Genre: Sci-Fi, Hopepunk
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
We’re a world beset by crises. Climate change, income inequality, racism, pandemics, an almost unmanageable tangle of issues. Sometimes it’s hard to look ahead and see a hopeful future.
We asked sci-fi writers to send us stories about ways to fix what’s wrong with the world. From the sixty-five stories we received, we chose the twelve most amazing (and hopefully prescient) tales.
Dive in and find out how we might mitigate climate change, make war obsolete, switch to alternative forms of energy, and restructure the very foundations of our society.
The Review
Fix the World is a collection of twelve stories on the theme of solving the world’s problems. Some of these problems are the familiar ones of climate change and corruption. Others cover rebuilding after apocalyptic war, alien invasion or terrorism. The remaining ones deal with the main characters coping with the world as the inhabitants find it. I enjoyed them all and I absolutely loved quite a few. There is love in many flavours, love at first sight, love growing and love failing in various damaged world settings.
The twelve stories include:
‘In Light’ by Mere Rain. Hav lives in a rural world that depends on solar energy and altered plant life. The solar wall is not working to spec. Who do you call? You call up the parhelion (ie. the government). I may be reading more into how Hav responds to the agent of the parhelion, and he with him, but I can see a growing relationship in the making or, maybe, I should say a glowing relationship.
‘Juma and the Quantum Ghost’ by Ingrid Garcia. Juma is a practical woman with no time for gangsters and crooked politicians when people need to eat and earn a living. She’s definitely made of the right stuff to deal with anything thrown at her and her quantum computer buddy.
‘Ice in D Minor’ by Anthea Sharp. A potential musical solution to global warming is about to be implemented but will it work?
‘At the Movies’ by D.M. Rasch. A world / future where citizen protection comes first, even at the cost of the protectors own personal lives. Reilly finds out this the hard way.
‘Who Shall Reap the Grain of Heaven?’ by J.G. Follansbee. Would you trust one of those responsible for the earth’s ruin with its recovery? Would you stick with the project he has set up using his ‘ill-gotten gains’ even when the big boss’s second in command tells you to drop it?
‘From the Sun and Scorched Earth’ by Bryan Cebulski. Lukas has his work cut out trying to help boy soldier Leo come to term with the post apocalyptic world he had a hand in creating. A dark story with glimmers of light and love.
‘Upgrade’ by Alex Silver. The world is coping with run away climate change if not fixing it. Humans can only exist in the domes so what does Klein, an outsider, do when he is tricked into bringing about their destruction. Klein likes the freedom he has, skirting around the regs and laws, almost as much as his new hardware with the upgraded pleasure port. He has to work fast to protect the life he loves even when it could cost him everything.
‘Rise’ by J. Scott Coatsworth. Raising a sunken town from the bottom of the sea is not without its consequences in terms of old memories. This is a gentle work about what has been lost when the seas rose, drowning so many. Cinzia and her granddaughter Kendra get to walk down memory lane for real.
‘A Forest for the Trees’ by Rachel Hope Crossman. This is probably my least favourite story. The main character is a giant redwood called Dave. ‘He’ is a bit rambly due to his age as he relates how the trees came to reach their new home. It’s not an asteroid no matter what Dave thinks.
‘As Njord And Skadi’ by Jennifer R. Povey. Njord And Skadi are norse deities. Deborah and Steffi are married but, like Njord And Skadi, find that they cannot live together and maybe not apart either. Skadi and Deborah love the mountains and Njord and Steffi cannot live away from the sea. It’s not enough that Deborah and Steffi love each other any more nor that they both work to make the earth whole again.
‘The Call of the Wold’ by Holly Schofield. I’m afraid I had to read this one twice as punishment for lack of concentration. Luckily it grew on me the second time although I do take exception to main character Julie’s too smart word play. Still I can see why the people who meet her respect how good she is at her job.
‘The Homestead at the Beginning of the World’ by Jana Denardo. An earth recovering from alien domination of the worst kind. Damaged city kid / scientist Kjell finds love in wilds and who can blame him. But can he get beyond his PTSD to make a life with his soulmate Sam. I’d like there to be a follow up that’s for sure.
This collection of stories was a great read, covering a whole range of styles and subjects.
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.
