Saturday, November 9, 2019

Infinite Lives: Notes from the Editor


 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.
--Juliana Rew
Copyright 2019, Third Flatiron Publishing
Infinite Lives is available on Amazon
 
Statue of Amithabha, Buddhist god of infinite light and infinite life, Ushiku, Japan. From commons.wikimedia.org, uploaded by user Sandunruki

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