Watson clearly has a talent for ideas, and each story here is centred on a stunning novum that he worries at. The writing is often experimental, trying out different forms, so there’s considerable variation in style across the collection. He starts with three hard-hitting longer-form stories that really demonstrate his skill, but as we segue into shorter form work, this combination of radical ideas and narrative experimentation often misses the mark – trying to cram too much into the word count to make a philosophical point rather than tell a story. His endings can seem particularly abrupt, leaving the intricate architecture of his mind-bending ideas hanging rather than resolved.
There’s also an easy mixing of science and mysticism across the stories which some might find undernourishing – more episodic Twilight Zone than robust science fiction. His themes sometimes veer into race and female sexualisation, which some may find uncomfortable and dated, and others may consider the vanguard of New Wave’s expansion of boundaries.
It’s a collection I mostly enjoyed, particularly for his creativity, but my advice would be to stick to his longer form.
The Very Slow Time Machine ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A time machine appears inside which time is reversed. What will happen as we catch up with the point of its creation? Along the way, society bends around its presence; a religion is fomented. It’s a very clever idea, executed well. A little mystical at the end, but leaves you wanting to know more.
Thy Blood Like Milk ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rich Flowery prose for a dead world. Road warriors chase glimpses of the sun in a permanently overcast world. Reminiscent of modern twister chasers. Where sunlight touches, nature blooms in a panicked frenzy. The rest of society moves between domes linked by opaque self driving cars, never going outside.
Sitting On a Starwood Stool ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
A miraculous but rare wood that can cure all ills, is the target of a cancerous thief. But the theft goes wrong and he comes to regret his mendacity.
Agoraphobia AD 2000 ⭐⭐⭐
A man enters the last natural enclave in a sprawling metropolis to commit ritual Hari Kari. Not sure what this one was doing.
Programmed Love Story ⭐⭐⭐
A divorced man rediscovers his ex-wife in a gentleman’s club that specialises in programmed personalities.
The Girl Who Was Art⭐⭐
I wasn’t sure what Watson was aiming for here. Is it a meditation on art? The treatment of women in Japan? The commodification of the body as performance?
Our Loves So Truly Meridional ⭐⭐⭐⭐
The world is segmented by impassable barriers – a very clever setting for a tale of love. An allegorical take on the arbitrary lines of culture, politics, and ideology that divide us in conflict. Alliances are reformed; individual relationships are broken. Metaphorical communication breaks down across the barriers.
Immune Dreams ⭐⭐⭐
A scientist believes that the secret to cancer is revealed in his dreams and goes to extreme lengths to prove it.
My Soul Swims in a Goldfish Bowl ⭐
A guy coughs up his protoplasmic soul, keeps it in a fish bowl.
The Roentgen Refugees ⭐
Sirius goes nova, killing everyone who didn’t have a bunker, leaving only the white rich to inherit a decimated earth. A religious crisis ensues – why were the worst of humanity saved?
A Time-Span to Conjure With ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Colonisation efforts run up against quantum mechanical natives that exist in a superposition of time.
On Cooking the First Hero in Spring ⭐⭐
Explorers discover a world where the natives only have one word, and exhibit the performative appearance of civilisation and culture seemingly without intelligence.
The Event Horizon ⭐
Starship mediums use tantric sex to communicate across distance. Circling a black hole, contact is made. But with what?
