Three shorts - nothing to do with vampires :) Climate change affects the future and Manhattan is reduced to shells of buildings poking out of the water. Constant earthquakes keep changing the landscape (Bye Florida!). A brilliant artist/engineer has a vision of sustainable, floating cities that can handle the new weather. Too bad he's a killer and is either dead or rotting in prison. In this collection, Water Taxi in a River of Vampire Fish is by far the longest entry. It paints the setting as a bleak one, with the rich still being rich. Jackson Lowry is a simple man wanting nothing more to help people, but ends up in a complicated web and power struggle. The story has a definitive conclusion. Five Paintings is pretty short and pits academia vs. self-identity and personal growth. I actually enjoyed the banter and short read more than Water Taxi. Lastly, Five Sketches speaks upon AI and the pros/cons it provide. In all, the stories were entertaining. I don't view 3 Stars as negative/critical.
3 of 5 stars. From the Publisher:
New York City flooded following decades of climate change and earthquakes. And after his father died, Jackson Lowry rowed a small taxi-boat to help his friends and neighbors. But now a mysterious realtor sets in motion a cryptic plot laced with the nefarious Circuit and a wealthy investor who pits Jackson against his better judgment. This novelette also contains two bonus short stories. In the special feature “Five Paintings,” two art critics battle over the value of a rich collector's paintings. In “Five Sketches of an Everyday Infinity” the journalist Leopold reveals the secrets of experiencing a sense of the infinite to his new companion, the artificial intelligence named Synthoid Etteri. All three tales in the book come from the futuristic Infinite Things world, affected by global climate change, artificial intelligence, and a growing new economy focused on green technologies
