Even If Such Ways Are Bad

by Rich Larson

A two-person crew embark on a mind-bending deep space mission inside a living wormship capable of burrowing through space. What lies on the other end is unknown—as is what they will do once they get there.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera

38 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 8, 2023

About the author

Rich Larson was born in Galmi, Niger, has studied in Rhode Island and worked in the south of Spain, and now lives in Ottawa, Canada. Since he began writing in 2011, he’s sold over a hundred stories, the majority of them speculative fiction published in magazines like Asimov’s, Analog, Clarkesworld, F&SF, Lightspeed, and Tor.com.

His work appears in numerous Year’s Best anthologies and has been translated into Chinese, Vietnamese, Polish, French and Italian. Annex, his debut novel and first book of The Violet Wars trilogy, comes out in July 2018 with Orbit Books. Tomorrow Factory, his debut collection, follows in October 2018 with Talos Press.

Besides writing, he enjoys travelling, learning languages, playing soccer, watching basketball, shooting pool, and dancing kizomba.

Reviews

[Jamie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of bizarre and slightly creepy bio-tech, this is a dense little tale of the costs of excising painful memories in a world where artificial intelligences are all to happy to exploit them.

[andi · Rating 1 out of 5]

what

[Jen · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Even if Such Ways are Bad” by Rich Larson

This was very sad. It was nice, the revenge, but it was offered by a devil. The lesser of two evils I suppose. But what else could be done? The Company really knew it’s employees, I have to say. Scary. But again, what else could one do?

4, bittersweet isn’t that life, stars.

[Hanneleele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kui tavaliselt võrdub kosmoseulme tehnikaulmega, siis seda novelli siin sooviks iseloomustada sõnaga orgaaniline. Ja mitte ökopoe sildikese mõttes vaid sellises... lihavas, vastikusttekitavas. Kas oled kunagi mõelnud, et mis siis kui ussiauke uuristaksid kosmosesse tõesti ussid? Ja mis siis kui kosmoselaeva asemel rändaksid inimesed selle ussi kõhuõõnes, uuristades omakorda tema sisemusse parasiidina (või ehk omal kombel sunniviisilise sümbiondina) oma käike, milles süüa ja magada? Ei ole? Ma ka ei olnud.

[Kam Yung Soh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Two people are put together on an unusual organic spaceship to make a journey to a distant world to make a claim on it by a company. One is a pilot of the ship, the other has been tasked to make the claim, but in a way that is not known to him. On the journey itself, they get to know each other better. But the past of one of them is 'locked up' in a box that, only towards the end, is unlocked. Those memories would be linked to what they would find at the other end and reveal just what he is meant to do to stake the claim.

[ren !! · Rating 1 out of 5]

i have no idea what i just read. maybe i was just too distracted and didn't pay enough attention.

[Quin · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you have ever complained about a 'sterile' or 'unoriginal' sci-fi world, this story might very well be for you. I was reminded a bit of Lina Rather's Sister of the Vast Black and Sisters of the Forsaken Stars books; a similar premise told from a very different perspective. Where the bio-ship in Sisters is weird, but ultimately comfortable and symbiotic, this story feels viscerally uncomfortable, almost bordering on horror. The design of the world (which is mostly the worm-ship the two characters live on during the journey) is wildly imaginative, and I'm trying to separate this primal discomfort the ideas evoke from the sheer creativity.
The plot itself is succinct, with the real life of the story living in the technology/biotech, and how the characters interact with it.
If I had to point out a flaw, I would say the short length of the story affected the pacing and the payoff. The setup was brisk and the journey felt a touch rushed. Much as the aforementioned "visceral discomfort" prevailed, I genuinely wish I could have spent more time in this world, getting to know these characters and watching their arcs unfold at a more stable pace.

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a pretty dark and bleak tale, and I would call it very Cronenbergian, with a lot of squicky body horror. Underneath all of that there's a core of an emotional story though.

[Fatima · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the atmosphere, it was suffocating - the innards of the wormship, the ‘tragedy of consciousness’, existing in reaction to violent colonization, memory, the absence of it - just so suffocating!

[Benjamin DeHaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun and cinematic Larson as we all know him for. The super dense world-building may throw some people off but I was highly entertained by all the bio tech jargon/soft sf body horror.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, IDK what to say. Stunning, weird, original, deep, shocking, satisfying. Classic Rich Larson. One of my favorite authors writing today.

[Per · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://reactormag.com/even-if-such-w...

[T Davidovsky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool concept, but I didn't really connect with it. It's so short, and yet I still found myself skimming

[Ayo Odun · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 🌟
Did I understand what was happening? No. Did I enjoy it? Yes! The prose was so good. And the descriptions of the bio tech was delightfully grotesque. The characters despite being mysterious i found engaging. As to be expected from Rich Larson. Unfortunately, I really didn't understand what exactly happened in some parts.