Three SF Stories from 2015: Two Near Future and One Very Far

December 20, 2015 1:15 AM

Martin L. Shoemaker's "Today I Am Paul" and Rich Larson's "Meshed" explore the emotional impact of technological developments within relatively familiar futures, and Caroline M. Yoachim's "Seven Wonders of a Once and Future World" draws on a wide variety of SF motifs to make the future a strange and sometimes poignant allegory for wonders of the past. Each story has been selected for an upcoming year's best SF anthology—either Rich Horton's or Neil Clarke's—and two received mention earlier this year from the unverified @gardnerdozois.
posted by Wobbuffet (6 comments total)

Thanks for posting. Will read these over the holidays this upcoming week.
posted by Fizz at 6:04 AM on December 20, 2015

[sent to kindle]

{{ I know this is not the place to discuss meta site issues, but stories, books and other long reads seem to warrant some kind of longer term discussion cycle than the usual front page for a few hours impact}}

During the file transfer I see that one story is about mars, that's not just SF, we're back on our way! Falcon 9 is scheduled for lift off tonight at 8:30PM EST!!
posted by sammyo at 7:05 AM on December 20, 2015

There is a podcast of Today I Am Paul in Clarkesworld as well.
posted by newdaddy at 10:48 AM on December 20, 2015 [1 favorite]

wow. the first is very good. i will save the rest for later. thank-you.
posted by andrewcooke at 11:24 AM on December 20, 2015

The Falcon launch is still scheduled for tomorrow the 21st, not today.
posted by phooky at 5:29 PM on December 20, 2015

Just read TODAY: it's brilliant. Thank you. I would love to think we can have Pauls in the future, though I wonder at the cost to the Pauls themselves. How lovely to have a story that is not another Frankenstein!
posted by alasdair at 8:25 AM on December 21, 2015