"John G. Hemry - As You Know, Bob or, Living up to Expectations" - читать интересную книгу автора (Hemry John G)

AS YOU KNOW, BOB OR, “LIVING UP TO EXPECTATIONS”
by John G. Hemry




****
The agent: How’s that science fiction novel you’ve been working on coming
along? Send me an excerpt from the beginning so we can see about getting it into
shape for today’s market.
****
The story begins: The phone rang with Bob’s signature tune, so Bill tapped
the “receive” button. Bob’s face appeared, looking unusually enthusiastic, since he
normally tried to coast through life with minimum effort. “Did you hear about the
frozen Lumpia?”
“Not yet.” Lumpia. That sounded important enough for Bill to pause his work
and face the phone. “As you know, Bob, frozen Lumpia isn’t nearly as good as
fresh.”
“This stuff is! There’s a new process. Meet me in the lobby and we’ll go get
some and check it out.”
Bill’s conscience tugged at him. “I dunno, there’s this analysis of the signals
from the Eridani Probe that I’m supposed to be running....”
“It’ll be there when we get back.”
“Okay.” Bill stood up, powering down his workpad and heading for the door.
In the hallway he met Jane, a researcher who worked a few doors down. Bill
tried not to stare as she crossed her arms and looked at him. “You’re in a rush.
Going on some important mission?” she asked dryly.
“I guess you could say that. I’m going to pick up some frozen Lumpia.” Bill
hesitated. Jane had the kind of smarts and attitude that had always attracted him, but
she had never shown much interest in Bill and had turned him down the one time he
had asked for a date. Maybe she would be willing to consider a more casual errand
together. “Do you want to come along?” Jane pulled out a money card and checked
it, then shrugged. “Sure. Why not? I need to pick up some stuff, too.”
 ****
The agent: This is okay, but I can’t sell it. Something’s missing. It’s not sci-fi
enough, do you know what I mean? This is supposed to be happening in the early
twenty-second century and there’s nothing about the singularity or nanotech or
quantum states or cyberspace or posthumans or multiculturalism or complex
antiheroes. How can you call that sci-fi? I know, I know, you’ve told me that when
people use tools they don’t think about how they work. But readers expect certain
things from sci-fi. Oh, and the characters. Those aren’t sci-fi characters. Punch them
up and make them the sort of characters you see in real science fiction. And get
some gratuitous sexual content in there.
****
The revised story begins: The singularity had crashed and burned in a
viral-cataclysm that had destroyed most of civilization and every decent coffee
house east of Seattle. Now a complex array of probability states undulated down a
fiber-optic line surviving from presingularity days. The electrons carrying the
message didn’t so much move as they did alter the places where they had the highest
probability of existing.