Sinopticon

This is a fun one, in a way, but I'm not sure I'd call it good? There's a fun idea (a videogame-like "save and reload" function for real life, introduced by an all-powerful company) and what I think is a fun if somewhat obvious message (sth like "aim at making the right choices, but don't obsess about past wrong choices, and have the confidence to do so")

Or at least, I can only really read it as a metaphor; I had real trouble suspending disbelief enough to accept that this world would work as the story requires it to — it feels like a morality tale ruminating on what makes a (single) person good, and less like a sf story exploring how the ostensible premise (i.e. the save-and-reload technology) would shape the society within which it exists.

Read "Tombs of the Universe," "宇宙墓碑". It’s great! I love it! It’s a story with a very different trope to what I’m used to, felt more like reading a documentation of the ancient past in the far future (similar to how "Always Coming Home" describes a society that will have been in the distant future-past), a story about the customs of burial of the dead in a space exploration age and ultimately spaces rejection of humanity as a live-adverting vast void. Will read again.

Next one up was "The Last Save", "最终档案" by Gu Shi. I actually quite liked this one. It's a techno-dystopian story introducing a "save and reload" mechanic to life, a wildly intrusive one even. I enjoyed the story, the ending just wasn't for me. The author could have taken this further I think

Nibbled my way through "Qiankun and Alex", "乾坤和亚力", it's fun, it's easy, but it also is everything but insightful. Still an enjoyable read

Finished "The Absolution Experiment", "特赦实验" aaaaand I just don't like it? Like it starts great, the entry dialogue is good and the initial scene is moody. It's an interesting starting-off point with plenty paths this could have gone and it just went into a personal vendetta story, involving the government as the acting force, the "good", that just tastes like a Marvel or DC style comic, it's a bland trope. I will still cherish the first part, I liked it!

For various reasons, it took me a long time to finish, (which is fine with a short story collection), but eventually I did, and I'm glad. I enjoyed a lot of these stories.