Core: 1/9. Terrible. Many worlds theory is a common trope derived from the quantum theory.

However, can you imagine in a future era when Analogue Literature was intentionally set to research literature on paper and books were seen as ancient artifacts, the hero was still stuck up in hackneyed theories in the age of Analogue Literature and sacrificed himself for it?

What was his scientific theory to support his experiment? Why didn’t the author show it up? What did other scientists really comment on his findings? If they proved his theory not ridiculous, then he would be unlikely to be alone because the experiment was able to prove it since if it was theoretically right, at least there would be other scientists to prove his findings at the same time rather than an outside like heroine. What kind of progress had the hero made? Why did he commit suicide? All these unsolved questions rendered me a sense of unreality.

Plus, introducing the double-slit experiment is okay, but does it have any connection with the other plot? Or does it have any relevance with the previous questions? None! It exists because the author wants either to bore those who already studied basic physics in college (like me) or to confuse those who didn’t.

The visitor from Taured is either an urban legend or a proof that confirmed his theory. But I surmise maybe the hero was mad enough to use the technique himself and accidentally caused it.

Character: 2/9. Bad. I’m about to applaud its lively characters, though I don’t have any resonance with them and their deeds through the plot.

I, or the heroine: a bibliophile loving books and a successful businesswoman
He, hero or Rob Holm: A typical scientist in the fiction who earned enough money but stuck in his finding so madly that in the end he disappeared.

Plot: 2/9. Bad.

Because it’s a love story rather than science fiction, frankly speaking. Even the plot is a cliché in this field: A scientist is so obsessed with his theory and experiments alone which incurs disaster. This story only enlarged this cliché with a boring heroine who loved the hero and whose research and subject have nothing with the plot and the core.

1

I noticed Rob Holm because during the first week he was chatting with research fellows and quietly getting the best virtuals to hang out in.

I studied Analogue Literature because I like these ancient artifacts called books. The books in my age are interactive.

2

I dragged Rob out onto the pulsing dance floor, and Rob helped me down and out to the toilets to vomit.

We therefore recognize each other.

I think we shared a sense of otherness. He was studying astrophysics. I proposed to share a house with him next year.

3

But Rob invited others to share the house too. So both Rob and I had romantic relationships with others too.

We headed out to the moors and I asked Rob to name some constellations for me. He believed there were other worlds all around us from his research on astrophysics.

Rob took me to his laboratory and introduced the Double Slit Experiment and many worlds theory.

I replied that books were my other worlds, and Rob seemed genuinely interesting. And we therefore began a new phase in their relationship: We read and discussed books.

Rob told me about his childhood and his parents, including the death of his mom.

5

Rob discovered science fiction and loved it because of the sense of wonder, but most of the miracles simply left me cold.

He went off in secondment the following year to Chille, and I kept the lease and did a masters on gender roles. I paid him virtual visits.

Another year went by; Rob was busy with his own business, and I realized the old days had gone. He seemed to retreat to a sub-genre of science fiction called alternate history.

Thanks to my reading history, my career seems to go well. I set up my own consultancy and made a great deal of money.

Rob seemed to be a nomad now. And lots of assessors rejected his idea for low practicality.

When I finished building a library, I decided to invite Rob only to find the accident of his father’s catastrophe on the news. He complimented my library and told me that his father accidentally died in the same place with his mother.

6

His scientific career has been running on empty for years and therefore he decided to stay there to be a marine farmer on some remote island like his father.

I invited Rob to participate in the project in Seoul to talk about the wonders of science and to be a scientific popularizer like Carl Sagan or Stephen Jay Gould. Although he never actively courted it, he grew famous and rich. But he returned the contract of the series unsigned to pursue his science.

I became a PR agent for Rob’s long-planned experiment and found a vanished visitor from Taured to prove his theory. But what Rob needed was time and bandwidth from every available gravitational observatory during a crucial observational window. He either became a prophet or a pariah after that time. And I came to accompany him.

7

He displayed a sharp spike representing the asymmetrical pulse of a gravitational wave and expected to analyze and find echos of the black hole collision in another universe tonight.

8

We discussed, watched stars, and made love.

Next morning I sensed something was wrong. The screen showed what Rob expected didn’t occur, and he went missing.

9

The explanation given by the authorities was that he’d seen his theory dashed and then walked out into the freezing waters of the Minch.

Because of my effort, books became popular again, but I abandoned my successful library and kept Rob’s farm left by Rob in his will to remember him.

World and Others: 1/9. Terrible.

I can’t sense heroine’s world which is abundant with many discrepancies with the reality. A world that she can pillage authors in the old era to make success only means a terrible dystopia where the literature forgets its root.

And the only thing the hero did to this world was to add a number to the suicide count.

AIs: It seems that they can help produce plots or interactive books once they set up some basic configuration.
Books: They can leap about and give off sounds, smells, and textures. They can ask which character you’d like to be and what level to go next. Sounds great? But the author didn’t depict them well. Instead, the heroine kept telling us what kind of analogue books she liked.
Analogue Literature: It would be better if the author analyzed the differences among different ages in writing and culture rather than the boast on how many books the author knows and how rich the heroine is to possess so many books.
pulsing dance floor: It can change scenes, feeling like reality.
Library: I just can’t believe an age where libraries extinguish. It’s impossible. It’s horrible. It’s dystopia. Books, bookstores, publishers, readers, and writers will never die, even in the physical form.

Overall: 2/9. Terrible.

Someone said it’s award-worthy, but in my perspective, it’s just a tawdry novelette. Its core is low. Its plot has no tension. Its characters are remote, with no clear intention. Its world is tedious.

I don’t think I appreciate this author, though I appreciate the idea of this author that the essence of science fiction is scientific wonders. But did the author really think this work proposed any of it?

Now I decided to only read short science fiction from qualified authors who at least understand how science works and write good plots dazzled with wonders.

By the way, why is alternate history a sub-genre of science fiction whereas magical realism is not?