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. |
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 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. |
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 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.
Even Greater Mistakes, The Best of World SFF, The Mammoth Book of SF Stories by Women, The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories, Best New Romantic Fantasy, Mythic Journeys