Goddesses

Goddesses Linda Nagata SciFi.com

“As of Friday, June 15, 2007, SCI FICTION will no longer be availabe on SCIFI.COM.
SCIFI.COM would like to thank all those who contributed
and those who read the short stories over the past few years.”

The entire novella, a winner of 2002 Nebula Award, can be read on http://www.mythicisland.com/e-book/goddesses/, or wherever you can google. I read it on traditional book format. It is kind of sad that paper-based publishing is fading away in front of our eyes. Guess a few years from now, I will be crouched in the sofa holding a Kindle5 or flipping pages on my iPod.

This is a powerful and unusual sci-fi. The setting is pretty much today, or just a decade or so in the future. The poverty, pollution, old cultures, etc. are omnipresent and accellerating. A group of people, each scarred in the past, backed by corporations that strive to “do good while do well” are talented, skilled, and enthused to save the world.

It is not feminism, but gently and unapologetically convincing.

Linda Nagata’s use of technologies are so cool. She imagined Internet, drone airplanes, virtual reality, etc. just a bit out of reach for the currrent state of the arts. Alright, maybe a decade or two ahead. Technology geeks will be so jealous of the tools available to the heroes in her story.

Her depiction of India is horribly similar to Slumdog Millionaire and White Tiger. I reflect on the recent news on Iran’s new law on women’s rights. Maybe Linda Nagata was a bit loud, but women, particularly in India, Iran, and maybe other places, do need a voice for them.