21st Century Science Fiction: Part Three

Part three in the book review series for the book 21st Century Science Fiction.

See Part One, Part Two.

Bread and Bombs by M. Rickert

Summary

Foreign family moves into a close knit community in small town America.  Only small towns left after a long war we know little about.  The family is from the country that America is fighting.  Suspicion on all sides leads to deadly consequences.

My Take

Reminds me of a futuristic retelling of WWII interment camps for Germans or Japanese.
The summary in the book is correct, what is left out of the story is as interesting as the story itself.
Nice way to paint a future where what we take for granted and enjoy today could become a thing of fear in the future.

Tk'Tk'Tk by David D. Levine

Summary

A lone human trying to sell software for computers on a planet of aliens where they know not our technology but use biological machines to built what they need.  Who needs software when there is nothing to run it on?

My Take

Death of a salesman.
Sometimes it is not the people not buying which is killing your career, it's the fact that there is no purpose to your career, at least on this planet, pilgrim.

The Nearest Thing by Genevieve Valentine

Summary

Androids, stock market pressures, employees bending company mandates to make the next great thing.  The only thing missing are company issues uniforms.  The company issued housing and wage disparity are not missing though.  

My Take

A dystopian look at future technology development that does not feel far from today.  I liked the Android angle.  I enjoyed how the story was grounded in how many feel the world is headed.  Some with too much money getting a ton of privilege at the loss of privacy.