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sjstuart's review
4.0
The title of this anthology is misleading. Most of the stories are not actually set on the other side of a technological singularity (at which point change becomes incomprehensibly rapid). Instead, they're merely in the far, far future (at which point changes have accumulated to the point that the future is incomprehensible). The technological progress curve has certainly continued to climb, with most stories treating cloning, genetic modifications, or immortality as so commonplace that they're taken for granted, but (with the exception of [a:Charles Stross|8794|Charles Stross|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg]'s and [a:Cory Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg]'s "Flowers From Alice") there's no evidence that this rate of change has outpaced our ability to keep up. Just the opposite, in fact: most stories show a depressingly static future; the general fear seems to be that having all of our problems solved by technology will leave mankind complacent and apathetic. This plateauing of progress is exactly the opposite of what is usually implied by a technological singularity.
The stories were generally quite good, however, despite the false advertising on the cover and in the preface. They were drawn from stories originally published between 1999 and 2004 (with the exception of one story by [a:Brian Aldiss|6905774|Brian Aldiss|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] from 1960), and several merited award nominations or publication in annual best-of compilations. About half of them were a little too self-consciously (or artistically) weird for my taste, but all of them were well written. My second-favorite was [a:Greg Egan|32699|Greg Egan|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg]'s "Border Guards", a very human tale of what loss feels like when death is obsolete (with an absolutely terrific description of a game of soccer following quantum, rather than classical, physics, which just serves as icing on the cake). It was surpassed only by "Flowers From Alice" by [a:Stross|8794|Charles Stross|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg] and [a:Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], which is exactly what you'd expect from that collaboration: a fast-paced, sex-filled romp that keeps your mind reeling all the way up to the clever ending.
The stories were generally quite good, however, despite the false advertising on the cover and in the preface. They were drawn from stories originally published between 1999 and 2004 (with the exception of one story by [a:Brian Aldiss|6905774|Brian Aldiss|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-U-50x66-251a730d696018971ef4a443cdeaae05.jpg] from 1960), and several merited award nominations or publication in annual best-of compilations. About half of them were a little too self-consciously (or artistically) weird for my taste, but all of them were well written. My second-favorite was [a:Greg Egan|32699|Greg Egan|http://www.goodreads.com/assets/nophoto/nophoto-M-50x66-e07624dc012f2cce49c7d9aa6500c6c0.jpg]'s "Border Guards", a very human tale of what loss feels like when death is obsolete (with an absolutely terrific description of a game of soccer following quantum, rather than classical, physics, which just serves as icing on the cake). It was surpassed only by "Flowers From Alice" by [a:Stross|8794|Charles Stross|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1355510574p2/8794.jpg] and [a:Doctorow|12581|Cory Doctorow|http://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1361468756p2/12581.jpg], which is exactly what you'd expect from that collaboration: a fast-paced, sex-filled romp that keeps your mind reeling all the way up to the clever ending.
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