Sports Stories Hit the Future
Plus a short fiction roundup
(I don’t have a football picture, sorry)
Review: The Last Football Player by John Blossom.
Will football ever be banned? It might seem far fetched, but there are moves to ban it for players under 18, or at least to limit them to flag football.
In the 2022 NFL season there were 213 concussions experienced by football players. Helmets only help so much. And many other injuries occur.
Blossom, clearly a football fan, explores the life of a young man for whom football is everything…until his school bans the team after he, personally, experiences a broken rib on the field. It’s his dad’s fault.
This leads to a plot where the kids develop football robots, each of them “trained” to mimic the players.
From there on, the book explores concepts of fairness in sport alongside the overall theme of risk taking. Do we have the right do do dangerous sports?
I don’t like football, but I don’t want to see it banned. In many ways, though, this novel is the classic sports story…team does well, team loses because other team cheats…
There’s also a theme of conflict between ridiculously poorly veiled megacorps Circle and Zinkerberg. Not even trying, Blossom. Not even trying. But this does add a cyberpunk element to the entire thing.
Should football be banned? How can we make a sport loved by millions safer? Blossom doesn’t answer this question so much as dodge it with technology, but in doing so he creates a reasonably fun novel.
Recommended for people who like classic sports stories.
Short fiction:
“I am Ai” by Ai Jiang (Shortwave Publishing). Every writer right now is unamused by people thinking AI can do what we do. Jiang explores this with her usual flair, creating a cyberpunk story about the future of writing and of work in general, a world in which body parts are for sale. Possibly one of the best novelettes of the year. Recommended.
“Some Hidden Soul” by Dave Creek (Amazing Stories). Who is more valuable, your own kind or the alien? Is it okay to help somebody when you can’t obtain their consent? Creek ties all of these together into a very interesting story about a giant space whale. Recommended for people who want something to discuss in the bar. Link: https://amazingstories.com/2023/07/some-hidden-soul-by-dave-creek-free-story/
“8 Laws I Wound Up Breaking While Attempting to Restore the Timeline” by P.A. Cornell (Nature Futures). This is one of the best listicle stories I’ve seen. Laws broken include the 18th amendment and wearing slippers in public after 10pm in New York state. Yeah, she tossed in a snide comment about a ridiculous law. Lots of fun.
“All Hallowed Tides Break Upon These Shores” by Marisca Piscette (Shakespeare Unleashed). Inspired by The Tempest, obviously. Also horror. Quite creepy and even a bit gory in places. A bit more subtle than I wanted, though.
“Who Brings A Baby?” by Clay McLeod Chapman (Ghoulish Tales). It’s not a baby. Well, maybe. Horror movies and babies. CW: It’s not a baby. Yeah…it’s that kind of creepy.
“Smuggler’s Valor” by TD Wilson (Greywalker Press). This is a marketing novelette, a taster for Wilson’s space opera series. It’s a fun introduction to the world, approachable and fast paced. If you like classic space opera, it’s worth checking this out.
“Window Boy” by Thomas Ha (Clarkesworld). One boy lives outside in the post apocalyptic mess. The other in a comfortable home. They make friends. Because kids can be awful but they can also be fantastic. Recommended for anyone who wants a bit of hope. Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ha_08_23/
“Gel Pen Notes From Generation Ship Y” by Marisca Pichette (Clarkesworld). Generation Y gets sent into space and rendered immortal. It’s a pretty solid concept, but it’s mostly about how you don’t want to live forever. Definitely not. Link: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/pichette_08_23/
“Ruination” by Lucy Zhang (Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter). The princesses are the really dangerous ones. Very Asian flavored and awesome.
“Hymn of the Fire Wyrm” by Alexes Lester (Flame Tree Fiction Newsletter). It’s about the sacrifice of war and what happens when you push a peaceful people too far.
“Glass Moon Water” by Linda Niehoff (Diabolical Plots). There are dead people in the swimming pool. It’s about fear and parenting and how parents smother kids.
“The Dryad and the Carpenter” by Ssamara Auman (Diabolical Plots). A kind of subtle twisting romance between a dryad and a carpenter…between a tree and somebody who cuts them down. Are we always drawn to things dangerous to us?