Among the Wild Cybers

Bennett expands upon the universe introduced in Only Superhuman with a collection of eight short science fiction stories that offer tantalizing but underdeveloped glimpses into a world where humans face the consequences of exceeding the bounds of biology, morality, and known space. In “Aspiring to Be Angels,” space peacekeepers battle a laboratory-born super intelligence that’s been enslaving ordinary human minds in pursuit of godhood. In “No Dominion,” detectives investigate a mysterious homicide in an age where death is neither inevitable nor always permanent. In the star of the collection, “The Caress of a Butterfly Wing,” a human crewman of a spaceship and a posthuman merged with a biological solar sail bridge the divide driven between their species by war and evolution to find love amid the perils of deep space. Though these stories feature a wealth of commendable lessons, tender love stories, and thought-provoking concepts, all are regrettably undercut by uneven character development, inelegant prose, and unnatural dialogue. Even fans of big ideas will have a hard time enjoying the way they’re presented here. (Aug.)