Confusing ( )

This story was sci-fi done breathtakingly right, a beautiful puzzle of interstellar travel and colonization. It was full of hope, heartbreak, compassion, and humanity.

I have a soft spot for non-linear narratives and POV’s across time and space. Here is to the poetry of stars and an infinite number of pasts and futures whispering and singing in the void! I’m so glad I read this.

“Well, we were good when we were good.”
“And then we weren’t anymore, we stopped. That’s worth more than you give it credit for. It’s possible to be faithful to something that’s in the past. It’s not a betrayal to build something new when something old is finished.”
“Honor the past without living in it.”
“See?” she said. “You get it.” ( )

This is a really neat short story about possibility. It also deals with a fascinating way to colonize the stars: "slow light" has been discovered as a way to build colonies by "unfolding" a packet of information. This allows us to effectively beam an entire team and habitat to an unknown world. (There's not much actual science used to describe what's happening, but if you can accept that, the rest of the story makes logical and scientific sense.) I wasn't sure at first that I liked the romantic sub-plot, but it worked out nicely in the end. ( )

How It Unfolds by James S. A. Corey is another short story and part of the Far Reaches collection. It is the type of story I had to let sit and marinate for a bit. While John Scalzi's short story gave me chills, I found How It Unfolds reassuring. There is something calming about the idea that all things live and all things die, and that to die is not a failure. It just is. Even more important is the idea that we are never dead as long as we remember and honor those who came before us. How It Unfolds is an impressive story, conveying so much in little space. ( )

Another in the Kindle Far Reaches short story series. I'm really enjoying these stories. This one takes a completely different view about how to reach the stars. Basically, its a transporter that records all the people and technology and information needed for a colony, and its transmitted out into the void. The its reconstituted when it arrives at the new world. (A bit of.... "And Magic Happens Here" type of thing), but it was an interesting story. ( )