Proof By Induction, by Jose Pablo Iriarte

So reality is catching up to this story in a hurry. Digital avatars of your loved ones that you can interact with after they die? Check. In this story the speculation is that people don't use these for long, but as they say here some would. Basically the Coda for this mathematician (father of the protagonist) is a large language model that focuses on math, mostly because Dad couldn't be bothered with feelings or human relations when he was alive. Really all the model does in the story is throw out a few hints--maybe GPT-3 trained with his data could do that now? Though it does seem like they work some proofs together, and that's probably more than a model can do (though not a math program perhaps). Spooky real.

My Goodreads Review

Mr. Death, by Alix Harrow

A very sweet little story about an apprentice Reaper, someone who guides the dead to the afterlife. Many thought it should have won the Hugo and Nebula awards over Sarah Pinsker's "Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather", but I'm respecting the judges' choice here--the ending is a bit on the sweet side and shades toward judgments on who should and shouldn't die that have problematic potential. I really liked it though.

My Goodreads Review

Where Oaken Hearts Do Gather, by Sarah Pinsker

Gotta say I absolutely love Sarah Pinsker, and this is one darned clever story. Telling it as a Reddit thread is great, though that kind of thing is becoming more common now. She very accurately simulates people geeking out about their very specific knowledge space, which is a lot of fun, and also she's good at name dropping. Really glad I read this one, and that it has its own space here on Goodreads.

My Goodreads Review

A Blessing of Unicorns, by Elizabeth Bear

I've read both of the Sub-Inspector Fallon stories now and enjoy the near-future post-apocalypse-but-we-survived setting of the story. In many ways it seems this version of the future is making the same mistakes as the present version, but that in some ways speaks to the critiques that the series can't really sufficiently let go of the present. It would almost work better as a near-future pre-apocalypse setting where we've managed to put off the (maybe) inevitable a bit longer.

It's interesting to be conscious of how we've changed when looking at representation in literature. Elizabeth Bear is not Indian, and in some ways the protagonist is not that convincing an Indian character. You're very conscious that it's a Western white woman telling a story set in India. Contrast that with, say, S. P. Divya's writing, which has a very Indian flavor and brings a different set of concerns.

It's good work and I'm glad to have read it.

A Blessing of Unicorns

My Goodreads Review

Skinder's Veil, by Kelly Link

Skinder's Veil is part of the collection "When Things Get Dark", a volume in honor of Shirley Jackson.  It's the last story in the book, so it's the last impression you have of the volume.  I'm left a bit confused.  Content is benign, no warnings of any sort really.  Even though it's a classic horror setup.  Our protagonist is an ordinary sociology ABD making somewhat slow progress on his dissertation.  He gets a housesitting gig in an isolated location with strange rules--let anyone in who asks, except the owner, Skinder.  You figure mayhem is going to ensue.  Instead we get a series of encounters with humans telling stories, and non-humans getting treated like houseguests.  Intriguing because you keep waiting for the other shoe (or the axe) to drop and it never really does.  Instead it's kind of an allegory.  I guess I liked it?  

In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns, by Elizabeth Bear

Picked this up because I want to read A Blessing of Unicorns, the second in this story series. And I have to say that it is entertaining and interesting to read, like all Elizabeth Bear's work. I agree with other reviewers that there's a lot going on here, and in creating the mystery it gets a bit overwhelming. But a whole lot of good speculative elements. The sentient cats were cute, though I don't know how much demand there would be for an intelligent, socially demanding cat (accurately called a parrot-cat--parrots are really demanding). I enjoyed it and almost can give it a 4, but it's just a little all over the place. Looking forward to the next one.

My Goodreads Review

Colors of the Immortal Palette, by Caroline Yoachim

Colors of the Immortal Palette is a story that you can tell was written by a veteran writer.  As literature it's excellent, and pretty fine as a story as well.  The protagonist is a model for famous painters, but she'd like to break into painting and be taken seriously as an artist.  The story indicates that a lot of models would like that.  But the art world does not take women seriously, even less so models who pose nude.  An extra dollop of intersectional prejudice is layered on as our protagonist has Japanese ancestry and is named Mariko.  Exotic but not serious, in Paris or Chicago.

The speculative element here is a "vampire" story.  Here vampires don't want to be called vampires, and they do not bite or drink blood--they take a slice of life from their victims/proteges by more direct and spiritual means.  This world is interesting in that immortals are "out"--they do not hide their nature, and at least from the perspective of the story it isn't disruptive.  Mariko asks her immortal painter to "turn" her, which he does, giving her time to perfect her art but also to weary of life as he has.  Very beautiful.