Your Final Apocalypse: Sandra McDonald. Apocalypse meets slice-of-life. An AI and a visiting non-physical alien entity briefly look at the last moments of a student's life before the beginning of an apocalyptic event. There seems to be some parallel here with the experience of a reader of a short story, briefly taking these important moments of a different person into our minds, and then just as easily letting it pass out. Readable, but ultimately left me unmoved, much like the Casual Visitor.The Wisdom of Ants: Thoraiya Dyer. Post-apocalypse story of a girl whose people have returned to a totemic tribal culture. The apocalypse appears to have been caused by a number of things, including 'wire-minds' (cybernetic people?) and metal-eating ants. The tribe's existence is difficult and dangerous and relies on a critical trade with nearby 'island people' who have retained more tech, but that trade comes under threat. Very interesting, compelling story. I'm not altogether sure _why_ the ants eat metal (what use is it to them?), and wondered if those bacteria doses would be liable to make people very sick, but thought the resolution of the story very neat.Sweet Subtleties: Lisa L Hannett. Story about a kind of living statue/cake. Very visual/poetical style of prose. Wasn't overly moved by this, other than occasionally being repelled.The Corpse of the Future: Jane C Loudon's The Mummy! and Victorian Science Fiction: S J Chambers. Essay about a book written as a retort against Frankenstein.A Thousand Words You can Heart All at Once: An Interview with Todd Lockwood: Nayad A Monroe. Interview with an artist.Another Word: The Echo Chamber: Daniel Abraham. Discussion of changing technology and how it is altering the "authorative voice" which existed before the internet.
