Around Distant Suns. edited by Emma Johanna Puranen. 2021
Around Distant Suns
RATED 78% POSITIVE. STORY SCORE = 3.56 OF 5
9 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 5 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
This is one hell of a cool idea for a science fiction anthology. What happens with fiction writers and scientific researchers collaborate as equals? Doctoral student, Emma Johanna Puranen, set to find out after being disillusioned by being a ‘science consultant’ for a Hollywood film. She found researchers from the St. Andress Centre of Exoplanet Science and contacted the School of English to help her find writers.
“I paired writers and researchers … They got to know each other and then discussed the researcher's work, tossing around story ideas and looking for a spark … the researcher had to remain involved throughout the process, not just at the beginning…
I believe science fiction authors are under no obligation to ‘get the science right’ — their works are fiction for a reason — and yet, I have heard many of them express that they want to…
Scientists do a lot of computer modeling .. Science fiction writers are also running models…”
This concept was enthralling enough to get to grab this unknown anthology off only of the Dealers Room tables at the 80th World Science Fiction Convention held in early September 2022 in Chicago.
The anthology is very solid in quality, with only the poetry dragged down the overall rating for the anthology. Thankfully, that is short and occupies only the tiniest share of the page count. For a small press original themed anthology that didn’t include any career science fiction writers, this a very good book and the people involved in it should be proud.
There was even one story that earned a place on The All-Time Great List:
A Momentary Brightening. by Laura Muetzelfeldt with Dr Martin Dominik . A nocturnally beautiful story that speaks to the quiet simple work of astronomy and the euphoria of a new discovery. At a Chilean Observatory, a scientist heads into work and contemplates his relationship with his son and the absence of his wife. Wistful. Peaceful. Hopeful. Human. This reminds me of the best of Steven Utley’s stories and is single-handedly worth the price of the book.
AROUND DISTANT SUNS IS RATED 78% POSITIVE
9 STORIES : 1 GREAT / 5 GOOD / 2 AVERAGE / 1 POOR / 0 DNF
How do I arrive at a rating?
The Stripped Core. by Colin Bramwell with Dominic Samra
Good. What happens as you are cryogenically frozen and in transit for thousands of years to a new world? This story gives a detailed depiction of cryo-education as young students awaken and start to live their training.
Glossary. [POEM] by Emma Bussi with Prof. Christiane Helling
Poor. A weak spot in the anthology. Clouds and words. Doesn’t seem to be incorporating anything from the researcher.
Soonest Mended. [POEM} by Honor Hamlet with Till Kauefer
Average. Attempt to use poetic structure to describe (?) a neural network.
One Cloud at a Time. [RADIO PLAY] by Priyanka Jha with Nanna Bach-Møller
Good. A drama about the cost of looking the other way when your scientific discoveries end up used for evil. In this case, two women create a spark of life in the laboratory.
Rise in Perfect Light. by Maeghan Klinker with Dr Aubrey Zerkle
Good. On a boring distant planet, known to researchers and lab techs as The Haze, a core drilling sample opens an opportunity to personal transcendence.
A Momentary Brightening. by Laura Muetzelfeldt with Dr Martin Dominik
Great. A nocturnally beautiful story that speaks to the quiet simple work of astronomy and the euphoria of a new discovery. At a Chilean Observatory, a scientist heads into work and contemplates his relationship with his son and the absence of his wife. Wistful. Peaceful. Hopeful. Human. This reminds me of the best of Steven Utley’s stories and is single-handedly worth the price of the book.
After Color. by Kiale Paplant with Oliver Herbort
Average. A man sits in a house patched up against the coming graphite cloud storms. He turns on It’s a Wonderful Life. Suddenly, there is a knock on the door.
A Spark in a Flask. by Emma Johanna Puranen with Patrick Barth
Good. A robot cares for a research facility on the moon. The human researches are missing, but their experiment continues to try to create life under the primordial earth’s conditions.
Cloudgazing. [RADIO PLAY] by Guy Woods with Sven Kiefer
Good. A researcher destroys her relationships and employment because she believes that a cloud is following her. But is she wrong?
