/lit/ - Literature

>>16653755
These six stories are called Forward, an "Original Collection" from Amazon Original Stories, which is apparently a thing that exists. There are various other collections, but it's unlikely that I'll look at any of them. They're all from September 2019. They were also all rather disappointing. The collection curator, Blake Crouch, ought to have done better.

Randomize - Andy Weir (28 pages) CONCERN: CRYPTOGRAPHIC SECURITY
A story of quantum computing vs gambling story. As expected of the author, it's competency porn, but also it may be mocking of that as well, I can't really tell.
Meh

Ark - Veronica Roth (39 pages) CONCERN: EXISTENTIAL RISK
An asteroid named Finis will soon arrive and devastate Earth. How shall they spend these final days before they leave in the Ark? Boring. Dull. Insipid.
Blah

You Have Arrived at Your Destination - Amor Towles (46 pages) CONCERN: GENETICS
An oblivious story with an oblivious protagonist. What I saw as native advertising, but may not have been, seemed intrusive. It may have been "ironic", I can't tell. Basically about "genetic forecasting" where after having the DNA of the parents, the parents can choose the "contours" of their child's life in advance and get to pick from various scenarios. The protagonist is continually shocked by everything because he is oblivious. I constantly felt the need to roll my eyes. What a mess and waste of time.
Blah

The Last Conversation - Paul Tremblay (56 pages) CONCERN: CLONING
This was mostly written in second person. What it would have you believe it's about, but clearly isn't, is the story of a man with amnesia undergoing physical rehabilitation. What it's actually about is that a global pandemic has struck and many are dead, maybe almost everyone. A researcher who is insane with grief keeps creating clones of someone very important to them and hopes they will eventually be just like how they were before. The failures are discarded and the process begins again.
Blah

Summer Frost - Blake Crouch (75 pages) CONCERN: AI RISK
A NPC in an online game glitches and becomes sentient. An AI researcher devotes their life to making them the best they can be, eventually falling in love with their creation. However, as you would expect, it doesn't go well. I almost dropped it at 71% when the AI begins going on about Roko's Basilisk in detail due to my feelings about that. So, yeah, the AI then goes on about how its already done its plan to kill every human in the world at once and those few humans its digitized will get to merge with it as a collective consciousness. What a fun Singularity.
Meh