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tani's review against another edition
4.0
Review for "The Bone-Stag Walks" by KT Bryski. On winter nights, the bone-stag walks, crying for flesh and wine. This seemed pretty straightforward at first, but it took a lovely horror twist that woke me right up and drew me in. The imagery was cold and sparkling as frost, but what I liked best was the end.
nataliya_x's review
3.0
This review is for the Nebula Award-nominated novelette “Shadow Prisons” by Caroline M. Yoachim:
————
This novelette has been serialized in three parts in The Lightspeed Magazine, but I prefer to review it as a whole instead of 3 short parts.
Vivian *wants* to toe the line as she knows the consequences of breaking the law, but when her teenage kid Cass joins the protest, Vivian goes to retrieve Cass — and ends up being pegged as a criminal herself, and is turned into a Shade.
And as she struggles to survive over years and years, the PIP technology develops further, now with ability to filter past memories, determining not only what you see but what you remember. All while people get more and more cruel trying to hold on to the points they have that separate Citizens and Shades, and Shades and the dead.
It’s an interesting premise, and could have made a good novella or even a novel — if the promise was developed a bit more. False memories, the life on the fringes, society disintegrating into dystopian nightmare — and eventual rebellion. But in this short form it’s a bit too nebulous, with too much handwaving and implication. The recovery from the society presented would have been interesting to see (how do you change what now became ingrained perceptions?) but it’s skipped over. I can only imagine that splitting it into a 3-part serial would cause even more of an incomplete effect - and so I’m glad I read it as a single story. Really, this is something that really needed to be fleshed out for more of an effect.
I also found the writing somewhat clunky, honestly. A bit too much of recapping and telling where showing would be more impactful. A bit too simplistic of a feel overall despite some heavy themes dealt with. And it’s often too blunt, with subtlety suffering at the cost of making sure we get the intended message. It needed just a little more work — and possibly more of an expansion into a longer form.
3 stars.
—————
This novelette has been serialized in three parts in The Lightspeed Magazine where you can read it free:
- Part 1 - “The Shadow Prison Experiment
- Part 2 - Shadow Prisons of the Mind
- Part 3 - The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
————
This novelette has been serialized in three parts in The Lightspeed Magazine, but I prefer to review it as a whole instead of 3 short parts.
“How do you break free from the prison of your own mind?”In the future, everything is digitalized and interfaced, and everyone has mandatory implantable interfaces (PIP - Personal Implanted Perception chips) that present to wearers a filtered world — pretty overlays cover neglect and decay, people wear overlays as well, and everyone basically lives in augmented reality. There’s also a points system as PIPs can monitor your every move. Lose enough points and you become a Shade, a criminal, visible to others - and yourself - as only a gray shadow, stripped of rights, forced to work the worst jobs in what’s basically a prison industrial complex just to survive, clutching on to remaining points because at zero points comes termination.
“Don’t see why they can’t throw the Shades into the underground. It’s gross down there, but with overlays they can make it look like Main Street, or campus, or whatever. Shades will never know they aren’t running free.”
“Nah. This isn’t for the Shades. They want people to know what happens if they cause trouble. Citizens will toe the line if they’re scared of being erased.”
Vivian *wants* to toe the line as she knows the consequences of breaking the law, but when her teenage kid Cass joins the protest, Vivian goes to retrieve Cass — and ends up being pegged as a criminal herself, and is turned into a Shade.
And as she struggles to survive over years and years, the PIP technology develops further, now with ability to filter past memories, determining not only what you see but what you remember. All while people get more and more cruel trying to hold on to the points they have that separate Citizens and Shades, and Shades and the dead.
It’s an interesting premise, and could have made a good novella or even a novel — if the promise was developed a bit more. False memories, the life on the fringes, society disintegrating into dystopian nightmare — and eventual rebellion. But in this short form it’s a bit too nebulous, with too much handwaving and implication. The recovery from the society presented would have been interesting to see (how do you change what now became ingrained perceptions?) but it’s skipped over. I can only imagine that splitting it into a 3-part serial would cause even more of an incomplete effect - and so I’m glad I read it as a single story. Really, this is something that really needed to be fleshed out for more of an effect.
I also found the writing somewhat clunky, honestly. A bit too much of recapping and telling where showing would be more impactful. A bit too simplistic of a feel overall despite some heavy themes dealt with. And it’s often too blunt, with subtlety suffering at the cost of making sure we get the intended message. It needed just a little more work — and possibly more of an expansion into a longer form.
3 stars.
—————
This novelette has been serialized in three parts in The Lightspeed Magazine where you can read it free:
- Part 1 - “The Shadow Prison Experiment
- Part 2 - Shadow Prisons of the Mind
- Part 3 - The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma
———————
My Hugo and Nebula Awards Reading Project 2021: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3701332299
villyidol's review
3.0
Review only for The Shadow Prison Experiment by Caroline M. Yoachim
This is part 1 of Yoachim’s Nebula nominated novelette Shadow Prisons, which had been serialized first in The Dystopia Triptych and then reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine, again in serialized form.
The other parts can be found here:
Part 2, Shadow Prisons of the Mind
On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55217122-lightspeed-magazine-issue-124
On lightspeedmagazine.com: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/shadow-prisons-of-the-mind/
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3898621482
Part 3, The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma
On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55527956-lightspeed-magazine
On lightspeedmagazine.com: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-shadow-prisoners-dilemma/
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3898762240
This story takes place in a dystopian future in which people are wearing Personal Implemented Perception chips (PIPs) that make the world look pretty, but also make it impossible for anyone to know what is real and what is just an overlay. Because wearers of the augmented-reality implants have limited control over the settings of their filters in some situations. Basically, the company that produces the chips can control what people see and how they are seen by others.
It seems that the initial purpose of this technology had been for people to accomplish a certain level of privacy, by using a generic overlay for their own appearance and therefore becoming indistinguishable from everyone else. But clearly, the company that produces the chips uses its unique access to the “user experience” for its own end. Also, PIPs have apparently become mandatory at some point, so there’s really no escape.
Now there’s talk of a new prison program, which instead of sending people to jail gets them filtered out, by casting them into shade. They become permanently unrecognizable and have limited ways to interact with other people, not even being able to tell them their name. The Shadow Prison Program isn’t for violent criminals, but for people that have too many offenses on their record, with “too many” not being clearly defined (not only within the text, but within the story’s world).
Of course, there is some resistance. And Cass, the main protagonist’s sixteen-year-old is one of those people that are not willing to accept the status quo. Vivian fears that they (“they” being Cass here) are thrown into shadow, for not abiding by the rules. She tries to protect her child.
Interesting beginning to the story that already provides a couple of scenes that makes one rage at the injustice of it all. Let’s see where Yoachim takes it.
3.5 stars
Can be read for free here: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-shadow-prison-experiment/
Best Novel
• [b:Piranesi|50202953|Piranesi|Susanna Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609095173l/50202953._SY75_.jpg|73586702] by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• [b:The City We Became|42074525|The City We Became (Great Cities #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525._SY75_.jpg|54760675] by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• [b:Mexican Gothic|53152636|Mexican Gothic|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636._SY75_.jpg|73647361] by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• [b:The Midnight Bargain|49151031|The Midnight Bargain|C.L. Polk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587158919l/49151031._SY75_.jpg|74297088] by C.L. Polk (Erewhon)
• [b:Black Sun|50892360|Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)|Rebecca Roanhorse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601212809l/50892360._SY75_.jpg|61321587] by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
• Network Effect by Martha Wells (Tordotcom Publishing)
Best Novella
• [b:Tower of Mud and Straw|55236234|Tower of Mud and Straw|Yaroslav Barsukov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599295493l/55236234._SX50_.jpg|86121622] by Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis)
• [b:Finna|44081573|Finna (LitenVerse #1)|Nino Cipri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563304090l/44081573._SY75_.jpg|68548236] by Nino Cipri (Tordotcom Publishing)
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing)
• [b:Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|57370124|Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|89792116] by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo)
• [b:The Four Profound Weaves|51600161|The Four Profound Weaves|R.B. Lemberg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575992755l/51600161._SY75_.jpg|73397963] by R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
• [b:Riot Baby|43719523|Riot Baby|Tochi Onyebuchi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556633991l/43719523._SY75_.jpg|68038597] by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom Publishing)
Best Novelette
• [b:Stepsister|56671617|Stepsister|Leah Cypess|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|88573911] by Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20)
• [b:The Pill|53052208|Big Girl|Meg Elison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575492744l/53052208._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73371095] by Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)
• Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20)
• Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20)
• Where You Linger by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Shadow Prisons by Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as The Shadow Prison Experiment, Shadow Prisons of the Mind and The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press)
Best Short Story
• Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math by Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)
• A Guide For Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
• The Eight-Thousanders by Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20) (Asimov’s 9-10/20)
• My Country Is a Ghost by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)
The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
• [b:Raybearer|50158128|Raybearer (Raybearer, #1)|Jordan Ifueko|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567330635l/50158128._SX50_SY75_.jpg|70180082] by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
• [b:Elatsoe|49089632|Elatsoe|Darcie Little Badger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581002562l/49089632._SX50_.jpg|71388826] by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• [b:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|54369251|A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|T. Kingfisher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593743861l/54369251._SX50_.jpg|84842875] by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• [b:A Game of Fox and Squirrels|44280976|A Game of Fox & Squirrels|Jenn Reese|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567292584l/44280976._SY75_.jpg|68794492] by Jenn Reese (Holt)
• [b:Star Daughter|52781202|Star Daughter|Shveta Thakrar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596350537l/52781202._SY75_.jpg|66825697] by Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)
This is part 1 of Yoachim’s Nebula nominated novelette Shadow Prisons, which had been serialized first in The Dystopia Triptych and then reprinted in Lightspeed Magazine, again in serialized form.
The other parts can be found here:
Part 2, Shadow Prisons of the Mind
On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55217122-lightspeed-magazine-issue-124
On lightspeedmagazine.com: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/shadow-prisons-of-the-mind/
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3898621482
Part 3, The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma
On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55527956-lightspeed-magazine
On lightspeedmagazine.com: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-shadow-prisoners-dilemma/
My review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/3898762240
This story takes place in a dystopian future in which people are wearing Personal Implemented Perception chips (PIPs) that make the world look pretty, but also make it impossible for anyone to know what is real and what is just an overlay. Because wearers of the augmented-reality implants have limited control over the settings of their filters in some situations. Basically, the company that produces the chips can control what people see and how they are seen by others.
It seems that the initial purpose of this technology had been for people to accomplish a certain level of privacy, by using a generic overlay for their own appearance and therefore becoming indistinguishable from everyone else. But clearly, the company that produces the chips uses its unique access to the “user experience” for its own end. Also, PIPs have apparently become mandatory at some point, so there’s really no escape.
Now there’s talk of a new prison program, which instead of sending people to jail gets them filtered out, by casting them into shade. They become permanently unrecognizable and have limited ways to interact with other people, not even being able to tell them their name. The Shadow Prison Program isn’t for violent criminals, but for people that have too many offenses on their record, with “too many” not being clearly defined (not only within the text, but within the story’s world).
Of course, there is some resistance. And Cass, the main protagonist’s sixteen-year-old is one of those people that are not willing to accept the status quo. Vivian fears that they (“they” being Cass here) are thrown into shadow, for not abiding by the rules. She tries to protect her child.
Interesting beginning to the story that already provides a couple of scenes that makes one rage at the injustice of it all. Let’s see where Yoachim takes it.
3.5 stars
Can be read for free here: https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/the-shadow-prison-experiment/
_________________
2020 Nebula Award Finalists
Best Novel
• [b:Piranesi|50202953|Piranesi|Susanna Clarke|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1609095173l/50202953._SY75_.jpg|73586702] by Susanna Clarke (Bloomsbury)
• [b:The City We Became|42074525|The City We Became (Great Cities #1)|N.K. Jemisin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1585327950l/42074525._SY75_.jpg|54760675] by N.K. Jemisin (Orbit)
• [b:Mexican Gothic|53152636|Mexican Gothic|Silvia Moreno-Garcia|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1607462569l/53152636._SY75_.jpg|73647361] by Silvia Moreno-Garcia (Del Rey)
• [b:The Midnight Bargain|49151031|The Midnight Bargain|C.L. Polk|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587158919l/49151031._SY75_.jpg|74297088] by C.L. Polk (Erewhon)
• [b:Black Sun|50892360|Black Sun (Between Earth and Sky, #1)|Rebecca Roanhorse|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1601212809l/50892360._SY75_.jpg|61321587] by Rebecca Roanhorse (Saga)
• Network Effect by Martha Wells (Tordotcom Publishing)
Best Novella
• [b:Tower of Mud and Straw|55236234|Tower of Mud and Straw|Yaroslav Barsukov|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1599295493l/55236234._SX50_.jpg|86121622] by Yaroslav Barsukov (Metaphorosis)
• [b:Finna|44081573|Finna (LitenVerse #1)|Nino Cipri|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1563304090l/44081573._SY75_.jpg|68548236] by Nino Cipri (Tordotcom Publishing)
• Ring Shout by P. Djèlí Clark (Tordotcom Publishing)
• [b:Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|57370124|Ife-Iyoku, Tale of Imadeyunuagbon|Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|89792116] by Oghenechovwe Donald Ekpeki (Dominion: An Anthology of Speculative Fiction from Africa and the African Diaspora, Aurelia Leo)
• [b:The Four Profound Weaves|51600161|The Four Profound Weaves|R.B. Lemberg|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575992755l/51600161._SY75_.jpg|73397963] by R.B. Lemberg (Tachyon)
• [b:Riot Baby|43719523|Riot Baby|Tochi Onyebuchi|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1556633991l/43719523._SY75_.jpg|68038597] by Tochi Onyebuchi (Tordotcom Publishing)
Best Novelette
• [b:Stepsister|56671617|Stepsister|Leah Cypess|https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/book/50x75-a91bf249278a81aabab721ef782c4a74.png|88573911] by Leah Cypess (F&SF 5-6/20)
• [b:The Pill|53052208|Big Girl|Meg Elison|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1575492744l/53052208._SX50_SY75_.jpg|73371095] by Meg Elison (Big Girl, PM Press)
• Burn or the Episodic Life of Sam Wells as a Super by A.T. Greenblatt (Uncanny 5-6/20)
• Two Truths and a Lie by Sarah Pinsker (Tor.com 6/17/20)
• Where You Linger by Bonnie Jo Stufflebeam (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Shadow Prisons by Caroline M. Yoachim (serialized in the Dystopia Triptych series as The Shadow Prison Experiment, Shadow Prisons of the Mind and The Shadow Prisoner’s Dilemma, Broad Reach Publishing + Adamant Press)
Best Short Story
• Badass Moms in the Zombie Apocalypse by Rae Carson (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Advanced Word Problems in Portal Math by Aimee Picchi (Daily Science Fiction 1/3/20)
• A Guide For Working Breeds by Vina Jie-Min Prasad (Made to Order: Robots and Revolution, Solaris)
• The Eight-Thousanders by Jason Sanford (Asimov’s 9-10/20) (Asimov’s 9-10/20)
• My Country Is a Ghost by Eugenia Triantafyllou (Uncanny 1-2/20)
• Open House on Haunted Hill by John Wiswell (Diabolical Plots 6/15/20)
The Andre Norton Nebula Award for Middle Grade and Young Adult Fiction
• [b:Raybearer|50158128|Raybearer (Raybearer, #1)|Jordan Ifueko|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567330635l/50158128._SX50_SY75_.jpg|70180082] by Jordan Ifueko (Amulet)
• [b:Elatsoe|49089632|Elatsoe|Darcie Little Badger|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1581002562l/49089632._SX50_.jpg|71388826] by Darcie Little Badger (Levine Querido)
• [b:A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|54369251|A Wizard’s Guide to Defensive Baking|T. Kingfisher|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1593743861l/54369251._SX50_.jpg|84842875] by T. Kingfisher (Argyll)
• [b:A Game of Fox and Squirrels|44280976|A Game of Fox & Squirrels|Jenn Reese|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1567292584l/44280976._SY75_.jpg|68794492] by Jenn Reese (Holt)
• [b:Star Daughter|52781202|Star Daughter|Shveta Thakrar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1596350537l/52781202._SY75_.jpg|66825697] by Shveta Thakrar (HarperTeen)
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