An Easy Introduction to Science Fiction
This is an anthology of the short science fiction stories which were adapted into the Netflix animated series of the same name; a fun name, that covers a pretty wide swath of possible subject matter, so the stories feel like a bit of a smorgasbord of the genre. I feel this may be the aim of this collection beyond their adaptations. They have a range of tone and subject matter. There is compassion, irreverence, despair, and wonder, across a few modes of what-if. It doesn't present any particular challenge, conceptual experiment, or problem space exploration; it feels like an introductory collection of short science fiction, easily digestible to a contemporary reader who perhaps doesn’t read a lot, with the inclusion of two original screenplays written for the animation series.
Stand out favourites for me were Good Hunting by Ken Liu, Beyond the Aquila Rift by , The Day the Yoghurt …
This is an anthology of the short science fiction stories which were adapted into the Netflix animated series of the same name; a fun name, that covers a pretty wide swath of possible subject matter, so the stories feel like a bit of a smorgasbord of the genre. I feel this may be the aim of this collection beyond their adaptations. They have a range of tone and subject matter. There is compassion, irreverence, despair, and wonder, across a few modes of what-if. It doesn't present any particular challenge, conceptual experiment, or problem space exploration; it feels like an introductory collection of short science fiction, easily digestible to a contemporary reader who perhaps doesn’t read a lot, with the inclusion of two original screenplays written for the animation series.
Stand out favourites for me were Good Hunting by Ken Liu, Beyond the Aquila Rift by , The Day the Yoghurt Took Over by John Scalzi, and The Secret War by . The only two I didn't care for much was Sucker of Souls by , which I found a bit flat and the characters annoying, and the screenplay Blind Spot by , which is an action-packed scene clearly written to be guiding points for visual art and cinematography - just doesn't feel like a story by itself.
Here is a rough ranking of the stories included:
Great Three Robots, by Scalzi, John Beyond the Aquila Rift, by Reynolds, Alastair Good Hunting, by Liu, Ken Zima Blue, by Reynolds, Alastair The Secret War, by Amendola, David W
Good Sonnie's Edge, by Hamilton, Peter F When the Yoghurt Took Over, by Scalzi, John The Dump, by Lansdale, Joe R On the Use of Shapeshifters in Warfare Chapbook, by Kloos, Marko Helping Hand, by Griggs, Claudine Fish Night, by Lansdale, Joe R Lukcy Thirteen, by Kloos, Marko
OK The Witness, by Mielgo, Alberto Suits, by Lewis, Steve Ice Age, by Swanwick, Michael Alternate Histories, by Scalzi, John
Meh Sucker of Souls, by Cross, Kirsten Blind Spot, by Shushko, Vitaliy
