Saturday, January 13, 2018

A Night Out at a Nice Place, by Nick Mamatas

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(Surreal SF) A godlike being descended from human uploads downloads into a “limbsuit” and goes slumming with real human beings aka has a date. (2,900 words; Time: 09m)

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Not Recommended


Mini-Review (click to view--possible spoilers)

Pro: One hesitates to point out that the surface plot is merely the narrator’s (failed) attempt to get laid, since the whole point of the story is the conversation between the two characters. The narrator is a much higher form of life—as far above us as we are above ants (or maybe bacteria)—and they’re quite condescending about it. But their date turns out to be an even-higher-order entity, and leaves them frustrated.

I think this is supposed to parody the way heterosexual men interact with women, but not being an expert on either one, it's hard for me to be sure. (Are things really that bad?)

Con: It’s really hard to see what such an entity would get out of a date with a human being—much less out of sex. Most of us wouldn’t have much interest in such a thing with ants or bacteria, even if we had the technology to permit it.

The vast bulk reads like an interminable conversation between two pseudointellectuals, neither of whom actually knows what they’re talking about. Some of this is, I think, deliberate (we're not actually supposed to think highly of the narrator), but I found the result really, really dull.

Nick Mamatas Info: Interviews, Websites, ISFDB, FreeSFOnline


1 comment (may contain spoilers):

  1. Yeah, I think it's a parody of an arrogant man being put in his place by a smart woman. But the word salad becomes tedious to parse through.