Strong issue, shame about the one weak story.

Manniken - Paul Evanby

Interesting background established as it is set in a fictional(?) Dutch trading port in the Caribbean, during the lead up to the rebellion in the American colonies. A trader employs a mad but successful 'scientist' to create vat-grown artificial 'men'. Things end however on a cliche.

Candy moments - Antony Mann

Becker leaves work early to celebrate a promotion by getting drunk. His life is a mess, after a fatal accident he caused killed his partner. In the city a large grey building offers a selective 'memory removal' service and gives out candy bars in plain blue wrappers to those that use it. Becker meets an attractive woman at the bar and a 'memorable' story unfolds! Very Dickian.

The melancholy - Toby Litt

Very short story about Application 13-13, an artificial intelligence used to run a series of machines on inhospitable planets, who suffers one too many changes....

Alternate girl's expatriate life - Rochita Loenen-Ruiz

'Alternate Girl' lives with an unnamed partner in a rural idyll and loves gardening. As an 'expatriate' she also is a machine from Metal Town where the ruling 'Mechanic' has threatened to add her aging father to the sky-scraping 'Remembrance Monument'. Neither thread convinces on any level.

Orchestral manoeuvres in the dark matter - Jim Hawkins

Very satirical piece on a travelling orchestra, ostensibly sent out to distant colonies as a cultural mission but, when under mind-control, becoming a team of crack saboteurs intent on removing planetary regimes showing signs of independence. Plenty of wisecracks, sex and violence...and a happy ending. ( )