Product Description

Paolo Bacigalupi's debut collection demonstrates the power and reach of the science fiction short story. Social criticism, political parable, and environmental advocacy lie at the center of Paolo's work. Each of the stories herein is at once a warning, and a celebration of the tragic comedy of the human experience. The eleven stories in Pump Six represent the best Paolo's work, including the Hugo nominee "Yellow Card Man," the nebula and Hugo nominated story "The People of Sand and Slag," and the Sturgeon Award-winning story "The Calorie Man."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #237595 in Books
• Published on: 2008-02-15
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 248 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Bacigalupi's stellar first collection of 10 stories displays the astute social commentary and consciousness-altering power of the very best short form science fiction. The Hugo-nominated The Calorie Man explores a post–fossil fuel future where genetically modified crops both feed and power the world, and greedy megacorporations hold the fates of millions in their hands. The People of Sand and Slag envisions a future Earth as a contaminated wasteland inhabited by virtually indestructible post-humans who consume stone and swim in petroleum oceans. The Tamarisk Hunter deals with the effects of global warming on water rights in the Southwest, while the title story, original to this volume, follows a New York sewage treatment worker who struggles to repair his antiquated equipment as the city's inhabitants succumb to the brain-damaging effects of industrial pollutants. Deeply thought provoking, Bacigalupi's collected visions of the future are equal parts cautionary tale, social and political commentary and poignantly poetic, revelatory prose. (Apr.)
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Customer Reviews

conjuring beautiful despair
Each of these stories is dark and despairing, yet when finished, ultimately hopeful if one can only fully absorb the inherently cautionary nature of these tales. Every one of these stories is worthy of inclusion in a "best of" anthology of some sort. The stories are so fantastical, yet free of the many tropes we have become accustomed to in post-apocalypse settings. And I don't think this can be classified as fantasy either. Even hopelessness can be beautiful. This is good stuff.

Dark Stories from a Very Possible Future
I first read a short story by Paolo Bacigalupi in High Country News. It was "The Tamarisk Hunter" about a man named Lolo who removes the weed trees from a water hungry Southwest and who has a darker secret. It was well written and very plausible to those who know the tamarisk (or saltcedar, as it is also called) and the water problems of the southwestern border states. I then found this collection titled "Pump Six and Other Stories" in the local library.

These are dark stories of a Dalai Lama in a datacube, a modified human, a world of scavengers, a cultural conflict, genetically engineered life forms, population crises, life in a future Thailand, murder and a polluted world, as well as the tamarisk hunter. To a large degree these are cautionary tales - tales of what might be, if we take no action or take the wrong action. The biggest fear is that they will happen despite anything we can do and the author does not relieve us of this fear. Finally, these are finely crafted stories of the very near and far futures of human existence and they will leave you very uneasy. For all that, they are well worth the reading.

Against the grain
I am not normally a fan of short fiction but I really love this book. Mr. Bacigalupi manages, in just a few pages, to create an engaging and intriguing story with a bit of spine tingling as an added bonus. His wonderfully acute social commentary and willingness to explore the margins of human behavior gives his work a level of integrity rarely matched in the world of fiction or non-fiction. These stories have stuck with me for weeks after reading them, providing a rich insight and perspective into many aspects of life. I look forward to the next collection.