Susan Palwick
Author of The Necessary Beggar
About the Author
Image credit: Alec Ausbrooks
Works by Susan Palwick
Gestella [short story] 6 copies
GI Jesus [short story] 4 copies
Cucumber Gravy [short story] 4 copies
Going After Bobo [short story] 3 copies
Beautiful Stuff [short story] 2 copies
Erosion [short story] 2 copies
Lucite 2 copies
Offerings [short story] 1 copy
Elephant [short story] 1 copy
Windows 1 copy
Sanctuary 1 copy
Jo's Hair [short story] 1 copy
Wood and Water [short story] 1 copy
Sparrows 1 copy
Yarns 1 copy
Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 48, No. 7 & 8 [July/Augustl 2024] — Contributor — 1 copy
Associated Works
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Eighteenth Annual Collection (2001) — Contributor — 481 copies, 2 reviews
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: First Annual Collection (1986) — Contributor — 319 copies, 6 reviews
Sisters of the Revolution: A Feminist Speculative Fiction Anthology (2015) — Contributor — 306 copies, 8 reviews
The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror: Fifteenth Annual Collection (2002) — Contributor — 268 copies, 4 reviews
The Armless Maiden: And Other Tales for Childhood's Survivors (1995) — Contributor — 248 copies, 4 reviews
The Year's Best Science Fiction: Thirty-Second Annual Collection (2015) — Contributor — 176 copies, 7 reviews
The Best Science Fiction and Fantasy of the Year Volume Two (2008) — Contributor — 167 copies, 4 reviews
Nebula Awards 22: Sfwa's Choices for the Best Science Fiction and Fantasy 1986 (Nebula Awards Showcase (Paperback)) (1988) — Contributor — 50 copies, 1 review
In the Shadow of the Towers: Speculative Fiction in a Post-9/11 World (2015) — Contributor — 38 copies
The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction September/October 2013, Vol. 125, Nos. 3 & 4 (2013) — Contributor — 18 copies, 4 reviews
Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine: Vol. 10, No. 11 [November 1986] (1986) — Author — 11 copies
Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 38, No. 9 [September 2014] (2014) — Contributor — 10 copies, 1 review
Asimov's Science Fiction: Vol. 40, No. 10 & 11 [October/November 2016] (2016) — Contributor — 8 copies
Tor.com Short Fiction March/April 2022 — Contributor — 4 copies
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1961
- Gender
- female
- Nationality
- USA
- Education
- Princeton University
Yale University
Clarion West (1985) - Occupations
- professor
- Awards and honors
- Nevada Writers Hall of Fame (2023)
- Agent
- Kay McCauley
Members
Reviews
Lists
Awards
You May Also Like
Associated Authors
Statistics
- Works
- 32
- Also by
- 55
- Members
- 918
- Popularity
- #27,946
- Rating
- 3.8
- Reviews
- 46
- ISBNs
- 27
- Languages
- 1
- Favorited
- 3
There is so much in there that now seems horribly unrealistic. (Quite apart from the lazy treatment of Africa like a country rather than a continent. Where did this flight take off from, Africa Airport?) Imagine a super-rich American businessman reporting his own illness then paying for his employees to quarantine! Imagine the US authorities tracing all their contacts and isolating them! Imagine dozens dying of a pandemic virus in the US rather than 439,830 as of 3rd February 2021!
I am not blaming Susan Palwick for failing to predict in 2007 that incompetent neo-nationalist demogogues would let many thousands more people die in the US and UK than countries with ostensibly much weaker health systems. I just assumed this was a completely alternate universe, in which climate change was mostly under control and Gaia worship a normal part of American culture. It evidently wasn't intended as a utopia, though. Three major themes are mental illness, personhood, and medical surveillance. The structure of the book reminded me somewhat of The Untamed, as it initially plunges you straight into dramatic events without explaining who anyone is - a major character dies on page 26. There follows the main substance of the book, consisting of two massive flashbacks in which each protagonist more or less recounts their life to date.
The two protagonists, Meredith and Roberta, have very different backgrounds yet their lives are significantly intertwined. Both experience tragedy, moral dilemmas, and mental illness. However Meredith is rich, white, and privileged while Roberta is not, which makes their experiences very different. Meredith struggles to conceal her problems from the media, but remains largely in control of how she is treated. Roberta is diagnosed with 'excessive altruism', considered a mental illness, and puts up with intrusive surveillance in order to avoid having her brain wiped. One result of the CV pandemic is a modified form of the virus can be used to wipe people's memories, personality, and knowledge. It is widely used as a punishment for criminals and a treatment for mental illness, including in children. In parallel, there is a debate about whether AIs are people and entitled to the rights of a person. In the middle of this are the few able to save their memories in the cloud and exist as uploaded personalities after death. I appreciated the thoughtful way these issues were examined, including sadly realistic details like people ending up homeless post-brainwipe.
'Shelter' is an interesting examination of privilege and inequality, via a small cast of characters whose lives are recounted in great detail. I think it could have been a little shorter. The sequences in a nursery school were very tense but somewhat repetitive, for instance. It reads as meandering and considered sci-fi with horror overtones, that slowly builds up detailed characterisation of the flawed yet sympathetic protagonists. The two twists at the end were a little too neat and one was easy to predict from the start. The conclusion wasn't really as important as the journey there, however. 'Shelter' wanders through domestic settings in an unusual alternate universe, conveying thoughtful insights about how we treat AI and each other via interpersonal drama.… (more)