Beaker's Dozen

This is Nancy Kress at her best: exploring various styles and possibilities in short stories, the only constant her keen and insightful writing... There is everything here, from fantasy to biotech to futurism to... well - reality slightly affected by paranormal - "Phone Repairs". And, incidentally, among many very different and all excellent stories in this collection, this is my favorite: heart -wrenching story of alienation and despair, of yearning for happiness and inner peace, so real and so... probable - it reads like "a next door story". It is brilliant and breath-taking in a quiet, unassuming way. In itself, it is a masterpiece in this already excellent collection. WOW!!!

The novella, Beggars in Spain, the longest story in this collection titled Beaker's Dozen, earned Nancy Kress the Hugo award in 1991. Subsequently, Kress extended this story to a full length novel and created two sequels, Beggars and Choosers and Beggars Ride. Beggars in Spain occurs in the near future when genetic modification of children has become possible, although it is generally available only to the wealthy. Roger Camden, a prominent financier, overrides his wife's reservations and has a genetic change carried out on their unborn daughter that eliminates the need for sleep as well as improving her intelligence. As might be expected, so-called Sleepless children completely outpace their normal counterparts (Sleepers) as they function at full capacity twenty-four hours every day. The story primarily focuses on the growing antagonism from the normal population as the Sleepless become an increasingly successful and powerful minority. The others stores in this collection range from as little as three to about fifty pages. Like Beggars in Spain, these stories largely explore a future world changed by beakers, test tubes, and DNA sequencing. Ars Longa is an unsettling look at how a dedicated teacher contributed to Walt Disney's success. Flowers of Aulit Prison pictures an alien world that is truly alien; it reminds me of imaginative stories by Ursula Le Guin. Feigenbaum Number is a creative story about attractors and strange attractors, convergence and divergence, all in the context of iterated function theory as applied to linear and non-linear differential equations. Jack, a post-doc mathematician that studies chaos theory, is immersed simultaneously in two worlds, concretely residing in an imperfect, scarred, damaged reality, but continuously aware of a shimmering, overlapping image that offers worldly perfection. Although Feigenbaum Number does not deal directly with a future world modified by advances in the biological sciences, it is a fine example of the remarkable imagination of Nancy Kress. The remaining stories range from good, to interesting, to not so bad. Beaker's Dozen is somewhat uneven in quality, but even the not so bad stories have potential to stimulate the reader's imagination. Beggars in Spain, Feigenbaum Number, Ars Longa, and Flowers of Aulit Prison are really quite good and warrant five stars. Overall, I gave this collection four stars.

You don't have to be a science-fiction fan to enjoy the stories of Nancy Kress. In fact, you don't even have to know anything about science-fiction. If you enjoy well written, intelligent writing with remarkably believable characters, Kress is for you.This collection starts off with a bang. "Beggars in Spain," the Hugo and Nebula winning story deals seriously with genetic engineering and prejudice when a group of "sleepless" children are born. Also outstanding are "Ars Longa" (about what it may have been like to have been Walt Disney's grade-school teacher) and "Flowers of Aulit Prison." All of the stories are very, very good, but these three are my favorites. If you like great characters and great writing, they may be yours also.Kress has the amazing ability to communicate complex scientific ideas (like genetic engineering, microbiology, and cloning) and make them very understandable. Combine this skill with the ability to create characters that the reader really cares about, and you've got a collection of entertaining and thought-provoking stories.

Kress shows that the products of such engineering is good, & yet. It is so difficult to know what's right with human nature as is, imagine how hard it'll be if we change that nature unthinkingly? At the same time her compassion doesn't waver. You can be against unthinking engineering yet still be compassionate, & pro-science. Inspire through hope rather than pander through fear. Someone said it bothered them as a Catholic. If you're that weak in your beliefs don't blame her. A truly great author who deserves all the acclaim for her short work we can give. Yet sometimes her balance goes awry & she gets preachy or sappy. Still, it's such a hard balancing act I give her credit.

It's been a while since I read good SF book, so I was little hesitant ordering Beaker's Dozen. The novella Beggars in Spain just blew my mind. It has an excellen idea - and great philosophical beliefs. After I read it - I was completelly taken away - and had a feeling of great satisfaction!