Tuesday 15 May 2012

Just Like Old Times by Rober J. Sawyer - short story review

Robert J. Sawyer a Canadian SF icon.  This guy can write; there is something about his style that I find so pleasurable to read.  His writing seems effortless.

This came to me via the Best Science Fiction Stories email service and tells the story of a convicted serial killer sentenced to "death" by chronotransference - a method of downloading a person's mind into the brain of a person from the past.

The story touches on many subjects that Sawyer enjoys writing about; dinosaurs, time travel, the up/downloading of human consciousness.

The fun aspect of the story, and a distinctly Canadian one, is getting around the nastiness of capital punishment.  Downloading a mind into another mind, of a person from the past, who is about to die seems like a nice way to achieve an execution without getting our hands dirty. 

The convict convinces the judge to transfer him to a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

I know, sounds strange but give it a try, it's only 3,800 words.

The story can be found HERE

The author's website is HERE

This short story was collected in Dinosaur Fantastic

Try the email service Best Science Fiction Stories


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