The Turing Test [Kindle Edition]

The content of the best of the stories in this collection has stayed with me since I read them a couple of weeks ago. In "Dark Eden", an incompatible couple find themselves stranded on a sun-less planet and are forced to consider their own insignificance - and that of humanity - in the context of a vast universe. In "Karel's Prayer", Beckett plays with the idea of "field induced copies" (created from "the precise imprint of [the] body on the suface of space time"), and whether the copy, who has no rights, has any responsibilities to the original. And in "The Marriage of Sea and Sky" an arrogant author, part anthropologist and part travel writer, sets down on a new planet which he intends to exploit for further fame. In his quest for new material and his desire to make all he encounters fit his theories, he grossly misreads a social situation and finds himself forced to go native...

I saw a positive review of Chris Beckett's collection in one of the broadsheet weekend sections and ordered myself a copy with high expectations, which have on the whole been met. The collection includes a few loosely linked stories set in future Londons with recurring characters, interspersed with standalone works, and fuse the sociological/psychological though-experiment elements of what is sometimes referred to as "speculative fiction" with the harder, cyber elements of specific techologies of the future. Most are generally well-executed, but I had the feeling that a more literary-minded editor might have polished them into truely five star works of fiction. The collection is also slightly let down by some poor proof-reading. But I have no doubt that I will be re-reading it, and will seek out more of Beckett's work.

I read some of Chris Beckett's excellent stories in Interzone in the 1990s - `The Welfare Man' is particularly memorable. So this new collection is very welcome. These stories are witty, intriguing, absorbing and (unlike much recent sf) consistently readable. One of the things I like about Beckett's fiction is his willingness to return to familiar sf themes - a world (nearly) without men, the impact of AI on humans and their relationships, encounters with alien societies - and give them a new twist. I strongly recommend this collection to anyone who enjoys reading sf.

Too many SF books today are bloated and/or weak, I struggle to find modern SF that I enjoy. I recall reading stories years ago that were short, intriguing, atmospheric - and they left you feeling pleasantly surprised at the end. The Turing Test contains stories that bring all that back.