the robot civilization exists in a hierarchical society with humanoid aristo rulers at the top, governing and controlling, while slave-chipped workers perform the menial tasks at the very bottom.  Freya doesn’t feel like she fits anywhere in this robotic society, but when she accidentally angers the wrong robots who want what she has, Freya is now on the run for her survival.

Saturn’s Children is a different world which presents a fascinating look into a possible future outlook.  The narrative pace, while engaging, gives little to be desired with these robots who continue performing the tasks of an extinct humanity with no drive or goal for continued existence.  It leaves the reader questioning at times why they should keep reading.  And yet, there is a compelling chase at the heart of the story that keeps one interested enough.

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Originally written on October 9th 2008 ©Alex C. Telander.