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The Cyborg Chronicles
Cyborgs. Part-robot, part-human. Even now, with our pacemakers, our holographic eyewear, our cybernetic limbs, it is difficult to deny that we are approaching an age when the line between humankind and machine is beginning to blur.
In this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, twelve authors face the question: In the age of the cybernetic organism, in a world where electro-mechanical components are beginning to take the place of biological limbs, what is the measure of a man?
The Cyborg Chronicles features stories by Hugo Award-winner Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings), USA Today bestselling author and Alfie Award-winner Annie Bellet (Twenty-Sided Sorceress) and ten more of today's top speculative fiction writers.
In this latest title in the acclaimed Future Chronicles series of speculative fiction anthologies, twelve authors face the question: In the age of the cybernetic organism, in a world where electro-mechanical components are beginning to take the place of biological limbs, what is the measure of a man?
The Cyborg Chronicles features stories by Hugo Award-winner Ken Liu (The Grace of Kings), USA Today bestselling author and Alfie Award-winner Annie Bellet (Twenty-Sided Sorceress) and ten more of today's top speculative fiction writers.
358 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 28, 2015
50 people are currently reading
191 people want to read
About the author
Crystal Watanabe
41 books25 followersA freelance indie editor since 2014, I've edited more than 125 short stories and 30 novels. With an interest in science fiction and fantasy, middle-grade fiction, and young adult, I'm proud to assist my authors in fine-tuning their stories and helping them share them with the world.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
December 2, 2015
I am leaving this review since I received an advance reader copy of this book. Receiving this for free did not sway my opinion at all. Great book! Perfect timing. I needed something to be able to read while in the waiting room of various doctors offices and this worked out just right. I thought that a full novel would be harder to put down with all the interruptions. I enjoyed all the stories in this book, each one of them were unique in their own way. I can not say that I had a particular favorite which made the enjoyment much greater.
December 27, 2015
(I received an advance reader copy of this anthology from Michael Patrick Hicks in exchange for an honest review)
The stories in this anthology are impressive in ideas and style. When M.P Hicks sent me an ARC of this I didn’t expect to be getting a review up as soon as this, but these stories got me there because I couldn’t stop reading them. There were a couple that didn’t satisfy me as much as the others, but even then I found things to admire.
What I really liked about Cyborg Chronicles was how it was rather like the reading equivalent of a music album where the order of tracks was carefully selected so the whole thing flowed and changed pace at the right times. Some of these stories are teasers for other work by the author, set in the same world, and others are standalones. The locations are varied, as are the purposes served by cyborg characters. There’s a good balance of 1st to 3rd person narratives and each author has their own unique stamp on the writing style.
I’ve reviewed each story individually below, but I appreciate this review might get into TLDR territory, so here’s a bitesize summing up first.
READ THIS BOOK IF:
- You like robotics and enjoy the hard science behind it all. These authors all put a good deal of research into these stories and most offer up an afterword telling the reader where some of it came from, and it’s not just about the robotics. There’s some great hard science here all round.
- You like short stories that are longer than average but still a fast read. A lot of them are action based, but even the more reflective ones are still quite pacey.
- You’ve never really liked robots as main characters but are willing to have a go with humans who are only part synthetic and still have (varying degrees of) human emotion and motivation. (That reader is basically me - this was reading outside of my usual preferences and I hugely enjoyed it).
- You are searching for self-published sci-fi authors who are at least as good as traditionally published ones (some of these authors have published traditionally as well as doing self-pub).
- You like stories that debate ethics.
Do I have a favourite story? Alright, I’ll pick one. There are four I’ve awarded the elusive five stars to in the individual reviews below, but if you have a couple of hours reading time to check out just one work in this anthology, read ‘His Name in Lights’ by Patty Jansen. The other three stand-out stories are ‘Hide and Seek’ by Eric Tozzi, ‘Preservation’ my Michael Patrick Hicks and ‘Charm Bracelet’ by A.K Meek.
Here are the stories reviewed individually and spoiler free.
The Regular by Ken Liu - 4/5
The perfect choice of story to open the anthology, this is a nice blend of crime fiction with speculative; it reads more like hard-boiled city noir but the science behind the cybernetics is all there as well. The emphasis is on the cat and mouse of catching a killer, and there’s some brilliant use of surveillance and evidence gathering techniques, but it never feels like an episode of CSI. There’s some nice depth to the main character Ruth. Only the ending of this story disappointed me slightly. If you’re reading this on Goodreads, I’ll put a bit of discussion under a spoiler tag.
Upgrade Complete by Paul K. Swardstrom - 4/5
I enjoyed the voice of the 1st person narrator in this one. It’s probably the most light-hearted of all the narratives in this anthology, despite being overall a serious story about life and death, and with a revelation that hits quite hard. Maybe it was the style, but the cyborg fighting ring setups here put me in mind of the opening of Big Hero 6, but done with adults and putting them in the ring instead of robots. This could easily have gone into more comedy territory, but Paul Swardstrom skillfully guides it into darker places.
Drop Dead, Droid by Artie Cabrera - 4/5
The twist made the difference in this story. I’ll keep it spoiler free, but I was ready to award it 3 stars until I got to the end. It was all getting a little too familiar - cop befriending a kid in need of a father figure, cop battling a against the city and even other cops, it was all well written but I’d been there before. Then the game changed. Johnny Rangers, despite having a name that could be straight from a b-list police action movie, is a character I did root for, and there’s an amusing use of a ‘pleasure’ cyborg in this story (I did guess that this idea would come up in this anthology at least once, and was glad that Cabrera provided it).
Hide and Seek by Eric Tozzi - 5/5
It’s hard to write a story where the most engaging character is an animal, but here’s a great example of one. We’re most certainly not in How to Train Your Dragon territory though - this animal is a killer of the highest order and an experiment in lethal cybernetics created by humans, and yet there is a similar amount of sympathy to what many audiences would have for Toothless the dragon - Leon the cybernetic lion can’t help but be what he is, everything people know about his species is either wrong or very misguided. The right kind of human interaction could manage him, but there is always someone out to abuse power.
If there’s one story in Cyborg Chronicles where the surrounding world is brought to life more vividly than any other, then this is a contender, because it has the best tension and although it runs towards a somewhat inevitable outcome, I wanted to see it happen and didn’t mind that it didn’t surprise me. The real brilliance though came through how Leon communicates with the people around but both they and the reader never really know whether what he says is reliable, or even if it registers on any level of emotion we could comprehend.
Avendui 5ive by P.K Tyler - 4/5
This is the Romeo And Juliette story of the anthology - forbidden love and forbidden places. I liked the idea of a cyborg class system in this story, created by numbers of the various series, who aren’t strictly speaking supposed to associate with each other or learn the truth about certain places. This is a story where the idea of recycling a living thing comes nicely into play. It relies less on violence than some of the other stories in the anthology do and provides something of a break from that kind of action, substituting it for a ‘what if we get caught’ tension and playing with the reader’s feelings for the more than likely doomed partnership between the two central characters.
Indigo by Moira Katson - 2/5
This is the story I didn’t get on with. I wanted to like it more, because the writing was strong. It has a denser, weightier pace than the other stories and was never boring thanks to some clearly thought out world-building, but it wasn’t exciting either - it was all potential that wasn’t brought to the boil. For me the stakes just weren’t that high; I didn’t care enough about either of the two main characters for the ‘does he/she survive’ tension to work for me. The idea of the cyborg placing a memory-trigger in a place she knew she would look got my attention, and then never went anywhere exciting once the trigger came into play.
Augment by Susan Kaye Quinn - 4/5
Augment makes for an interesting comparison to ‘Upgrade Complete.’ Both stories deal with the idea of people fighting for the right to get to higher places and enhance their capabilities, but this story has one extra thing: the cyborg playing mentor to someone. It’s an effective trope for making the reader like this character before she gets to her ‘I’m going to change the world’ motivation. There’s some nice use of the backstory behind this, showing how the world used to be and why the system isn’t completely fair. I’ll allow myself a brief writer-moment here: it was nice to know I’m not the only one who likes having characters monologue hard in front of a council full of judges. The only place I felt this story fell short was that the said Council hid their thoughts and feelings for this troublemaker too much - there could have been some explosive debate here. The outcome was a little inevitable, but the author did admit in the afterword that this story was really an introduction to a much wider world. As a reader-hooking tactic this story works well.
‘His Name in Lights’ by Patty Jansen - 5/5
A few months ago I tried reading the first book in Patty Jansen’s Ambassador series and didn’t get into it. This story is easily enough to make me think I should give it a second go, and definitely also try the (X) series that was developed out of this story.
The research that went into this story is all too clear but never spoils the fiction in the way some hard-sf writers are prone to doing by getting too bogged down in the facts. Anything we need to know about Jupiter and its moons is concisely narrated and relevant, and makes me want to go dipping back into the numerous books I’ve looked at on the science behind the solar system.
This story sparked a fascination for me that it will likely also spark for anyone else who likes hard-sf, but what really made it wasn’t the science, it was the way the advancement it gives to the human characters also creates the same old kind of conflict, both political and monetary. To compare to other hard-sf, it’s a bit like what I’ve read in ‘Mars’ by seasoned sf-veteran Ben Bova (whose name I ironically discovered through Patty Jansen’s website, after picking up a book she listed under non-fiction for sci-fi writers; Bova was the editor.)
The tension is always high thanks to this, and not just because the ‘lives’ of the two cyborg characters on Io are at stake. There are villains in this story who I wanted to see get what was coming to them. Do they get it? I won’t spoil it, but lets just say there are plenty of curveballs and all the way through I thought it could easily end up with either a happy or a tragic ending.
The idea of Jupiter’s clouds being used to spell messages when advanced technology could no longer reach people was simply brilliant, and added the author’s personal touch to a story that was already drenched in wow-effect. I read this on Christmas day, and was desperate to finish it before I had to do other things. Full marks awarded, this is the standout story of the anthology. Anyone who likes a strong female lead will love this as well - there’s a real sense of both Eilin Gunnarsson’s strength and her vulnerability as she tries to save two people without us knowing why until the end.
Dyad by David Bruns - 4/5
Another story where the crime investigation makes it feel as much like a hardboiled crime thriller as it does sci-fi. Black market cyborg trafficking and dirty politics are all at play here, through a first person narrator protagonist who’s in for quite a nasty surprise. The tension brews beautifully in this story, right the way through the sting operation it centres around and then just when it seems like the actions over, there’s a brilliant last surprise. I did see part of it coming, but only just, and not all of it. In his afterword, the author says ‘...I love that feeling when I’m absolutely sure I’ve got a story figured out, and then the author does a literary nika move that leaves me flat-footed.’ I know just what mean, Dave. Congrats, mission accomplished!
Preservation by Michael Patrick Hicks - 5/5
I loved how this story played with the idea of who the prey was in a safari style setting. It’s another poacher-ranger story, rather like Hide and Seek, with a nice helping of futuristic brain tech added to the mix. The Databiologic Receiver of Mnemonic Response, or DRMR, was the centrepiece behind two of Michael Patrick Hick’s other novels, and this time receives a completely different work-out in an entirely different context. Authors working the same concept their proud to have created into every story can become tiresome, but Hicks is a long way from burnout with his mind-power concept here. It’s used and abused to good measure by its somewhat renegade handler protagonist, who’s decided she’s had enough of fighting loosing battles and is taking it one stage further. Page turning carnage ensues, the kind I’ve loved in this author’s other works. If you can find anyone better at writing an ultraviolent action scene, let me know who they are. As a reader who’s pro-hunting but anti-poaching/illegal animal trade, and advocates respect and conservation of the natural world even if you take things from it, this story struck the perfect chord with me.
‘Charm Bracelet’ by A.K Meek - 5/5
Charm Bracelet is a brilliantly nuanced story. All the fine details in this are there for a purpose and what appears insignificant turns out to be vital. The setup in the backstory where a well-to-do and somewhat conservative family don’t approve of who their son chooses to marry is a familiar one, but it works: the narrator protagonist had my sympathy, and the constant switches between his past and present work perfectly for a story like this. Ambulance chasing is given a take I found wonderfully inventive, with some neat twists worked around it. This story is a tragedy that strangely doesn’t always feel like a tragedy. A.K Meek’s afterword is also quite entertaining.
Ghosts in the Mist by Annie Bellet - 4/5
The shortest story of the anthology saved for last, and it’s another ranger-poacher one, but not the same as the other two like it at all. There’s an almost mythical quality to it thanks to the ‘chemical mist’ with ‘strange creatures’ living in it, and people vanishing just as easily. There’s the backstory of a lost mentor, the main story of a ranger on reprimand who’s going hunting for poachers despite her loathed boss’s orders, and the elusive ‘ghost lion,’ which provided some of my favourite descriptions in this anthology. This story has a satisfying ending that brings a more than satisfying anthology to a close.
The stories in this anthology are impressive in ideas and style. When M.P Hicks sent me an ARC of this I didn’t expect to be getting a review up as soon as this, but these stories got me there because I couldn’t stop reading them. There were a couple that didn’t satisfy me as much as the others, but even then I found things to admire.
What I really liked about Cyborg Chronicles was how it was rather like the reading equivalent of a music album where the order of tracks was carefully selected so the whole thing flowed and changed pace at the right times. Some of these stories are teasers for other work by the author, set in the same world, and others are standalones. The locations are varied, as are the purposes served by cyborg characters. There’s a good balance of 1st to 3rd person narratives and each author has their own unique stamp on the writing style.
I’ve reviewed each story individually below, but I appreciate this review might get into TLDR territory, so here’s a bitesize summing up first.
READ THIS BOOK IF:
- You like robotics and enjoy the hard science behind it all. These authors all put a good deal of research into these stories and most offer up an afterword telling the reader where some of it came from, and it’s not just about the robotics. There’s some great hard science here all round.
- You like short stories that are longer than average but still a fast read. A lot of them are action based, but even the more reflective ones are still quite pacey.
- You’ve never really liked robots as main characters but are willing to have a go with humans who are only part synthetic and still have (varying degrees of) human emotion and motivation. (That reader is basically me - this was reading outside of my usual preferences and I hugely enjoyed it).
- You are searching for self-published sci-fi authors who are at least as good as traditionally published ones (some of these authors have published traditionally as well as doing self-pub).
- You like stories that debate ethics.
Do I have a favourite story? Alright, I’ll pick one. There are four I’ve awarded the elusive five stars to in the individual reviews below, but if you have a couple of hours reading time to check out just one work in this anthology, read ‘His Name in Lights’ by Patty Jansen. The other three stand-out stories are ‘Hide and Seek’ by Eric Tozzi, ‘Preservation’ my Michael Patrick Hicks and ‘Charm Bracelet’ by A.K Meek.
Here are the stories reviewed individually and spoiler free.
The Regular by Ken Liu - 4/5
The perfect choice of story to open the anthology, this is a nice blend of crime fiction with speculative; it reads more like hard-boiled city noir but the science behind the cybernetics is all there as well. The emphasis is on the cat and mouse of catching a killer, and there’s some brilliant use of surveillance and evidence gathering techniques, but it never feels like an episode of CSI. There’s some nice depth to the main character Ruth. Only the ending of this story disappointed me slightly. If you’re reading this on Goodreads, I’ll put a bit of discussion under a spoiler tag.
Upgrade Complete by Paul K. Swardstrom - 4/5
I enjoyed the voice of the 1st person narrator in this one. It’s probably the most light-hearted of all the narratives in this anthology, despite being overall a serious story about life and death, and with a revelation that hits quite hard. Maybe it was the style, but the cyborg fighting ring setups here put me in mind of the opening of Big Hero 6, but done with adults and putting them in the ring instead of robots. This could easily have gone into more comedy territory, but Paul Swardstrom skillfully guides it into darker places.
Drop Dead, Droid by Artie Cabrera - 4/5
The twist made the difference in this story. I’ll keep it spoiler free, but I was ready to award it 3 stars until I got to the end. It was all getting a little too familiar - cop befriending a kid in need of a father figure, cop battling a against the city and even other cops, it was all well written but I’d been there before. Then the game changed. Johnny Rangers, despite having a name that could be straight from a b-list police action movie, is a character I did root for, and there’s an amusing use of a ‘pleasure’ cyborg in this story (I did guess that this idea would come up in this anthology at least once, and was glad that Cabrera provided it).
Hide and Seek by Eric Tozzi - 5/5
It’s hard to write a story where the most engaging character is an animal, but here’s a great example of one. We’re most certainly not in How to Train Your Dragon territory though - this animal is a killer of the highest order and an experiment in lethal cybernetics created by humans, and yet there is a similar amount of sympathy to what many audiences would have for Toothless the dragon - Leon the cybernetic lion can’t help but be what he is, everything people know about his species is either wrong or very misguided. The right kind of human interaction could manage him, but there is always someone out to abuse power.
If there’s one story in Cyborg Chronicles where the surrounding world is brought to life more vividly than any other, then this is a contender, because it has the best tension and although it runs towards a somewhat inevitable outcome, I wanted to see it happen and didn’t mind that it didn’t surprise me. The real brilliance though came through how Leon communicates with the people around but both they and the reader never really know whether what he says is reliable, or even if it registers on any level of emotion we could comprehend.
Avendui 5ive by P.K Tyler - 4/5
This is the Romeo And Juliette story of the anthology - forbidden love and forbidden places. I liked the idea of a cyborg class system in this story, created by numbers of the various series, who aren’t strictly speaking supposed to associate with each other or learn the truth about certain places. This is a story where the idea of recycling a living thing comes nicely into play. It relies less on violence than some of the other stories in the anthology do and provides something of a break from that kind of action, substituting it for a ‘what if we get caught’ tension and playing with the reader’s feelings for the more than likely doomed partnership between the two central characters.
Indigo by Moira Katson - 2/5
This is the story I didn’t get on with. I wanted to like it more, because the writing was strong. It has a denser, weightier pace than the other stories and was never boring thanks to some clearly thought out world-building, but it wasn’t exciting either - it was all potential that wasn’t brought to the boil. For me the stakes just weren’t that high; I didn’t care enough about either of the two main characters for the ‘does he/she survive’ tension to work for me. The idea of the cyborg placing a memory-trigger in a place she knew she would look got my attention, and then never went anywhere exciting once the trigger came into play.
Augment by Susan Kaye Quinn - 4/5
Augment makes for an interesting comparison to ‘Upgrade Complete.’ Both stories deal with the idea of people fighting for the right to get to higher places and enhance their capabilities, but this story has one extra thing: the cyborg playing mentor to someone. It’s an effective trope for making the reader like this character before she gets to her ‘I’m going to change the world’ motivation. There’s some nice use of the backstory behind this, showing how the world used to be and why the system isn’t completely fair. I’ll allow myself a brief writer-moment here: it was nice to know I’m not the only one who likes having characters monologue hard in front of a council full of judges. The only place I felt this story fell short was that the said Council hid their thoughts and feelings for this troublemaker too much - there could have been some explosive debate here. The outcome was a little inevitable, but the author did admit in the afterword that this story was really an introduction to a much wider world. As a reader-hooking tactic this story works well.
‘His Name in Lights’ by Patty Jansen - 5/5
A few months ago I tried reading the first book in Patty Jansen’s Ambassador series and didn’t get into it. This story is easily enough to make me think I should give it a second go, and definitely also try the (X) series that was developed out of this story.
The research that went into this story is all too clear but never spoils the fiction in the way some hard-sf writers are prone to doing by getting too bogged down in the facts. Anything we need to know about Jupiter and its moons is concisely narrated and relevant, and makes me want to go dipping back into the numerous books I’ve looked at on the science behind the solar system.
This story sparked a fascination for me that it will likely also spark for anyone else who likes hard-sf, but what really made it wasn’t the science, it was the way the advancement it gives to the human characters also creates the same old kind of conflict, both political and monetary. To compare to other hard-sf, it’s a bit like what I’ve read in ‘Mars’ by seasoned sf-veteran Ben Bova (whose name I ironically discovered through Patty Jansen’s website, after picking up a book she listed under non-fiction for sci-fi writers; Bova was the editor.)
The tension is always high thanks to this, and not just because the ‘lives’ of the two cyborg characters on Io are at stake. There are villains in this story who I wanted to see get what was coming to them. Do they get it? I won’t spoil it, but lets just say there are plenty of curveballs and all the way through I thought it could easily end up with either a happy or a tragic ending.
The idea of Jupiter’s clouds being used to spell messages when advanced technology could no longer reach people was simply brilliant, and added the author’s personal touch to a story that was already drenched in wow-effect. I read this on Christmas day, and was desperate to finish it before I had to do other things. Full marks awarded, this is the standout story of the anthology. Anyone who likes a strong female lead will love this as well - there’s a real sense of both Eilin Gunnarsson’s strength and her vulnerability as she tries to save two people without us knowing why until the end.
Dyad by David Bruns - 4/5
Another story where the crime investigation makes it feel as much like a hardboiled crime thriller as it does sci-fi. Black market cyborg trafficking and dirty politics are all at play here, through a first person narrator protagonist who’s in for quite a nasty surprise. The tension brews beautifully in this story, right the way through the sting operation it centres around and then just when it seems like the actions over, there’s a brilliant last surprise. I did see part of it coming, but only just, and not all of it. In his afterword, the author says ‘...I love that feeling when I’m absolutely sure I’ve got a story figured out, and then the author does a literary nika move that leaves me flat-footed.’ I know just what mean, Dave. Congrats, mission accomplished!
Preservation by Michael Patrick Hicks - 5/5
I loved how this story played with the idea of who the prey was in a safari style setting. It’s another poacher-ranger story, rather like Hide and Seek, with a nice helping of futuristic brain tech added to the mix. The Databiologic Receiver of Mnemonic Response, or DRMR, was the centrepiece behind two of Michael Patrick Hick’s other novels, and this time receives a completely different work-out in an entirely different context. Authors working the same concept their proud to have created into every story can become tiresome, but Hicks is a long way from burnout with his mind-power concept here. It’s used and abused to good measure by its somewhat renegade handler protagonist, who’s decided she’s had enough of fighting loosing battles and is taking it one stage further. Page turning carnage ensues, the kind I’ve loved in this author’s other works. If you can find anyone better at writing an ultraviolent action scene, let me know who they are. As a reader who’s pro-hunting but anti-poaching/illegal animal trade, and advocates respect and conservation of the natural world even if you take things from it, this story struck the perfect chord with me.
‘Charm Bracelet’ by A.K Meek - 5/5
Charm Bracelet is a brilliantly nuanced story. All the fine details in this are there for a purpose and what appears insignificant turns out to be vital. The setup in the backstory where a well-to-do and somewhat conservative family don’t approve of who their son chooses to marry is a familiar one, but it works: the narrator protagonist had my sympathy, and the constant switches between his past and present work perfectly for a story like this. Ambulance chasing is given a take I found wonderfully inventive, with some neat twists worked around it. This story is a tragedy that strangely doesn’t always feel like a tragedy. A.K Meek’s afterword is also quite entertaining.
Ghosts in the Mist by Annie Bellet - 4/5
The shortest story of the anthology saved for last, and it’s another ranger-poacher one, but not the same as the other two like it at all. There’s an almost mythical quality to it thanks to the ‘chemical mist’ with ‘strange creatures’ living in it, and people vanishing just as easily. There’s the backstory of a lost mentor, the main story of a ranger on reprimand who’s going hunting for poachers despite her loathed boss’s orders, and the elusive ‘ghost lion,’ which provided some of my favourite descriptions in this anthology. This story has a satisfying ending that brings a more than satisfying anthology to a close.
December 30, 2015
The problem with rating an anthology, of course, is that every single story is written by a different person and it's incredibly difficult to give a general rating to such a diverse collection.
Anyway, I'll try.
Foreword - Samuel Peralta: I thought this would be a foreword, but no, it reads like a short story!
The Regular - Ken Liu: I've only read one story by Ken Liu before (The Paper Menagerie) and thought that a brilliant piece of work. The Regular is just as brilliant. Okay, I started off thinking "what, why is this about a murdered prostitute?" and then he goes and brings you into this Asian American world, with damaging parental expectations (but you know only because they love you so much and want you to succeed) and a half-Chinese (half-white) cyborg who's really only taking up this futile murder investigation because she needs the money, but really, it's much more complex than that. (5 stars!)
Upgrade Complete - Paul K Swardstrom: JR-8 MT is a human cyborg, a combatant in a tournament of cyborgs, who has been having strange dreams. Tiny parallels to some of Susan Kaye Quinn's Singularity, but then again totally different. Loved the way it turned out. (4 stars)
Drop Dead, Droid - Artie Cabrera: This one was a little too Cowboy for me. It's like a Western in space, with Rangers looking for leads on a drug heist. Then he gets suckered into helping a poor, helpless (but extremely beautiful) lady who later gets murdered. Throw in a cyborg kid for the space theme and there you have it! A Western in Space! (Actually it ties together better than that; I'm just don't like Westerns that much) (3 stars)
Hide and Seek - Eric Tozzi: I kind of liked this. It had an interesting concept and scattered OMG moments, but in some places, the writing was just... confusing. By confusing, I mean that I had to read some paragraphs a few times to figure out what was happening. It also felt choppier than it needed to be. (3 stars)
Avendui 5ive - P K Tyler: In Mezna City, unwanted kids are being implanted and coded for specific roles in maintaining the world they live in. But not all of these Teks turn out to be unfeeling robots. At least two of them, Avendui 5ive and Virgil 9ine have discovered what it means to be friends, and to love. Now, they need to keep it quiet before they are found out and wiped. Pavarti is a big(gish) name in the corner of the (online) writing world I live in, but I've never really read her stuff, probably because I was mainly only aware of her lit & romance stuff. After reading Avendui 5ive, I really want to check out her sci-fi stuff now. (5 stars)
Indigo - Moira Katson: Cyborgs are wiped after every mission, but for some reason, this one still retains partial memories across missions. Random associations are forming; a sense of incompleteness invades her. Is she broken beyond repair in the middle of this mission? Indigo grows on you, leaving you with the chills. (5 stars)
Augment - Susan Kaye Quinn: I've reviewed Augment, so this wasn't a new story for me. Miriam Levine is a jiv - a human with augments - and she's fighting to win the Resurrection mod - a brand new augmentation that may very well be the only thing that will keep her alive. Because she's about to throw her life away. You know what, after watching Star Wars VII, I'm thinking Miriam has a bit of a Rey vibe. (4 stars)
His Name in Lights - Patty Jansen: There's a slight tinge of The Martian in this one. Daniel and Oscar are on Io overseeing an installation when a sudden quake strikes. The base is almost all destroyed, communications are cut off and they're left for dead, seeing they're not entirely human anyway. Except that Eilin, President of Allion Aerospace doesn't want to leave them behind. Very space opera, the relationship is a little bit predictable, but warm fuzzy feelings anyway. (4 stars)
Dyad - David Bruns: Dr Michael Taylor is an expert on cyborgs, which is why the Tech Div needs his help. Or maybe not. I agree with Bruns that Dyad is all about its ending. Which is why I'm not going to say anything else about the story. (5 stars)
Preservation - Michael Patrick Hicks: There's some surface level similarities between Preservation and Hide and Seek: both talk about poachers and animals in Africa. But whilst Hide and Seek focuses on the killer LEON, Preservation has a single-minded vet cyborg who will do whatever it takes to save endangered rhinos. It was a nice story but I don't think I connected that much with it (3 stars)
Charm Bracelet - A K Meek: Elijah wakes up to find that he has been turned into a cyborg. And each time he tries to kill himself, he finds that he's resuscitated and made even more mechanical. It's a losing game. One thing slightly repetitive about cyborg stories is the fact that they almost always end up being used to fight each other on another's behalf. In this one, it's the war between Mexico and America over trade embargoes. The most fascinating thing about this story is how delicately it weaves everything together from its innocent beginning to its tragic end. I flipped through this again while writing the review and realized that I missed some connections from my first read. (5 stars)
Ghosts in the Mist - Annie Bellet: Yet another poacher and preservation story. This obviously didn't really resonate with me much, because I had to flip through to the middle to remember what it was about. Then again, I remembered liking the ending once I realized which story it was. (3 stars)
---
So it's a mixed bag of stuff, but mostly good stuff.
I received an ARC for review from Susan Kaye Quinn by being incredibly quick to reply on Facebook. (heh).
Anyway, I'll try.
Foreword - Samuel Peralta: I thought this would be a foreword, but no, it reads like a short story!
The Regular - Ken Liu: I've only read one story by Ken Liu before (The Paper Menagerie) and thought that a brilliant piece of work. The Regular is just as brilliant. Okay, I started off thinking "what, why is this about a murdered prostitute?" and then he goes and brings you into this Asian American world, with damaging parental expectations (but you know only because they love you so much and want you to succeed) and a half-Chinese (half-white) cyborg who's really only taking up this futile murder investigation because she needs the money, but really, it's much more complex than that. (5 stars!)
Upgrade Complete - Paul K Swardstrom: JR-8 MT is a human cyborg, a combatant in a tournament of cyborgs, who has been having strange dreams. Tiny parallels to some of Susan Kaye Quinn's Singularity, but then again totally different. Loved the way it turned out. (4 stars)
Drop Dead, Droid - Artie Cabrera: This one was a little too Cowboy for me. It's like a Western in space, with Rangers looking for leads on a drug heist. Then he gets suckered into helping a poor, helpless (but extremely beautiful) lady who later gets murdered. Throw in a cyborg kid for the space theme and there you have it! A Western in Space! (Actually it ties together better than that; I'm just don't like Westerns that much) (3 stars)
Hide and Seek - Eric Tozzi: I kind of liked this. It had an interesting concept and scattered OMG moments, but in some places, the writing was just... confusing. By confusing, I mean that I had to read some paragraphs a few times to figure out what was happening. It also felt choppier than it needed to be. (3 stars)
Avendui 5ive - P K Tyler: In Mezna City, unwanted kids are being implanted and coded for specific roles in maintaining the world they live in. But not all of these Teks turn out to be unfeeling robots. At least two of them, Avendui 5ive and Virgil 9ine have discovered what it means to be friends, and to love. Now, they need to keep it quiet before they are found out and wiped. Pavarti is a big(gish) name in the corner of the (online) writing world I live in, but I've never really read her stuff, probably because I was mainly only aware of her lit & romance stuff. After reading Avendui 5ive, I really want to check out her sci-fi stuff now. (5 stars)
Indigo - Moira Katson: Cyborgs are wiped after every mission, but for some reason, this one still retains partial memories across missions. Random associations are forming; a sense of incompleteness invades her. Is she broken beyond repair in the middle of this mission? Indigo grows on you, leaving you with the chills. (5 stars)
Augment - Susan Kaye Quinn: I've reviewed Augment, so this wasn't a new story for me. Miriam Levine is a jiv - a human with augments - and she's fighting to win the Resurrection mod - a brand new augmentation that may very well be the only thing that will keep her alive. Because she's about to throw her life away. You know what, after watching Star Wars VII, I'm thinking Miriam has a bit of a Rey vibe. (4 stars)
His Name in Lights - Patty Jansen: There's a slight tinge of The Martian in this one. Daniel and Oscar are on Io overseeing an installation when a sudden quake strikes. The base is almost all destroyed, communications are cut off and they're left for dead, seeing they're not entirely human anyway. Except that Eilin, President of Allion Aerospace doesn't want to leave them behind. Very space opera, the relationship is a little bit predictable, but warm fuzzy feelings anyway. (4 stars)
Dyad - David Bruns: Dr Michael Taylor is an expert on cyborgs, which is why the Tech Div needs his help. Or maybe not. I agree with Bruns that Dyad is all about its ending. Which is why I'm not going to say anything else about the story. (5 stars)
Preservation - Michael Patrick Hicks: There's some surface level similarities between Preservation and Hide and Seek: both talk about poachers and animals in Africa. But whilst Hide and Seek focuses on the killer LEON, Preservation has a single-minded vet cyborg who will do whatever it takes to save endangered rhinos. It was a nice story but I don't think I connected that much with it (3 stars)
Charm Bracelet - A K Meek: Elijah wakes up to find that he has been turned into a cyborg. And each time he tries to kill himself, he finds that he's resuscitated and made even more mechanical. It's a losing game. One thing slightly repetitive about cyborg stories is the fact that they almost always end up being used to fight each other on another's behalf. In this one, it's the war between Mexico and America over trade embargoes. The most fascinating thing about this story is how delicately it weaves everything together from its innocent beginning to its tragic end. I flipped through this again while writing the review and realized that I missed some connections from my first read. (5 stars)
Ghosts in the Mist - Annie Bellet: Yet another poacher and preservation story. This obviously didn't really resonate with me much, because I had to flip through to the middle to remember what it was about. Then again, I remembered liking the ending once I realized which story it was. (3 stars)
---
So it's a mixed bag of stuff, but mostly good stuff.
I received an ARC for review from Susan Kaye Quinn by being incredibly quick to reply on Facebook. (heh).
January 6, 2016
We're Getting Closer, Day by Day, Parts and Pieces a Little at a Time
While I most assuredly bought this book on pre-order, it won't show up on Amazon as so because I purchase books under another account - one of Amazon's "Family Plan" deals and review them under "Rebask". (Which, by the way - is REALLY cool, check into it if you have family members you wish to share books with.) After pre-ordering, I was also quite fortunate to be given an ARC, so I got a head-start on reading the book. LUCKY ME!
I struggle with my review giving. That's a truth. I struggle because I have become painfully AWARE of the importance of them in the author's lives. While I am told that even a few lines of truthful review are great, I struggle to make my reviews of interest to one who might be on the fence towards IF they wish to purchase a particular book... and especially books that I have LOVED, I want others to experience and enjoy for their own selves. This is one such book that I deeply want other people to get to experience.
Like with Space Fiction, I am somewhat 'new' to reading cyborg fiction. I can not give comparisons to other books because I don't have a reference point to do so. But, I CAN be totally honest, here and now, in this review.
Since several other reviewers and commentators have so successfully detailed each and every story I shan't attempt that. I will comment on the over-all analogy and just two that touched me 'deeper'.
Short, sweet, and truthfully, I could not be more pleased with reading an analogy about Cyborgs. I tasted a smorgasbord of cyborg fiction within the (virtual) pages of this book, and I am now 'hooked', on reading more. I was gratefully introduced to some new-to-me authors and read some more stories from authors I had already known of. Mr. Peralta has yet to fail in his selection of authors to have included in the analogies he puts together (and is a great author in his own right, I shall add.) Crystal Watanabe has "The Touch" with editing that I would strive for, if I were an editor. The entire book flowed, magically... wonderful piece of art.
My Favorite story in the group was, without a doubt, Michael Patrick Hicks' "Preservation". As I began reading it I was reminded of a short story that is, NO HOLDS BARRED, one of the finest pieces of science fiction I have come across last year, Ann Christy's "Yankari: A Talking Earth Tale" http://www.amazon.com/Yankari-Talking... . While both deal with preserving LIFE on Animal Reservations in Africa, that is where the similarities end. "Preservation" has a very well equipped and physically FIT ex-military lady, Akagi, who has many cyborg additions to her body due to the ravages of War. Since Veterans hold a place dear to my heart this story peeked my interest from the very beginning. What kept kept me immersed in it was Mr. Hick's fine style. While I read a story of his in the Analogy put out by Lucas Bale, "Crime and Punishment: A Speculative Fiction Anthology" http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishmen... , the story included here-in shows the fact that Mr. Hicks is able to be versatile in his writing. I am notably impressed. If *I* could become... augmented, I would want every 'upgrade' this fine Lady-Warrior has. I would want to dedicate my life in ways she has, to the betterment of keeping our animal kingdom SAFE from people who wish to mutilate and kill them, all for riches in their own pockets.
Susan Kay Quinn’s “Augment” was outstanding. A teen, not having yet even begun to live her life, willing to make The Ultimate Sacrifice, the giving of her LIFE in order for other's to Maybe learn from and grow towards a better future. Superb subject matter, well told, with hints at how we might, in this day and age, view some aspects of religions, touching on the idiocy of trying to say "MINE'S better than YOURS so yours is No Good!" Excellent thought provoking material.
I truthfully enjoyed each and every story in the lot. I am now, as every time I read a new "Future Chronicles" type analogy, expanding my interests in various Types of Science Fiction. I applaud all the author's, the editor and the book cover art-maker's efforts. WELL DONE!!
While I most assuredly bought this book on pre-order, it won't show up on Amazon as so because I purchase books under another account - one of Amazon's "Family Plan" deals and review them under "Rebask". (Which, by the way - is REALLY cool, check into it if you have family members you wish to share books with.) After pre-ordering, I was also quite fortunate to be given an ARC, so I got a head-start on reading the book. LUCKY ME!
I struggle with my review giving. That's a truth. I struggle because I have become painfully AWARE of the importance of them in the author's lives. While I am told that even a few lines of truthful review are great, I struggle to make my reviews of interest to one who might be on the fence towards IF they wish to purchase a particular book... and especially books that I have LOVED, I want others to experience and enjoy for their own selves. This is one such book that I deeply want other people to get to experience.
Like with Space Fiction, I am somewhat 'new' to reading cyborg fiction. I can not give comparisons to other books because I don't have a reference point to do so. But, I CAN be totally honest, here and now, in this review.
Since several other reviewers and commentators have so successfully detailed each and every story I shan't attempt that. I will comment on the over-all analogy and just two that touched me 'deeper'.
Short, sweet, and truthfully, I could not be more pleased with reading an analogy about Cyborgs. I tasted a smorgasbord of cyborg fiction within the (virtual) pages of this book, and I am now 'hooked', on reading more. I was gratefully introduced to some new-to-me authors and read some more stories from authors I had already known of. Mr. Peralta has yet to fail in his selection of authors to have included in the analogies he puts together (and is a great author in his own right, I shall add.) Crystal Watanabe has "The Touch" with editing that I would strive for, if I were an editor. The entire book flowed, magically... wonderful piece of art.
My Favorite story in the group was, without a doubt, Michael Patrick Hicks' "Preservation". As I began reading it I was reminded of a short story that is, NO HOLDS BARRED, one of the finest pieces of science fiction I have come across last year, Ann Christy's "Yankari: A Talking Earth Tale" http://www.amazon.com/Yankari-Talking... . While both deal with preserving LIFE on Animal Reservations in Africa, that is where the similarities end. "Preservation" has a very well equipped and physically FIT ex-military lady, Akagi, who has many cyborg additions to her body due to the ravages of War. Since Veterans hold a place dear to my heart this story peeked my interest from the very beginning. What kept kept me immersed in it was Mr. Hick's fine style. While I read a story of his in the Analogy put out by Lucas Bale, "Crime and Punishment: A Speculative Fiction Anthology" http://www.amazon.com/Crime-Punishmen... , the story included here-in shows the fact that Mr. Hicks is able to be versatile in his writing. I am notably impressed. If *I* could become... augmented, I would want every 'upgrade' this fine Lady-Warrior has. I would want to dedicate my life in ways she has, to the betterment of keeping our animal kingdom SAFE from people who wish to mutilate and kill them, all for riches in their own pockets.
Susan Kay Quinn’s “Augment” was outstanding. A teen, not having yet even begun to live her life, willing to make The Ultimate Sacrifice, the giving of her LIFE in order for other's to Maybe learn from and grow towards a better future. Superb subject matter, well told, with hints at how we might, in this day and age, view some aspects of religions, touching on the idiocy of trying to say "MINE'S better than YOURS so yours is No Good!" Excellent thought provoking material.
I truthfully enjoyed each and every story in the lot. I am now, as every time I read a new "Future Chronicles" type analogy, expanding my interests in various Types of Science Fiction. I applaud all the author's, the editor and the book cover art-maker's efforts. WELL DONE!!
January 6, 2016
Outstanding Read!! If you like sci-fi, and even if you don't, you will love this book of short stories about cyborgs. Each story stands on its own and they are excellent. Besides introducing you to a group of different authors, each story introduces you to a different type and use of cyborgs. Some of these cyborgs are close to reality now, while others are a ways out there. I loved all of them and you will too. Don't hesitate to buy Cyborg Chronicles. All the stories leave you thinking seriously if any of them will really happen long after you finish it.
December 29, 2015
Another great collection from Samuel Peralta's Future Chronicles Series hits the selves & it's going from strength to strength!
Really enjoyed this selection of very intriguing short stories dwelling on the development of cyborg technology. A highly recommended anthology for all Science Fiction fans who have little time / patience to read a 'door-stop'!
Really enjoyed this selection of very intriguing short stories dwelling on the development of cyborg technology. A highly recommended anthology for all Science Fiction fans who have little time / patience to read a 'door-stop'!
January 23, 2016
The Cyborg Chronicles is a collection of short stories by several authors. Each taking their own spin on the same topic Cyborgs. The stories vary greatly and are all interesting reads. I really enjoying getting the chance to see several author's writing style and from this there are few of the authors that I want to check out their other books.
This collection is fun to read because you get to see how different authors approach the same topic is such vastly different ways. The stories are quick to read but leave you wondering. Two of the stories I particularly enjoyed and wished that they were full length novels.
If your a Scy-Fi fan this collection is great for you and even if your not they are still a fun read to help you expand into new genres.
4 Stars for a fun read.
This collection is fun to read because you get to see how different authors approach the same topic is such vastly different ways. The stories are quick to read but leave you wondering. Two of the stories I particularly enjoyed and wished that they were full length novels.
If your a Scy-Fi fan this collection is great for you and even if your not they are still a fun read to help you expand into new genres.
4 Stars for a fun read.
January 6, 2016
Oh gosh I hate giving this only three stars. I really do. It pangs me deeply. I LOVE The Future Chronicles! I was so excited to see this was the next one. I grabbed in on KU and I'm stuck I just can't finish it. I don't get it. The stories just did not impress me. I loved the idea of cyborgs and was so excited to see what these great authors would come up with (I've read most of them elsewhere)
There were more stories that just bored me than interested me. I hoped for better. I may still attempt to finish this but I highly doubt it and will wait anxiously for what Samuel comes up with next.
There were more stories that just bored me than interested me. I hoped for better. I may still attempt to finish this but I highly doubt it and will wait anxiously for what Samuel comes up with next.
September 21, 2017
This is a nice compilation of science fiction short stories – none of it was too far off the edge to make you shout out “bull,” and it would appear many of these short stories were outlines for full-length novels. I liked being introduced to new sci-fi authors, and have already gone looking for more material by some of the authors in this compilation. These stories are just the right length for your lunch break at work or when you can spare 30-45 minutes at a clip without losing all track of time (like I seem to do with novels).
I picked this up for free with my Kindle Unlimited borrow vs. its normal price of $1.99: if you enjoy science fiction, you’ll certainly receive more than $1.99 in entertainment value (I did).
I picked this up for free with my Kindle Unlimited borrow vs. its normal price of $1.99: if you enjoy science fiction, you’ll certainly receive more than $1.99 in entertainment value (I did).
May 6, 2017
An excellent collection of stories!
As much as it pains me to admit it, I've been reading science fiction for more than 50 years at this point. In that time, I've read scores of anthologies, "Year's Best" collections, etc. "The Cyborg Chronicles" is one of the best collections I've read. Period. I'm not going to name each story and tell you whether it was good or bad - haven't got time for that. But of all the stories in this book, there was only one that I didn't really like a lot. I still liked it, though. The rest were really good with a few that could become new classics of the short story genre! So, get a copy and see if you agree.
As much as it pains me to admit it, I've been reading science fiction for more than 50 years at this point. In that time, I've read scores of anthologies, "Year's Best" collections, etc. "The Cyborg Chronicles" is one of the best collections I've read. Period. I'm not going to name each story and tell you whether it was good or bad - haven't got time for that. But of all the stories in this book, there was only one that I didn't really like a lot. I still liked it, though. The rest were really good with a few that could become new classics of the short story genre! So, get a copy and see if you agree.
May 21, 2017
Thought provoking
I enjoyed reading these different visions of cyborg life. Many of them dealt with war and armament. I hope we can get passed that someday. There was some good writing in this anthology.
I enjoyed reading these different visions of cyborg life. Many of them dealt with war and armament. I hope we can get passed that someday. There was some good writing in this anthology.
July 30, 2018
Good read
Lots of interesting themes, character development even in a 10 page story. I've loved robot and cyborg scoresheet since I Robot and Danielle Steel, these did not disappoint.
Lots of interesting themes, character development even in a 10 page story. I've loved robot and cyborg scoresheet since I Robot and Danielle Steel, these did not disappoint.
August 27, 2017
Food for future thought.
This was a five star anthology. However, I must admit that I love robots, technology, and science fiction. Well done!
This was a five star anthology. However, I must admit that I love robots, technology, and science fiction. Well done!
September 21, 2017
Good collection
A good collection, one which (as you might expect) is thought-provoking as well as entertaining. Another success for the Future Chronicles series!
A good collection, one which (as you might expect) is thought-provoking as well as entertaining. Another success for the Future Chronicles series!
March 6, 2016
This is an awesome collection of stories. From the masterful story "The Regular" by Ken Liu to the quirky noir "Drop Dead Droid" by Artie Cabrera. The book was already good in my opinion but then both Paul Swardstrom with "Upgrade Complete" and Annie Bellet's "Ghosts in the Mist" just knocked it out of the park, for me! I'm pretty sure that you can pick up any collection edited by Samuel Peralta it's gonna be great, but you really don't wanna miss getting this one! Enjoy!
March 15, 2016
Man and Machines
I love reading books like this. Short stories that introduce you to new authors who have written other books and series you may enjoy. Every story was true to the title of the book and had cyborgs in the stories, except, curiously, the last story. Although, very short and a good story didn't have any cyborgs in it. *shrug*. If you are looking for some good stories and potentially new authors to read this is a good book.
I love reading books like this. Short stories that introduce you to new authors who have written other books and series you may enjoy. Every story was true to the title of the book and had cyborgs in the stories, except, curiously, the last story. Although, very short and a good story didn't have any cyborgs in it. *shrug*. If you are looking for some good stories and potentially new authors to read this is a good book.
January 25, 2016
Collection of short stories
This was pleasant surprise,as the stories are well written, with credible technology and real plots with believable characters. Some were a little cliche ridden but others had some interesting plot twists. At this price a steal really.
This was pleasant surprise,as the stories are well written, with credible technology and real plots with believable characters. Some were a little cliche ridden but others had some interesting plot twists. At this price a steal really.
August 22, 2016
This is a great collection.
It's a rare collection that keeps me this engaged from beginning to end.
It's a rare collection that keeps me this engaged from beginning to end.
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