Matthew's Journal

My voting order for these:

1. We Built This City, Marie Vibbert. The value of important but menial work; join a union!
   
2. If You Find Yourself Speaking to God, Address God with the Informal You, John Chu. A cute story, addressing some serious issues (race & racialised policing; coming out; the media).
   
3. A Dream of Electric Mothers, Wole Talabi. What would well-meaning advice be like if it came from all your ancestors?
   
4. The Difference Between Love and Time, Catherynne M. Valente. A lovely story, some witty moments, but I wasn't quite convinced.
   
5. Murder By Pixel: Crime and Responsibility in the Digital Darkness, S.L. Huang. A fair enough take on the ethics of "AI" systems, but I don't think the fictional parts added much to this.

I won't rank The Space-Time Painter, by Hai Ya, because it's not available in any language I understand.

A rather depressing set, this.

1. Rabbit Test, by Samantha Mills. An angry story, which feels very contemporary in its politics.
   
2. Zhurong on Mars, Regina Kanyu Wang. Based on a Chinese folk tale, but set on Mars; I'm not sure why "they" wouldn't have worked for Zhurong.
   
3. D.I.Y., John Wiswell. A rather bleak future, where IP is more important than drinking water.
   
4. Resurrection, Ren Qing, translated by Blake Stone-Banks. Another bleak story; a soldier is brought back to life, but to what end?
   
5. The White Cliff, by Lu Ban. Interesting reflections on palliative care, spoiled by a very bad translation.
   
6. On the Razor’s Edge, by Jiang Bo. A hazardous space mission, again let down by the translation.