#ReadShortStories about AIs and magic oh my (151 to 155)

This batch of short stories finishes off Mother of Invention — stay tuned for my full review of that anthology coming soon — and adds a few miscellaneous stories into the mix. I think I will mainly focus on finishing Uncanny Issue 22 next, but I'm not yet sure which direction I'll go in after that. There's more Uncanny waiting for me, including the Disabled People Destroy Science Fiction Issue, which I am keen to read. But I also have a lot of anthologies and collections waiting to be read, so we'll see.


Rini’s God by Soumya Sundar Mukherjee — This story took an unusual approach. Not only was the protagonist AI interested in theological ideas but she has a hidden purpose. Which, in the context of the story was odd since it’s hard to program someone to do something when they have free will, so I found the creator’s motivation confusing from that point of view. Also, running an orphanage of AI humanoids was either sneaky or very strange, I haven’t decided which. Source: Mother of Invention edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts

The Alchemy of Fine by Tansy Rayner Roberts — The narrative structure of this story is a bit unusual: it is told in reverse chronological order. As a result, it took me a few short chapters to get into, but I was very much enjoying it by the end. The author suggests that it would work read in reverse (so proper chronological order), and if I ever reread it I think I will do just that to see how it feels. Requires having read Fake Geek Girl at least, otherwise I don’t think it stands alone too well (since it’s basically an exploration of the characters’ back stories). Source: Tansy Rayner Roberts’ Patreon

Tidefall by Meryl Stenhouse — Ow, my astronomy hurts. This was absolutely not a story to read at at astronomy conference, in between talks about merging stars oh em gee. So that coloured my reading of it considerably. Questionable astronomy aside, the plot and ideas didn’t really do it for me either. What seemed like it would be a really interesting idea ended up feeling a bit bland.  Source: Mother of Invention edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts

The Ghost Helmet by Lev Mirov — The AIs in this story are basically ghosts of soldiers whose memories became imprinted on their helmets. Our protagonist is a coder who accidentally caused the situation and now always wears her brother’s helmet so he can talk to and help her. I would have liked the story to spend some more time on the ethics of creating the helmet ghosts (is it really a good form of immortality?) but otherwise it wasn’t a bad read. Source: Mother of Invention edited by Rivqa Rafael and Tansy Rayner Roberts

What Gentle Women Dare by Kelly Robson — In a very detailed setting — Liverpool 1763 — this story follows a poor prostitute as she does her job, tries to look after her child, and incidentally encounters a corpse wearing an unusual garment. This story is mostly about how crappy life is for women in her time but the speculative element makes for a very interesting ending. Source: https://uncannymagazine.com/article/what-gentle-women-dare/