Cities Are Forests Waiting To Happen by Cecile Cristofari
I would like to thank the author and NewCon Press for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review
Publisher - NewCon Press
Published - Out Now
Price - £9.99 paperback
Decades after a catastrophic collapse caused by climate disasters and pandemics, Rossana, a professional urban explorer, discovers that a rogue artificial intelligence is threatening the communication system her world now depends on. Along with her niece, Catherine, an enthusiastic student of ancient technology, she heads to the former metropolis of Toronto (now a semi-rural settlement surviving under the ivy-covered ruins of skyscrapers), intent on isolating and destroying the AI. Rossana and Catherine join forces with Ishmael, a local official who views their involvement with extreme wariness.
In present-day Toronto, an idealistic young scholar, Sabrina, is working on cutting-edge technology aimed at deciphering human emotions from brainwaves. Attempting to force a breakthrough, she compromises her research protocol by confiding her own emotions to the AI she is developing. Her initiative results in unlikely success, but also turns the programme into an unpredictable entity that she begins to suspect could do far more harm than good…
There definitely seems to be a movement in SF looking at our near future and how we can survive and adapt the impacts of climate change. From EJ Swift’s amazing Where There Are Wolves Again to the recently reviewed Futures to Live By the excellent collection from Anna Sun we are getting lots of interesting stories imaging a hard won future for humanity - not easy but a future and I’m very here for. Adding to this we can add Cecile Cristofari’s impressive novella Cities Are Waiting To Happen where a recovering world has to make its peace with the dangers of the past.
Rosanna and her niece Catherine are working on the Canadian coast. 164 years after the human race fell into a series of disasters from record temperatures, disease and faced a huge fall in population. A new way of communication has been created the human race reached an accord with the recovering whale population to send messages. Rosanna is a specialist in communication while Catherine is more au fait with the strange world of digital technology. However a message warning of a huge storm coming to the sea gets lost in communication which could have huge consequences for the fragile city settlements inland. The diagnosis is that a rogue AI has awakened and threatens the communication network of Canada. Rosanna and Catherine are sent to investigate but a project from before the apocalypse is at work.
What really works in this novella is how Cristofari brings her world to life - not just the one that Rosanna has but the time in our near future when things are going to go horribly wrong. Rosanna’s world is fascinating and feels really interesting the whale communication idea works very well, we have pedal powered electricity and a population very aware that they need to balance human life with that of all other parts of nature. The nearer future is where we encounter Sabrina a very ambitious young student who has arrived in Canada from Italy working for a well known AU specialist. There we sense a world on the brink - rising temperatures cross the world, food shortages and also the AI explosion mean jobs are getting scarcer but for Sabrina it’s a fascinating science to study.
Slowly these two plotlines are shown to be linked and what I was impressed by is the story is balanced in how human nature creates the problems but also human ingenuity can help them. There eis a moral dilemma for Sabrina particularly as her flatmate is very much on the sharp end of the Ai curve not allowing her to get the design work she wants. The quest for knowledge being balanced with corporate interests but while Sabrina is naive there is something fabricating in the use of memory here and what that could mean for an AI that isn’t simply a regurgitating work machine. But as we know AI is one of the causes of the world’s collapse so what will this mean in 200 years?
For Rosanna’s tale there is a fascinating trip to a decaying plant covered skyscraper filled with many dangers and for her a key question is how do we keep balance. The human desire to stop a threat with violence has not worked that well for us so what can we do here? I liked stories about a tough decision and I love stories that remind us of the power of compassion. This story manages to do both. I can’t tell you how this story does this but it’s a really interesting idea of humanity owning its problems not just running away and just possibly that leads to a better outcome for us. There are some gorgeous interludes in the books showing various character’s lives and reminds the reader that humanity can be amazing and so so petty. So what this story ends with is kept in balance all the way to the end.
This is a really lovely bit of storytelling and the way the world, characters and ethical dilemmas all collide is well designed and should make the reader some away with a lot to think about and a little bit more Hope. Highly recommended!
