Men of Unborrowed Vision by Jeremiah Tolbert

11/100

This was an interesting riff on the Occupy Wall Street protests. With a healthy dose of conspiracy theory.

Was it interesting?  Yes.

Was it science fiction?  Not even close.

Time to be fair - It was a really good story.  I found the characters interesting and I liked the friction between Mara and Adam.  It tackles the notion of inequality by taking a closer look at the people who participate in political protests.  There is even a nod to those folks who believe the government is trying to control our minds with "chem-trails", the CONtrails (short for condensation) that you sometimes see from overflying aircraft.  It is here that the story probably qualified as SF.

Yikes!  The government is out to get us.

The real trouble I had with the story is that it was published in a science fiction magazine.  So the difficulty I'm having lies with the editor and not the author.  I'm always happy when an author makes a sale but, as a reader, I question if this even qualifies as soft SF.

Opinions may vary.

Jeremiah Tolbert's web page is here:   http://www.jeremiahtolbert.com/

The story is available to read online here:
http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/men-unborrowed-vision/

Lightspeed Magazine is here:  http://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/

Jeremiah Tolbert.  Love the hat.