Watson really is such a talented short story writer. The way he can purvey everything needed for so many stories with complex moral and scientific ideas in so few pages is outstanding. And they were all so varied, with distinct characters and writing styles. 

It is also a very racially diverse book, way more so than I’m used to reading in older sci-fi. Though some of the treatment of race definitely speaks to the time it was written. 

I was also pretty disappointed by his treatment of female characters throughout this collection, and the development of this can be seen from my breakdown of each story below. 

The star rating I’ve given this collection is a rounded down average of each stories’ star rating. I don’t think it deserves a full 4-stars with the problems it has, but I really did love the majority of Watson’s writing and ideas.  

 

The Very Slow Time Machine 

5 stars 

Fuck me that was good! A perfect mix of light humour and heavy existentialism, with a good smattering of barely intelligible jargon. 

 

Thy Blood Like Milk 

4.75 stars 

Oof, the deranged ravings of a lunatic, that then come to fruition? Love. 

I didn't love that the nurse was happy to get naked and present herself for sex the second the male character asked (hence the -.25), but it did somehow make sense in the setting. If this is the only time something like it happens in this collection I can excuse it. 

 

Sitting on a Starwood Stool 

5 stars 

Ew. Nice bit of sci-fi horror. 

Agoraphobia, A.D.2000 

2 stars 

What even was that? It didn’t make any sense, and not in a good way. 

 

Programmed Love Story 

4 stars 

Yeah, freaky. But also, the second time a woman has been mentioned in the collection, and this time she’s a soft, pliable woman who 'submits' herself to mind alteration and prostitution... Please give me one woman who isn't there just for sex. 

 

The Girl Who Was Art 

2.5 stars 

Not the very next story being about a woman who stands around naked for a job and has no autonomy, but OF COURSE really loves the job... If there were other stories about women in here who weren’t sexual objects it would be fine, and it was a pretty good story, but so far 3/3 woman have purely been sex objects for men. And the 4th woman of the collection is a wife who’s only there to serve male guests. 

 

Our Loves So Truly Meridional 

3.5 stars 

This was a really interesting premise - a take on a barrier appearing and cutting people off that I haven’t seen before. The end was pretty abrupt though, and didn’t make much sense. 

The misogyny isn't as bad in this one (no nakedness), but still the only female character is travelling a dangerous journey to be reunited with her male 'soul mate'. Women can be people by themselves, they aren’t only relevant when men are involved... The bloke in the story is making the journey just for the fun of it/out of pure intrigue, she is going because of love. Again, as an individual story this would be fine, but having seen the pattern form amongst the other stories, I can't only take it at face value. 

 

Immune Dreams 

4.75 stars 

This story had such an amazing dreamlike quality - muddled and insubstantial. AND, three whole woman who weren’t sexual objects, had their own careers, and weren’t only defined by the men in their life! Watson has somewhat redeemed himself with this one. 

 

My Soul Swims in a Goldfish Bowl 

4.75 stars 

Again, the atmosphere of this one aligned so well to the story being told. It felt detached and passionless. I didn’t even know what to make of the story, but it definitely made me a tad existential. And no problematic woman characters! Yay! 

 

The Roentgen Refugees 

4.25 stars 

This one hits very close to home, even 45 years after it was published. It almost had me believing in God for a sec, I really got pulled into it. BUT, the only woman in it, even though a scientist, was only categorised by her sexual attachment to her lover/partner... 

 

A Time-Span to Conjure With 

5 stars 

Ooof, freaky. It boggled the brain just the right amount. And there were women involved, but none problematically. 

 

On Cooking the First Hero in Spring 

4 stars 

Interesting, but I didn’t completely get it or vibe with it. 

 The Event Horizon 

1.5 stars 

If I ignored the glaringly problematic decision Watson made in this story, this would have been a great one to end the collection on. However, what was the FUCKING NEED for the main female character in a story all about being a sex slave to be barely 16??? So completely unnecessary. If she’d been 20, I’d have loved the story. Barely 16 is just gross behaviour from Watson. Yes, the excuse Watson gave was that they were desperate for conscripts, but he could have shown that in so many other ways that didn’t involve a child. 

And as the cherry on top, it also included a healthy dose of fatphobia, with one character’s only personality trait being ‘fat’. 

All this, couple with Watson’s dodgy takes on grown women throughout the collection, meant I finished the collection on a sour and disappointing note.