My only interest in this anthology was to read A Slow Unfurling of Truth by Aliette de Bodard, so please read the following review with that in mind.

As far as i'm aware this is only currently available in the anthology Carbide Tipped Pens, which, for some reason unbeknownst to me, isn't available on Kindle: yes folks, it appears that the Luddites are at it again attempting their very worse to ruin life for us technologically advanced hominyds who read ebooks and love trees.   But, not to be outdone, i suggest that maybe you could get imaginative with your technologically advanced minds and dream up ways of how you may wish to obtain a copy to read.

And that was my first usage of "unbeknownst" on this website.   A lovely old word.   Some words are just too good to let fade away.

Oh yeah, it's supposed to be a review of the story, i know, i'm getting to it, but you can't get to the story until you actually have a copy to read so that had to be dealt with first.

So once again we're back with the Galactics and the Rongs and now instead of downloading/uploading dead people into V-Space they now seem to be able to take dead people and upload/download/re-sleeve them into new bodies.   Think Altered Carbon kind of thing but i've no idea how it's being done in Aliette's universe as that bit's not explained.

The problem with re-sleeving people is that after a period of time, especially if you lost touch with them, you may not be able to tell who a person was or wasn't.   This whole thing would obviously lead to whole new areas of crime with re-sleeved people claiming to be people who they aren't and claiming things to which they aren't entitled.   This then leads to a whole new occupation, that of people who ascertain the validity of re-sleeved people.

And so, that's where we are with A Slow Unfurling of Truth.   A Galactic has turned up claiming to be someone and it's very important that the Rong know if it's true or not, enter the Authenticators, a human and mindship pair working together to unfurl the truth.

I really enjoyed the re-sleeving and V-Space aspects of the Altered Carbon books, and it's great to re-encounter this kind of thing being written by other writers, especially writers as good as Aliette is.   So yeah, would love to read a whole lot more of this re-sleeving V-Space stuff from Aliette in the future -- she's certainly created a big enough universe to shove a ton more stories into.

So onwards, onwards we read, and next up will be The Frost on Jade Buds. ( )

A very spotty-quality collection, unfortunately.

The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever by Daniel H. Wilson
This one starts off the collection, and does so with a bang. Loved it.

A Slow Unfurling of Truth by Aliette de Bodard
...and then the quality dropped. This one just seemed to go on forever, with no real point to it.

Thunderwell by Doug Beason
This one was fun, but I would have enjoyed a bit more of the desperation of the Mars team.

The Circle by Liu Cixin
I am just going to say it. I despise Liu Cixin's writing. Couldn't even finish this. This is the first appearance of what I'll term as "instruction manual" writing. The author has to basically explain something very complicated and, instead of using an analogy, just goes for it. And it reads like an instruction manual or a text book. Terrible.

Old Timer’s Game by Ben Bova
I liked the idea behind this one—despite not being a sports fan at all—but overall, it was just a bit dopey. I expect more from Bova.

The Snows of Yesteryear by Jean-Louis Trudel
Just meh. That's all I got from this.

Skin Deep by Leah Petersen & Gabrielle Harbowy
This was a good one. Excellent ideas, well presented story.

Lady with Fox by Gregory Benford
This one just felt awkward to me. Didn't flow, didn't keep my interest.

Habilis by Howard V. Hendrix
Instruction manual story number two. This was awful and incomprehensible.

The Play’s the Thing by Jack McDevitt
Another meh.

Every Hill Ends With Sky by Robert Reed
I loved the ambitiousness of this one, but the ending left me cold.

She Just Looks That Way by Eric Choi
Only okay. Carries it's inspiration—She Ain't Pretty, She Just Looks That Way by The Northern Pikes—way too obviously, from the title, to the mention of the band, to the line from the song...laughed out loud, to my total dismay.

SIREN of Titan by David DeGraff
I didn't want to love this one, because I find the central idea unbelievable. But DeGraff pulled off a beautiful little story here, and it's my favourite of the collection.

The Yoke of Inauspicious Stars by Kate Story
A play (pardon the pun) on Romeo and Juliet. Mildly amusing.

Ambiguous Nature by Carl Frederick
This one could have been good, but...it wasn't. Too rushed. Too silly characterizations. Too much coincidence.

The Mandelbrot Bet by Dirk Strasser
Yet another grand concept, but the execution didn't land.

Recollection by Nancy Fulda
This one was very good. Not at all what I was expecting at the beginning.

So...what, five that I liked? Out of seventeen? Only okay. ( )

Overall, I really liked this collection of stories. Even the stories I didn't love really started to grow on me after I finished and thought about them a bit. The authors tend to skew white American, but it's still pretty representative of the non-white non-male sci-fi writer. And, something that surprised me, how many queer characters there were considering that being queer was not a plot point in any of the stories! Good job, hard sci-fi.

It started and ended on really strong notes. The first story, The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever by [a:Daniel H. Wilson|33773|Daniel H. Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1298332667p2/33773.jpg], made me so sad. It's really good. And the same author as [b:Robopocalypse|9634967|Robopocalypse (Robopocalypse, #1)|Daniel H. Wilson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327885891s/9634967.jpg|14247828] which has been on my radar forever so I should probably just read it already.
The final story, Recollection by [a:Nancy Fulda|4037363|Nancy Fulda|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1297962807p2/4037363.jpg], is also pretty sad. It's about the downsides of being one of the first to be cured of Alzheimers. It ends hopeful though. These two stories are among the most human in the collection and both hit me right in the feels.

A Slow Unfurling of Truth by [a:Aliette de Bodard|2918731|Aliette de Bodard|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1261567215p2/2918731.jpg] reminded me of Alastair Reynolds in that the reader is flung into a completely different world and made to understand it just through reading more. In a good way.

The Circle by [a:Liu Cixin|5780686|Liu Cixin|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1339387737p2/5780686.jpg] was awesome, though a lot of reviewers have said that it's taken almost directly from his book The Three Body Problem, which I haven't read, so I still liked the story.

I liked the concepts explored in Every Hill Ends with Sky by [a:Robert Reed|57814|Robert Reed|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/m_50x66-3fbaf32fc1fc48e6ffaf3f63a026f0ff.png].

There weren't any stories I really hated. Lady With Fox ([a:Gregory Benford|22645|Gregory Benford|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1224059011p2/22645.jpg]) was too weird for me. Habilis ([a:Howard Hendrix|6673101|Howard Hendrix|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-ccc56e79bcc2db9e6cdcd450a4940d46.png]) had an ok concept but the structure of the story was confusing. It kept jumping back and forth in time from one conversation between two people to a different conversation between the same two people, and the paragraph breaks didn't necessarily indicate that we had shifted from one to the other.

Short stories are the best, and these were good. And I like the cover! ( )

In a world where Science Fiction has been rather watered down, I was really excited to stumble upon Carbide Tipped Pens. This anthology promised hard SF which, if you're not familiar with it, is the purest form of this genre. Essentially the science or technology portion of the story is the story. Without it, everything else around it falls apart. I love reading stories like these. They are full of potential ideas, full of things that could someday be, and I was thrilled to be given a whole series of them.

The anthology started out strong! The first story, "The Blue Afternoon that Lasted Forever" was one of my favorites. The perfect length to draw me in, this scientific tale of the end of the world was chilling. Stories that plausible always are. "Thunderwell" was another of my favorites. This brilliant story shared the possibility of travel to Mars, and so much more. Followed by "The Circle", a story of ancient mathematics, and "Old Timer's Game", a story that highlights what artificially enhanced sports players may someday become, the first half of the anthology was brilliant. I was lost in a new world. One full of well thought out possibilities, and I couldn't have been happier.

Towards the middle, however, I was no longer as invested. A lot of the stories from the mid-point on were just too concentrated on the science/technology aspect. It made the characters shells of themselves, and therefore made it hard for me to focus. I absolutely understand that the basis of these stories is, in fact, science and technology. When too much jargon is being thrown about though it's tough to stay on track. Readers like myself, who take pleasure in reading these but aren't formally trained, are locked out of appreciating the story. If I had been a scientist in a former life, perhaps they would have been more enjoyable. I just felt lost.

The one notable exception was "SIREN of Titan" which was what kept me reading on to the end of this anthology. Dealing with Artificial Intelligence, it was absolutely fascinating and extremely well written. So, don't fret. If you choose to read this anthology I can assure you there are some definite gems in here! If you're a fan of SF, specifically of hard SF, this is a compilation you need to add to your reading list. Overall, I'm rather impressed. I hope there's more around the corner. ( )

**** “The Blue Afternoon That Lasted Forever” by Daniel H. Wilson
This one could almost be a companion piece to Ben H. Winters' 'Last Policeman' series... OK, the specifics of the disaster are different, but I thought it was similar in feel. Some might find it too sentimental, but it worked for me.
A socially-challenged but brilliant physicist is struggling with the minutiae of life... from the fallout of divorce to the struggles of being a single father. He's the only one who realizes what's happening when a strange phenomenon is seen in the sky...

**** “A Slow Unfurling of Truth” by Aliette de Bodard
One thing de Bodard is very good at is really giving the reader a sense of a full and complex world around her stories. This one shares a theme I've seen in other of her stories: exploring the feelings of members of a minority culture that's been decimated by contact with a more powerful civilisation. The main character here is both surprised and suspicious when a man purporting to be someone who was important to her in the past turns up. He says he has something to give her. But is it really him, or is it a trap? In a world where switching bodies is common, even a professional verifier of identity can have trouble ferreting out the truth.

* “Thunderwell” by Doug Beason
OK, this guy has a PhD in physics, and works at Los Alamos, so I'll give him the benefit of the doubt that the unlikely scenarios involving nuclear launches in this story may be more theory-based than they seem to a casual reader. However, this is still just not a good story. The writing is terribly awkward, full of strange word choices and tortured grammar. The characterization (what there is of it) was unconvincing. The dialogue was stilted. I was genuinely surprised that the author has published novels to his name.
After a supply ship fails to deliver its payload of necessary supplies to Mars, one of the stranded astronaut's wives (who just happens to be highly placed in the government's nuclear energy division) is convinced to implement a dangerous plan. If all goes well, her husband and his colleagues could be saved. But the cost of failure could be much higher.

*** “The Circle” by Liu Cixin (translated by Ken Liu)
Credited as an 'adaptation' of an excerpt from Liu Cixin's recently-translated 'The Three-Body Problem.' I recently read the novel, so I was slightly taken aback when, after a different set-up, I suddenly found myself re-reading some very, very familiar passages.
The author is enamored of the idea of creating a non-electronic 'computer' using binary rules. After all, it's just math, and not technically dependent on technology. The iteration of the idea found here may actually be stronger than the one in the novel.

** “Old Timer’s Game” by Ben Bova
If advances in anti-aging technology are made, enabling men of sixty (or even older) to maintain the vigor of twenty-year-olds, how would this affect professional sports? That's the question Bova asks here, through the device of a Sports Commission's interview with an aging (or, not-aging) athlete. I'm not generally a fan of sports stories, but my problems here weren't with the theme. I just didn't feel there was enough to the piece, and I found the portrayal of the athlete to be more condescending than humorous.

*** “The Snows of Yesteryear” by Jean-Louis Trudel
A couple of scientists doing climate-change-related investigations in Greenland accidentally uncover a corporate-terrorist plot. OK, but not particularly memorable.

**** “Skin Deep” by Leah Petersen & Gabrielle Harbowy
Medical advances have allowed for many ailments to be treated by specially-programmed cells, which are 'tattooed' into a client's skin and are triggered into appropriate response when needed - when all goes well. As with any new and delicate technology, all does not always go well. Indi is a talented lawyer who's made her reputation protecting the victims of tattoo treatments gone wrong. She's the bane of the medical company that's patented these treatments. Until now, Indi has strictly avoided becoming a tattoo client herself due to a potential conflict of interest. But circumstances may make her stance untenable.
Really nicely done. Great characterization, meaty ethical issues.

*** “Lady with Fox” by Gregory Benford
If Anais Nin had been in a time and place to write a cyberpunk story, it might've come out something like this. An enigmatic femme fatale and the two men (and the hints of many more) caught in her web. However, the weirdly alluring promise here is one centered on neurological research and the new technology that allows two dreaming minds a kind of telepathic communication - the 'konn.' The scientific reality has quickly acquired illicit overtones of both sex and spirituality. Strange and interesting.

** “Habilis” by Howard V. Hendrix
Some time ago, a soldier captured by the alien enemy was given an artificial replacement hand - and then, inexplicably, let go. Now, he's working an unglamorous job as a fish hatchery manager on a frontier planet. This 'story' is his philosophical rambling to his co-worker about human consciousness and its relation to left- or right-handedness.
It feels very unfinished.

*** “The Play’s the Thing” by Jack McDevitt
Slight shades of Connie Willis here, I thought. A researcher programs an AI simulation of William Shakespeare - which ends up exceeding its creator's expectations significantly. There's ironic humor in how the programmer handles the situation.

*** “Every Hill Ends With Sky” by Robert Reed
A researcher's computer simulations emulating the development of life in the solar system come up with some surprising results.
These results have no effect on humanity's self-destructive spiral into collapse. A generation later, a young woman in a post-apocalyptic landscape looks to those simulations for a hope that is less than a wisp of a prayer...

** “She Just Looks That Way” by Eric Choi
Most young people know what it's like to have that unrequited love that you just can't get over. The young man here is willing to go to desperate measure to 'wash that girl right out of his head' - he wants to undergo an experimental treatment intended to treat body dysmorphia to make him unable to love the object of his affections. There are some serious logical holes in his assumptions, and unfortunately I felt that the story's end was a bit of a cop-out as far as dealing with some of the issues it brings up.

***** “SIREN of Titan” by David DeGraff
I'm awarding an extra star here, just because it's so refreshing to see a sometimes-pernicious trope turned on its head. There are so very many, many stories that trade on the fear of technology escaping human control. From 'Frankenstein' to '2001' and beyond, in fiction our creations have run amok. In this story of a robotic space probe and its human control team, it happens again - but the real danger is shown to be our fear, not our technology. Thought-provoking - and heartbreaking.

** “The Yoke of Inauspicious Stars” by Kate Story
There have been enough re-tellings of Romeo and Juliet. I don't think we need any more, especially not ones as self-consciously meta- as this one.
This tale places the familiar story in an outer space mining station, tenanted by two rival corporations. There are some original twists and entertaining details, but I wasn't fully won over.

* “Ambiguous Nature” by Carl Frederick
Sorry, but this was just a string of stereotypes. The Regular White Guy scientist protagonist. The aboriginal Australian physicist sidekick who talks about the Dreamtime and goes by a demeaning-sounding nickname. The wife and mother who exists to act nurturing, say she doesn't really understand all that difficult physics stuff, and to freak out protectively about her child. The child who says stuff like, "Gosh!" Stilted dialogue, and a not-too-mind-blowing concept about how SETI researchers might be looking in the wrong places.

*** “The Mandelbrot Bet” by Dirk Strasser
One of those that conflates the understanding of mathematical concepts with the application of those concepts. I know this idea has its adherents, but I'm not one of them. A paralysed physicist figures out some equations and finds himself at the end of the universe.

**** “Recollection” by Nancy Fulda
I didn't think this would be up my alley, but I ended up finding it very touching. A new treatment has been developed for Alzheimer's. Unfortunately, while it arrests the progress of the disease, it is unable to restore lost memories. The story explores one family's - specifically, one couple's - wrestling with the new reality that the treatment has given them. Very realistic, and something that could be a real issue within our lifetimes.

Many thanks to Tor Books and NetGalley for the opportunity to read this anthology. As always, my opinions are my own. ( )