Children of the New World: Stories

Children of the New World: Stories

Alexander Weinstein

Picador (2016)

Rating: ★★★★★

Tags: Fiction, Literary, Science Fiction, Collections & Anthologies, Short Stories (Single Author)

Fictionttt Literaryttt Science Fictionttt Collections & Anthologiesttt Short Stories (Single Author)ttt

AN EXTRAORDINARILY RESONANT AND PROPHETIC COLLECTION OF SPECULATIVE SHORT FICTION FOR OUR TECH-SAVVY ERA BY DEBUT AUTHOR ALEXANDER WEINSTEIN

Children of the New World
introduces readers to a near-future world of social media implants, memory manufacturers, dangerously immersive virtual reality games, and alarmingly intuitive robots. Many of these characters live in a utopian future of instant connection and technological gratification that belies an unbridgeable human distance, while others inhabit a post-collapse landscape made primitive by disaster, which they must work to rebuild as we once did millennia ago.

In “The Cartographers,” the main character works for a company that creates and sells virtual memories, while struggling to maintain a real-world relationship sabotaged by an addiction to his own creations. In “Saying Goodbye to Yang,” the robotic brother of an adopted Chinese child malfunctions, and only in his absence does the family realize how real a son he has become.

Children of the New World
grapples with our unease in this modern world and how our ever-growing dependence on new technologies has changed the shape of our society. Alexander Weinstein is a visionary new voice in speculative fiction for all of us who are fascinated by and terrified of what we might find on the horizon.

**

Review

“A darkly mesmerizing, fearless, and exquisitely written work. Stunning, harrowing, and brilliantly imagined.” ―
Emily St. John Mandel, author of *Station Eleven
*

“Taken together, these stories present a fully-imagined vision of the future which will disturb you, provoke you, and make you feel alive. Weinstein is brilliant, incisive and fearless, and I expect to be reading his work for years to come.”
―
Charles Yu, author of *How to Live Safely in a Science Fictional Universe
*

“[A] funny, discomfiting, and excellent debut… Even with a cursory reading of current events, it's difficult to deny that Weinstein's new world is the one our children will grow up in, if not the one we are already living in. Don't let anyone tell you these stories aren't real.”
―
David Burr Gerrard,
Bomb Magazine
Online

“In Alexander Weinstein’s debut collection, the future is a frightening and familiar place. Weinstein takes our uneasy truce with technology and blows it up, giving us child robots and ice worlds and the dark aftermath of failed revolutions. The collection is nothing short of a gorgeous new cold war, pitting us both with and against the science that threatens to become not-so-fictional every day.”
―
Amber Sparks, author of *The Unfinished World: And Other Stories
*

“[Weinstein's] stories look like SF―consider the childless couple living in a virtual-reality community whose child there is wiped out by a computer virus―but read like literary fiction. Calling all fans of Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel.” ―
Barbara Hoffert, *Library Journal
*

“In each of the gripping stories in
Children of the New World
, Alexander Weinstein offers a unique glimpse into an unnerving not-so-distant and all-too-possible future. Weinstein explores what-ifs with both wit and sensitivity, and his cautionary tales demand to be read (before it’s too late).”
―
Judy Budnitz, author of *Nice Big American Baby
*

“Mind-blowing… In the vein of George Saunders, Rick Bass, and Alex Shakar, Weinstein writes with stirring particularity, unfailing sensitivity, and supercharged imagination, creating nuanced stories harboring a molten core of astutely satirical inquiries. Sparking disquieting thoughts about how vulnerable our brains are to electronic manipulation and how eventually consciousness itself might be colonized by corporate and governmental entities, Weinstein’s brilliantly original, witty, and provocative tales explore the malleability of memory and self, the fragility of intimacy and nature, forging a ravishingly powerful, cautionary vision.”
―
Donna Seaman,
Booklist
*STARRED REVIEW
*

“Touching on virtual families, climate change, implanted memories, and more, Weinstein’s debut collection of digital-age sci-fi stories is scary, recognizable, heartbreaking, witty, and absolutely human…. This is mind-bending stuff. Weinstein’s collection is full of spot-on prose, wicked humor, and heart.”
―
Publishers Weekly
*STARRED REVIEW
*

“Missing the vague, futuristic dread you feel watching Black Mirror? Weinstein’s eerie sci-fi collection―featuring adopted robot children and the addictive fictional memory industry―fills the void brilliantly.”
―
EW.COM “15 Books You Have to Read in September”

“These stories are equally unnerving and tender, and a reminder that what we ultimately long for is human connection.”
―
Michele Filgate, Literary Hub “18 Books You Should Read This September”

“[A] breath-catching in your throat collection…. Grab a glass of wine, cancel the meeting tomorrow morning, and settle down with this book. (I mean it, cancel the meeting). You’ll stay up all night reading it, and then cast about for the person you’ll give it too so you can talk to them about it.”
―
Judey Kalchik, Things I Know About Bookselling (blog)

“A bold debut collection of speculative short stories…. Weinstein deftly captures technology’s limitations and leaves the reader to ponder the beauty found in the real world’s imperfections. Ultimately, what is most remarkable, and chilling, about many of these stories is their resemblance to our current times.”
―Jessica Pearson, *Bookpage
*

“It’s really fantastic.”
―
Liberty Hardy, Book Riot “All the Books” Podcast

“
Children of the New World
is a nuanced and complex vision of where we as a species might be going ― and how, for better and for worse, we're already there.”
―
Jason Heller, NPR.ORG

"A darkly comic look at how far people will go to hold on to the devices that are replacing human experience." --
The Washington Post

About the Author

ALEXANDER WEINSTEIN
is the director of the Martha’s Vineyard Institute of Creative Writing. He is the recipient of a Sustainable Arts Foundation Award, and his stories have received the Lamar York, Gail Crump, and New Millennium Prizes, have been nominated for Pushcart Prizes, and appear in the anthology
New Stories from the Midwest
. He is an associate professor of creative writing at Siena Heights University and leads fiction workshops in the United States and Europe. 

Begin Reading

Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

Thank you for buying this

Picador ebook.

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way.
Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at:
us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.

For Peter

SAYING GOODBYE TO YANG

WE’RE SITTING AROUND
the table eating Cheerios—my wife sipping tea, Mika playing with her spoon, me suggesting apple picking over the weekend—when Yang slams his head into his cereal bowl. It’s a sudden mechanical movement, and it splashes cereal and milk all over the table. Yang rises, looking as though nothing odd just occurred, and then he slams his face into the bowl again. Mika thinks this is hysterical. She starts mimicking Yang, bending over to dunk her own face in the milk, but Kyra’s pulling her away from the table and whisking her out of the kitchen so I can take care of Yang.

At times like these, I’m not the most clearheaded. I stand in my kitchen, my chair knocked over behind me, at a total loss. Shut him down, call the company? Shut him down, call the company? By now the bowl is empty, milk dripping off the table, Cheerios all over the goddamned place, and Yang has a red ring on his forehead from where his face has been striking the bowl. A bit of skin has pulled away from his skull over his left eyelid. I decide I need to shut him down; the company can walk me through the reboot. I get behind Yang and untuck his shirt from his pants as he jerks forward, then I push the release button on his back panel. The thing’s screwed shut and won’t pop open.

“Kyra,” I say loudly, turning toward the doorway to the living room. No answer, just the sound of Mika upstairs, crying to see her brother, and the concussive thuds of Yang hitting his head against the table. “Kyra!”

“What is it?” she yells back.
Thud.

“I need a Phillips head!”

“What?”
Thud.

“A screwdriver!”

“I can’t get it! Mika’s having a tantrum!”
Thud.

“Great, thanks!”

Kyra and I aren’t usually like this. We’re a good couple, communicative and caring, but moments of crisis bring out the worst in us. The skin above Yang’s left eye has completely split, revealing the white membrane beneath. There’s no time for me to run to the basement for my toolbox. I grab a butter knife from the table and attempt to use the tip as a screwdriver. The edge, however, is too wide, completely useless against the small metal cross of the screw, so I jam the knife into the back panel and pull hard. There’s a cracking noise, and a piece of flesh-colored Bioplastic skids across the linoleum as I flip open Yang’s panel. I push the power button and wait for the dim blue light to shut off. With alarming stillness, Yang sits upright in his chair, as though something is amiss, and cocks his head toward the window. Outside, a cardinal takes off from the branch where it was sitting. Then, with an internal sigh, Yang slumps forward, chin dropping to his chest. The illumination beneath his skin extinguishes, giving his features a sickly ashen hue.