Customer Reviews

Flux: Tales of Human Futures

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Flux contains seven stories, each of varying quality (as Card himself admits). Because of this, a brief comment on each story:"A Thousand Deaths"-compelling, and my favorite, but not for the squeamish,"Clap Hands and Sing"-Mediocre time travel love story,"Dogwalker"-Interesting Cyberpunk, but you'll have to read every paragraph at least twice,"But We Try Not to Act Like It"-Bizarre TV-stations-rule-the-world story, with a hint of black comedy (OSC hated it),"I Put My Blue Genes On"-Highly imaginative recombinate DNA story,"In the Doghouse"-Ridiculous story about aliens possessing our dogs,"The Originist"-Based on Asimov's Foundation universe, it's interesting, but easy to put down. Although a couple stories were a real snooze, it's still worth curling up with on a rainy day

Card's short stories frequently differ thematically from his longer work. While his longer work revolves around free will and human interaction, his short stories are often written for one main point. It's fair, I think, to judge his short stories by how well and interestingly he gets that point across.

This group of stories is tied together by their speculation on what the future holds for us (hence, "Flux," or a fluid future). Let me run down the plots of each of the stories and give you my rating of them.

"A Thousand Deaths." The point: Some people, at least, no matter what you do to them, cannot change their view of what is right or wrong. This story is an excellent counterpoint to "1984," which posited that people can be completely degraded and crushed. Despite the horrific murders in the story, I liked its humanism. The Ruskies as bad guys was a departure from the usual science fiction fare, and was also appreciated. Rating: Excellent.

"Clap Hands and Sing." The point: everyone, even those we least suspect, has the desire to redo some important aspect of their lives. This story resonates with me, since I too have a Rachel Carpenter in my past, and I wish I had a THIEF to make that one decision differently. Not that I made the wrong decision the first time, but like all human beings, I would love to have it both ways. Rating: Outstanding.

2010 update to my 2002 review. Well, I didn't have a THIEF, but I did the next best thing: I looked up my Rachel Carpenter, got together with her, and we finished what we started 23 years ago, and it was just as good as what I thought it would be!

"Dogwalker." The point: A clever adversary overcomes even genius and well-made plans. I don't know whether the purpose of this story was for Card to prove to himself that he could write a good cyberpunk story, or to make a moral point -- something tells me it's the former. Card himself even admits as much in his "Afterword." But there's no need for atonement. The story is very enjoyable either way, and Card can, indeed, write good cyberpunk. Rating: Excellent.

"But We Try Not to Act Like It." The point: a person is dehumanized and destroyed by a society that treats the person paternalistically and as a member of a class as opposed to an individual. This story reminded me of many other (and better) works, from Bradbury's "Fahrenheit 451" to Jack Williamson's "With Folded Hands" to Huxley's "Brave New World." This would be a good story to read if the person has not read any other stories in this genre, but for anyone else it's unsatisfying. Rating: Unsatisfactory.

"I Put My Blue Jeans On." The point: attempts to destroy your enemy will destroy you instead, even to the point of robbing you of your humanity if not your life. The story about biological warfare gone amuck is superficial and a little silly, and the point has been made numerous other times. Still, as a Brazophile the Brazilian references were appreciated. Rating: Satisfactory.

"In the Doghouse." The point: intelligence is overlooked because of bias. Card originally planned to use an American ethnic group instead of dogs as the beings to receive superhuman intelligence, but I have to agree with him that had he done so, he probably would have been tarred and feathered, and ridden out of town on a rail. Oh well, even though it ducks a political fastball, it still deserves a Good rating.

"The Originist." The point: human beings are defined by their relationships -- and ability to form relationships -- with each other; those relationships are evidenced by emotional ties, private language and common myths. Card's bites off more than he can chew here, because an ontological examination of human beings is a topic that invites a book or a series of books, and really cannot be adequately addressed in a short story or novella. Card has consistently explored this idea throughout his books, frankly without too much success. He actually does his best on this subject when he briefly mentions it in "Ender's Game," where Graff explains to Valentine that the emotional connections between humans are real, and proof of their reality is found in the fact that they can cause Valentine and Ender to act in ways they otherwise would not.

As you read through this story, don't get too bogged down in the idea of humanity's planet of origin. Card uses the question of planet origin as a MacGuffin; the story never resolves it (actually, we learn terra's fate only in Asimov's "Foundation and Earth" and "Robots and Empire"). Rating: Good.

I loved this book. It's a great series, but this was my favorite in the collection. The two stories I loved most were "A Thousand Deaths" and "Dogwalker". The first one is excellent and, event though there are some out of date concepts in it, it still freaked me out.

The second story, though, is the BEST! "Dogwalker" is good science fiction, but also a really great story with emotion that will totally make you cry.

i find this book quite entertainng because of the very original stories. A thousand deaths is my favorite. It shows how a man overcomes the fear of death, yet it ends with a strange twist to it. this book is ver y good and i recommend i

My favorites were - 'The Originist' because I'm interested in the origin of species'. It was well written and kept my attention. - 'In The Doghouse' because it was silly and entertaining, with a twist at the end. - 'But We Try Not to Act Like It' was frightening like 'Farenheit 451'. - 'A Thousand Deaths' was chillingly recurring. ---Debby---