 | The stories in Paolo Bacigalupi’s collection Pump Six are like ten multifaceted jewels. The writing is exquisite, not a word wasted, and the stories themselves well-crafted and provocative. On the whole, these tales veer toward grimdark, albeit with glimmers of hope within the tough, gritty worlds these characters inhabit. |
“Pocketful of Dharma” centers on a young pick-pocket and a living skyscraper: “It grew on lattices of minerals, laying its own skeleton and following with cellulose skin.” … “Within, its veins and arteries grew pipelines to service the waste and food and data needs of its coming occupants. It was an animal vertical city built first in the fertile minds of the Biotechs and now growing into reality.” I rooted for the boy-thief throughout the story and marveled at this living building where the exciting climax took place.
 | A reluctant performer is the main character in “The Fluted Girl.” She has been trained and bioengineered to become a star in a world of fiefdoms that use performance art as political weapons. The author deftly weaves in the fluted girl’s rebellion and grief over a missing friend, her frustration at her twin sister’s blind obedience and their sponsor’s absolute authority. I was dreading the ending, but the final plot twist was entirely satisfying. |
“The Pasho” was a definite favorite. The main conflict is between a young man recently returned from studying with commercial colonizers and his grandfather who longs to restart a bloody war with that same colonial power. The young man straddles the two worlds: that of his teachers, who inscribed his body with symbols to aid his memorization of the teachings, and the rigid traditions of his homeland.
The author dropped in breadcrumbs throughout that led to the inevitable yet surprising ending.
The author dropped in breadcrumbs throughout that led to the inevitable yet surprising ending.
 | The world is starving and multinationals control the surviving strains of food plants in “The Calorie Man.” The hero Lalji is on a mission to find and rescue a scientist who may hold the key to unlocking the multinational monopolies, but they’ve sent men to kill the scientist, Lalji's co-pilot is trigger-happy, and the scientist insists on bringing along a stray child. It’s a wonderfully tense tale with a startling yet hopeful ending. |
We studied “Pop Squad” in the Odyssey Writing Workshop I took this past January, Heart of the Matter with Barbara Ashford. Pop Squad is a master class in short story construction: each and every word builds both characterization and setting.
The story takes place in a gleaming city surrounded by tropical jungle, complete with screaming monkeys and endless rain. This is a world where “rejoo” allows people to live indefinitely, provided they get regular boosters, and having children is illegal.
"Pop Squad" is by turns shocking, sublime, brutal, beautiful, and intense.
The story takes place in a gleaming city surrounded by tropical jungle, complete with screaming monkeys and endless rain. This is a world where “rejoo” allows people to live indefinitely, provided they get regular boosters, and having children is illegal.
"Pop Squad" is by turns shocking, sublime, brutal, beautiful, and intense.
 | The title story, “Pump Six,” was funny-sad. The world-building unfolds slowly yet inexorably. Our main character works on the city’s sewer system (in a futuristic New York), and his life becomes infinitely more complicated when pump six stops functioning. Meanwhile, he and his wife are trying to get pregnant, and there are hermaphroditic trogs humping in the city parks. The trogs reminded me of Morlocks in appearance, but innocent like the childlike Eloi from The Time Machine (H.G.Wells). |
The other stories were well-written but more disturbing and less satisfying.
- “The People of Sand and Slag” are self-centered, augmented humans who can eat anything (including sand and slag), who find a stray dog.
- Water rights in a futuristic American southwest drive “The Tamarisk Hunter,” a frequently anthologized story about a man trying to game the system.
- “Yellow Card Man” imagines the life of a refugee who must create his own luck.
- “Softer” is the one story not set in a fantasy or science fiction world. It relates the aftermath of a man murdering his wife in beautiful suburbia.
Other awesome SFF short story collections: Even Greater Mistakes, The Best of World SFF, The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories
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