The Wizard of West Orange is the last story in The Secret History of Science Fiction. The link is to a paysite, there are no legit free ones that I can find. It's a good closing--nice plotting, a good speculative base in an unusual science space. The Wizard is Thomas Edison, and we get a very interesting view of his New York labs. Lots of idealism, competition and secrecy. The key is the haptograph--a device meant to simulate any bodily sensation. It's kind of a skunk work, monitored by Edison but not closely. It is told as a series of diary entries by the librarian, who gets involved with the experiments.
Very interesting life lessons here on what does and does not get pursued in a working science lab. What would the world be like if a haptograph existed? We may find out soon. 3 stars, go read it.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Red Team Blues, by Cory Doctorow
I liked reading this book. Fast paced action, an appealing if imperfect hero, at the cutting edge of computers, society, and security. A qui...
-
There are some interesting theories out there on what Gene Wolfe's "The Ziggurat" short story means . Indeed, Wolfe is heavil...
-
Michael Swanwick is an inspired author, and has some brilliant work out there. He has a series of very short stories called The Sleep of Re...
-
The introduction to Slow Tuesday Night is by Gardner Dozios, the great editor, and he tells us that "only those stories that were the ...
No comments:
Post a Comment