Shine by unknow

Author:unknow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction, Short Stories
Published: 2010-03-29T22:00:00+00:00

So brave, so nervous. Both of them. Hand in hand, no gloves and no special suits. An unlocked hatch, a step outside. Truth: Earth survived.

--Jacques Barcia--

Seeds

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

After the open reading period closed, and I had a good overview of all stories sent my way--both solicited and unsolicited--I saw both certain themes developing and the variety of settings, characters and ideas arising that I was hoping for.

One particular theme is the importance of sustainable farming, be it through soil ("The Earth of Yunhe"), developing better farming methods through online ideas exchange ("Russian Roulette 2020"), adapting consumer patterns to local circumstances ("Summer Ice"), improving local cuisine ("The Solnet Ascendancy," even if that certainly, as with several of the other examples, wasn't the main thrust of the story) and indeed the use of different 'Seeds.'

Since the anthology has a tight focus, I aimed for maximum variety and diversity in locales, characters and writers, while at the same time trying to select (what I thought) were the best stories. The tightrope, I suppose, any well-intended editor tries to walk.

So while I (obviously) leave the question of quality up to the readers, critics and reviewers, I do think Shine scores well in terms of character and setting variety: both are literally from all over the globe. As to the writers, while the male/female spread is close to parity (9 man, 8 women), I wish I could have included more writers from different nationalities and races. Yes, Shine debuts a Brazilian native and features a Russian emigrant living in the UK, an Israeli (where he lives at any time is hard to keep up with), a Frenchwoman and Silvia here who is a Mexican emigrant living in Canada (and a Canadian expat living in South Korea who has an Indonesian girlfriend: not sure if that counts, though). Yet I would have liked even more diversity in authors, and will try to do better in a next project.

In the meantime, do enjoy this wry story where corporate goals clash with local needs leading to some unexpected developments...

Two teenagers bolted past him, running so fast James almost lost his balance and dropped his multi-text device, which would have been a major problem because he had no idea how to get back to the main road. The paths had twisted and turned a dozen times before he had finally parked his car close to the town square with its double arcades.

James glared at the teenagers but they kept running. He was sure they had bumped into him on purpose. They probably recognize the logo on his suitcase.

He didn't get it. Just on Sunday he watched a group of UNAM students parading around the Angel of Independence, wearing black and white Zapata t-shirts and yelling "maiz y libertad." Like a perfect seed and a perfect crop was somehow wrong and Germingen was the devil. It all sounded suspiciously anarchistic to him.

Fine, it was copyrighted technology and the seeds were sterile unless they were treated with Germingen's very own Germingrow. If

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