Entanglements Tomorrow's lovers, families, and friends

Hugo Award--winning editor Williams collects 12 stories that dissolve the distance between humans and technology in this outstanding addition to the Twelve Tomorrows anthology series (after Twelve Tomorrows), which focuses on the relationships of the future. Technological advancements are compassionately juxtaposed with human frailties in Nick Wolven's bighearted "Sparklybits," in which the only stay-at-home mother of a multi-mom family must make a decision about their virus-infected smarthome. Chinese author Xia Jia's fiercely ethical "The Monk of Lingyin Temple," translated by Ken Liu, introduces a nanotech designed "so that people can, through the medium of the cloud, experience one another's suffering." Rich Larson's wrenching "Echo the Echo" explores grief through neural upload technology. Balancing out this philosophical fare are more plot-oriented genre works such as Annalee Newitz's "The Monogamy Hormone," about a love triangle resolved through polyamory, and Suzanne Palmer's "Don't Mind Me," in which parents implant content filters into their children's brains. Pairing scientific precision with emotional insight, this accessible anthology makes a powerful case for featured author Nancy Kress's assertion that "stories are made out of and for people." Readers will be captivated. (Sept.)

AN ENTANGLEMENT IS A COMPLICATED RELATIONSHIP. THIS IS TRUE WHETHER IT refers to a brother with a drug addition, a child genetically altered without her parents' knowledge, friends getting together for their "weekly bad rosé night," a casual hookup arranged by a personal avatar, or a particle whose quantum state can't be described independently of one or more other particles even when those particles are very far apart. Science fiction explores the future, and it does that very well. The future can't be explored without also considering the effects that scientific and technological discoveries will have on all the relationships that tie us to each other. Entanglements is the sixth volume in the Twelve Tomorrows series and the first to have a central unifying theme. The book's ten fiction authors were asked to write tales about the emotional bonds that hold us together. They had a broad canvas. Their tales could be about families, friends, or lovers, but they all were asked to explore different ways in which these bonds would be affected by our ever-evolving knowledge of science and advances in technology. I'm sure the relationships of the future, be they romances, platonic friendships, or family ties, will be just as loving, messy, complex, affirming, disturbing, heartbreaking, all-embracing, and fulfilling as they are today. They will be affected by our changing world. Infrastructure changes brought on by our warming planet, scientific discoveries, and technical innovations will put new stress on the forces that entangle us with each other even as they relieve some of the issues that complicate life. Excerpted from Entanglements: Tomorrow's Lovers, Families, and Friends All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.