Fiction abounds with characters who can cheat death. Legends
tell of people who lived a long time, like Methuselah. Some have rightfully
earned a form of immortality (for example, Shakespeare or Hank Williams). Buddhist
religion has Amitabha, god of infinite light and infinite life. Some species
just naturally come by it (cats, bristlecone pines). For our twenty-sixth collection,
we asked authors to ponder the idea of longevity, and are pleased to present an
eclectic mix of speculative fiction for your entertainment. Welcome to the new
anthology, Infinite Lives: Short Tales of
Longevity, from Third Flatiron.
We lead off with Brian Trent's romantic, time-bending tale,
"Tunnels." Brian's fans may know that his story, "Crash
Site" (F&SF 5-6/18) won Baen's
fifth annual Year’s Best Military and Adventure SF Readers’ Choice Award. We're
lucky to welcome him back to our pages this Fall.
We dream of a utopian future where death is easily rolled
back by technology, and scientists such as Harvard's David Sinclair take the
approach that old age is a pathology that can be treated. But what would happen
if Humanity were to be yoked to the whims of an overly cautious super-computer,
as in Matt Thompson's "Del Boy Falling Through the Bar, Forever?"
That must give us pause, as does Ingrid Garcia's "At the Precipice of
Eternity," where aliens convince a scientist on the brink of a big
discovery to just let evolution take its course… Still, it's possible that our
future children will be hybrids or androids, and that they will honor their
parents, as in Larry C. Kay's "A Last Word," and Philip John
Schweitzer's "Like a Seagull, Hurling Itself into the Mist."
Not everyone believes the rich should live forever, such as
Dr. Paul Krugman in his NYT faux-future essay: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/15/opinion/future-billionaires.html
We
believe D. A. Campisi explores the idea of cheating death rather more fully in
his satirical "Only the Poor Die Young." We might want to consider
expanding our insurance coverage.
Is
ageism a real thing? In K. G. Anderson's "Wishbone," a grandmother
and her granddaughter decide the government has gone too far in cutting off
benefits.
What makes me me?
As technology offers the chance to swap in new parts in order to live longer,
the philosophical question arises. Megan
Branning presents a lovely parable on the topic, "The Scarecrow's
Question."
We also
proffer some excellent cosmological contemplations about our role in the
universe: Louis Evans has a theory about why things die, in "The
Reinvention of Death." And in Russell Dorn's "Long Stretches," an
astronaut stranded on a damaged spacecraft combats
boredom, a failing ship, and a growing neurosis in which he fears his limbs
extending too far. Spaghettification?
In
Caias Ward's distant future, a world assassin is kept in check, with the most
exquisite safeguards, until "When They Damned the Name of Oma Rekkai from
Memory, I Danced." Leah Miller's yarn asks whether the future might change
in ways we haven't thought of yet, in "Thoughts of a Divergent
Ephemeron."
Revenge is a dish that often has a very long shelf life, as
in Sloane Leong's "A Billion Bodies More," about a general sentenced
to live out the life sentences through the bodies of her fallen soldiers. In
David Cleden's "Sweet Release," a woman scorned has the upper hand in
re-creating a better lover in virtual space.
Does
the Garden exist? Come along with us out to the desert, as J. B. Toner's rich
oligarch tricks his way in for a taste of the Tree of Life, "Left of
Eden."
One
of the most enduring legends is that of the Faerie, where time moves more
slowly than in the fields we know. We offer two tales where the worlds
intersect: Maureen Bowden's "Frost on the Fields," in which a fairy
queen returns to earth to bid goodbye to her dying human lover, and Brandon
Butler's "Secrets from the Land Without Fear," in which an orphaned
half-blood accuses a visitor from Fae of using the world as a playground for
kicks. Lord Dunsany would be proud.
We offer a new tale, starring that perennial favorite, Death
aka the Grim Reaper. In Tom Pappalardo's "Chosen," Death finds an
enthusiastic successor in a coffee shop barrista. What do you think the coffee
shop playlist was playing? I'm thinking maybe, "Don't Fear the
Reaper?"
Thinking we've forgotten about vampires? Nope. Samson
Stormcrow Hayes takes us to a book signing, where the guest of honor is treated
to a bit of "Professional Envy."
Dark
sorcery ever seeks a way to prolong life, no matter the cost, as in David F.
Shultz's "Dry Bones," and Mack Moyer's "The Last Son of
Geppetto," in which a wooden puppet rues the day he never became a real
boy. Martin M. Clark introduces us to a "sin eater" in "Found
Wanting."
Presidents
often gain a form of immortality in our memories, especially in alternate
histories. There are the great ones, who share their love of the world, as in
Robert Walton's "Abe in Yosemite," or the other ones who make wars
last forever, as in John Paul Davies' "President Redux."
The Fountain of Youth has long caught the imagination, even
including Leela on "Futurama," and we're happy to include another
story about the indomitable Spanish conquistador Capricho and his phoenixlike war
dog Leoncillo, who put their dip in the Fountain to good use, in Wulf Moon's
"Cold Iron."
As we think about infinite lives, we wonder: Whatever happened
to Zoroastrianism? It seemed to be one of the more sensible religions. . . except
for the Wheel of Time. We close with a story for the ages: Konstantine
Paradias's "Find Her," in which a demon and an angel battle through
eternity, until hate turns to love.
Our humor section, "Grins & Gurgles," is
composed of a couple of completely off-topic subjects, "Dear AirBnB,"
by E. E. King, offering plenty of good examples of why not to venture into the
VRBO world, and "Best-Selling Items from the M. R. James Collectibles
Catalogue," by Sarah Totton, for those interested in adding something new
and unusual to their Halloween hoard.
Thanks for choosing Infinite
Lives: Short Tales of Longevity. We hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as
we have.
