Of robots and visions and the multiverse

 kw: story reviews, science fiction, anthologies, robots, rejection, mourning, time travel, inverse universe

Stories 3 through 7 in The Best of World SF, Volume 1, edited by Lavie Tidhar:

"Fandom for Robots" by Vina Jie-Min Prasad. Computron, invented and built in 1957, is the only sentient robot. It resides in a robot museum, and becomes a collaborator, writing fanfic with another fan of an anime series about a man and a robot having adventures.

"Virtual Snapshots" by Tlotlo Tsamaase. A story of rejection, in a dystopia of purchased air and enforced isolation. The saddest line in literature comes near the end, "…the only regret I have: no one to say 'I love you' to."

"What the Dead Man Said" by Chinelo Onwualu. Of mourning, false and true, and of traditions, kept and broken. Set in a future New Biafra, the Igbo [Ibo] region of Nigeria. (I know people of both Ibo and Yoruba extraction; the differences are stark) When we see and converse with the dead one, is it only internal?

"Delhi" by Vandana Singh. A man sees apparitions. Are they ghosts, or ephemeral contacts across the gulfs of time? Can one's future self reach back to give aid? Can such time loops actually stabilize the time stream?

"The Wheel of Samsara" by Han Song. A mysterious singing bell/wheel (hollow gong?) seems to hold the key to inverting the universe.

Every story gripping. As usual, I read SF faster than nonfiction, but when the ideas are so diverse, the story flow so compelling, I force myself to slow down a bit to pay better attention.