Torque Control Short Story Reading Club : The Slows

A bit of catch up before I talk about The Slows.

The Rising Waters by Benjamin Crowell

A story of raising an AI.

I enjoyed reading this story, not blown away, but there was enough to hook me in. I liked the characterisation of the AI, child-like yet intelligent, and I liked the set-up and situation. By the end however I was wishing that there was more exploration of the world, there were tantalising mentions of the bigger picture but nothing else. And the ending left me a bit flat.

When I came to write this review, I couldn’t remember what the story was about and had to go back and check: I’m not sure if that’s a comment on the story or my memory. I also can’t help thinking that this idea has been done a lot better elsewhere, although I can’t name a story off the top of my head.

Torque Control discussion here.

The Puma by Theodora Goss

A homage/sequel/variation of H.G. Wells’ classic The Island of Dr. Moreau.

I haven’t read The Island of Dr. Moreau, so this story was lost on me. I read a quarter of it and gave up. I don’t give up on stories very often but I just couldn’t get into it. Wells doing that Victorian style writing is one thing, but someone else doing Wells just doesn’t appeal to me.

Torque Control discussion here.

And now this weeks story:

The Slows by Gail Hareven

A story of post-humans keeping humans on reserves. The post-humans accelerate their young to adulthood.

It’s an intriguing start to the story. The Slow-ness refers to bringing up their children, with the human’s taking years to grow into adults. Initially I thought slow was something else, and was slightly disappointed as my guess was more interesting.

The revulsion of the post-humans to small children is a good idea and shown nicely to begin with, tediously by the end. There’s some emotion in there, but it stays on one note – don’t take my child away - and never moves beyond that, consequently leaving me feeling a bit flat by the end, rather than moved.

Overall The Slows felt like a great SF idea needing a story, instead of just a conversation investigating that idea.