The Truth of Fact, the Truth of Feeling, by Ted Chiang

It is almost a crime that Ted Chiang doesn't write more.  He addresses deep philosophical questions in every topic he addresses, from religion, to the nature of intelligence, to our relationship to new technology.  He visits this last topic again in The Truth of Fact...and it's another home run.

He also hits my favorite scary topic, which is to speculate just a very little bit about where technology might go.  Imagine wearing Google Glass, and having it record constantly.  That's a "lifelog", which Chiang speculates many of us will be keeping in the near future.  In the story, people are keeping lifelogs but they are cumbersome to search--only worth it if you REALLY want the answer (like forensics).  But an app company comes along and offers easy, fast searchability.  All past events that are in any way recordable can be brought back within seconds.

Our protagonist is to do a story on the app company and the software.  He's pretty nervous about trying it out.  His ensuing journey through his past, as remembered and as actually happened, is realistically tangled.  And his conclusion on where this could go is rich and deeply satisfying.  I would tell you, but I really want you to go read it for yourself.  You think he's going one way and then he doubles back so artfully it's completely convincing.

We are within a few years of this, so it isn't a story for the ages.  It's a story for right now, and everyone should read it as it is a much better exposition of the situation than any factual article or editorial. 

It's just a crime that Ted Chiang does not write full time (he is a sysadmin). In a just world he would have a MacArthur grant or some such to just talk to people and write, even if it's only a few articles a year.  We very much need this kind of thinking about the world.  Come on, Ted, what do you say?  Be a pro! 
Four stars from me.

Alive, Alive Oh, by Sylvia Spruck Wrigley

There is a purity to this story that probably struck those doing the nominating for the Nebula.  It's a story of colonizing an exoplanet, none too hospitable.  And it is purely about homesickness.  No respite, no making the best of the current situation, none of that.  Our protagonist is homesick through and through, and passes it on to her daughter.  Much sadness.  Read to feel sad, and maybe get a glimpse of what our world will be like in a few decades.  Oh well.  3 stars.

If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love, by Rachel Swirsky

So here's a nice, deserving award nominee.  If You Were a Dinosaur, My Love is, indeed, a love story.  Kind of a prose poem.  The emotions are both delicate and raw, thus the dinosaur metaphor she chooses is very accurate.  Good stuff here, spend a few minutes and read it.  Three stars.

Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer, by Kenneth Schneyer

This story is a kind of catalog story.  I usually like these, they are an interesting way to convey a mood or culture and free an author from plot constraints.  Some of my favorite philosophers (Wittgenstein, Heraclitus) wrote this way too.  But not so much with Selected Program Notes from the Retrospective Exhibition of Theresa Rosenberg Latimer.

This particular catalog story is really a catalog--told as an exhibition catalog for an artist, as the title explains.  I found it kind of meandering and didn't get the connection between the entries.

Then I read the brief notes at the end.  Mild Spoiler Alert: This story is an elaborate joke.  Not being any particular expert at exhibition catalogs, I didn't get it.  Still didn't get it after being told what the joke was.  So read this and see if you get the joke, before or after explanation.  I find it hard to be generous to jokes I don't get, so two stars for me.

Selkie Stories are for Losers, by Sofia Samatar

This is an appealing little story, mostly because it's told a little off balance.  You have to hang on and use lots of riding (reading) skill to stay on.

Selkie Stories are for Losers starts out with why our protagonist hates selkie stories.  You can figure pretty quickly that it has to do with being abandoned by one.  From there we get a nice bit of biography told in that off-balance way.  It's fun, you can see why it got both a Hugo and Nebula nomination.  I give it three stars for execution.

The Souunds of Old Earth, by Matthew Kressel

The Sounds of Old Earth is a story that's been done a thousand times in SF--and never really gets old.  I always like reading a good version, though several in a row would get wearing.  Matthew Kressel does a fine job on this one, taking what is pretty much a light touch.  The premise is a little odd--complete destruction of the earth as a salvage job is being undertaken to form a new planet, very near the old one.  Seems like the only reason humanity would want to do this would be to build the largest Dyson Sphere possible, or maybe Ringworld, but in any case the point of the story is loyalty and its limits.  It's a graceful tale and worth reading to remind one of the power SF has in storytelling.  Three stars from me.

Pinsker, Sarah - In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind

The parents of the boomers are now very late in life.  They are old, their children are old too.  In Joy, Knowing the Abyss Behind uses a speculation to confront growing old, and what one sometimes has to do to survive and feed a family. 

Millie and George have been married over 60 years when he suffers a stroke.  It's pretty apparent to Millie that he will never come back from it.  Ground very familiar to this generation is covered--frailty, aging children, putting aside dreams.  George was an architect, and very much a dreamer when they met.  Events described in the story change him into basically a stoic.  He remains a dedicated family man and enthused about family projects, but work is not of interest to him any more.  In the hospital, he starts drawing, and brings the time of change back to Millie.

The story is very well written and a solid read.  I have not heard of Sarah Pinsker before, and this is a fine debut.  I don't think she really needed any speculative elements to tell the story, but they didn't hurt.  It's often easier to make a point in speculative fiction, since you have fully imaginary scenarios at your disposal.

I give it three stars, and can recommend it.  Decent stuff.