This year I’m aiming to read at least 35 books! That might not sound like much, but with a grand total of 25 last year, it’s hopefully going to be an achievable target. Recently i’ve struggled quite a bit to find the time to sit and read, with distractions, social meetings, and other responsibilities all vying for attention elsewhere, so recently i’v been dabbling more with audiobooks. Along with weekly podcasts I usually have one on the go and, this last month, I downloaded and listened to Forward: Stories of Tomorrow.
This appeared on Audible as a personalised recommendation and consists of six sci-fi short stories curated by Blake Crouch. All the authors were entirely new to me, and the six stories have a Black Mirror style future warning plausibility about them, which is how I interpreted them at least. I read about the stories briefly before listening, but for the most part with all of them went in blind (deaf?). Absolutely everyone has ranked them and picked their favourites in blogs, reviews, and fansites, so I thought I would do similar here, with spoiler-free thoughts. Forward is by no means the most complete or accomplished collection of this genre, but I think it’s worth a read or listen; all of the stories have some kind of charm.
Ark, by Veronica Roth, read by Evan Rachel Wood
I listened to the stories in order, and this was the first. The story is set two weeks before an asteroid destorys Earth, and having already evacuated the planet, a small team remain to catalogue and store plant samples. This was enjoyable enough with some interesting ideas, but ultimately it didn’t feel like the concepts or narrative had much drive. Things were very slow- despite the seemingly obvious urgency of the situation- and the story doesn’t really get a chance to perform. This was a very soft, melancholic story, but it did feel a little hollow.
Summer Frost, by Blake Crouch, read by Rosa Salazar
This was an excellent short story, expertly paced, and probably my second favourite of the collection. The story deals with work-life balance, artificial intelligence and free-will in pretty big ways, and does a lot thematically in such a short time. I really don’t want to talk too much about the plot with this one, but I found it so madly captivating, it really hooked me. I feel Summer Frost could be expanded to become an entire novel, but it’s definitely an interesting read that will linger in my thoughts for sometime. Really enjoyable.
Emergency Skin, by N. K. Jemisin, read by Jason Isaacs
Emergency Skin was the only story I was aware of going into the collection, after the title previously having won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2020 and winding up in my “to read” pile. The story is about an explorer returning to a previously-doomed earth for materials and the discoveries they make along the way. As someone currently mega-disillusioned with work culture, politics, climate change, society, and hell, where the world is heading in general, this resonated with me a lot! The themes might be a bit too on the nose for some, but I found this short story excellently paced as the reveals emerged, and the character’s discoveries progressed. It ended at exactly the right time. This was easily my favourite of the six stories and my introduction to N. K. Jemisin as an author. I’m looking forward to reading lots more.
You Have Arrived At Your Destination, by Amor Towles, read by David Harbour
David Harbour (Hopper from Stranger Things) was great narrating, but overall ‘At Your Destination did not click for me. This was conceptually clever, with fertility, genetic engineering, and future outcomes all as major thinking points. Structurally however, the story didn’t really land, with the opening feeling pretty loose, and a third act that -to me at least- was quite disappointing. Im not really sure I arrived at the destination at all. Probably my least favourite of the six.
The Last Coversation, by Paul Tremblay, read by Steven Strait
This was just okay. The narrative really hinges entirely on the ending that, while having some excellent symmetry with that of the beginning, was very predictable from the outset. This is easily the most abstract of the collection conceptually and narratively, and I think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn’t sussed the ending as quickly as I did. I refuse to divulge any more. Tonally and through its language I enjoyed this quite a bit, and it feels raw, sharp, and honest throughout, but as an idea I feel this has definitely been done before, and better.
Randomize, by Andy Weir, read by Janina Gavankar
Andy Weir was, in my opinion, the most “household name” of the authors in the collection. There’s lots of dismissing reviews of this on Goodreads but I thought this was fun! Sci-fi wise this is definitely the lightest (and shortest) of the short stories included in the Forward collection, but the idea of quantum computing meeting casino heists is interesting and more importantly, narratively enjoyable. With changing protagonists up until the very end I wasn’t really sure how the story was going to land; in some ways it’s a story that truly reflects the ‘randomness’ and binary win stakes of gambling as a concept. Pretty neat!
