Ambiguity Machines

Starred review from August 21, 2017
A delicate touch and passionately humanist sensibilities sweep through this magnificent collection, which ranges from the near future of our world to eras far away in space and time. Highlights include “With Fate Conspire,” in which Gargi, taken from slum life because of her ability to use a device which lets her look through time, has more power to influence history than the scientists around her suspect; “Somadeva: A Sky River Sutra,” about an 11th-century Indian poet who has become the companion of a spacefaring folklorist; and “Ambiguity Machines: An Examination,” a story in the form of a test that pushes the limits of narrative by trying to define what is not possible rather than what is. The short piece “Indra’s Web” is more interested in depicting its solar-powered utopia than in plot or characterization, but in general this collection is full of risky experiments that turn out beautifully: colorful, emotionally resonant, and consistently entertaining. Refreshingly for this flavor of SF, the protagonists are often bright, passionate women in middle life, driven by some kind of art or science or cause and in no way defined by their relationships with men. Those not familiar with physicist and SF author Singh (Younguncle Comes to Town) will find this a perfect introduction to her work.

December 1, 2017

Several of the 14 beautifully written stories collected here have been either performed on BBC radio, finalists for the British SF Association Award, selected for the Tiptree Award honor list, and/or reprinted in "best of the year" anthologies. In "Wake-Rider," a young woman faces death in different forms as she also contemplates the possibilities of her life. In "Oblivion: A Journey," a long-held need for revenge keeps the protagonist striving for life beyond death until the realization sets in that mortality may be the only relief. The heroine of "Requiem" travels to Alaska a year after her aunt's disappearance, seeking answers. All of the stories here feature characters who are trying to discover the nature of their existence and how their lives connect others. VERDICT Rising star Singh draws on her Indian roots and physics background to bring her first North American collection to readers. Admirers of literary sf will want to read this.--KC

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
Singh's dexterous hand for speculative science fiction is on full display in this lyrical and humanist collection. In each story, keen and ruthless female protagonists work to make sense of a world that has been defeated by the violence of nature. Climate change, atmospheric inhabitability, time travel, and interuniversal travel are only some of the epic walls to be scaled by Singh's characters. While many narratives of the book capitalize on the limitlessness of fantasy, most have roots in very possible, very scary natural disasters. In Indra's Web, a knife of a woman faces the possible failure of the slum-turned-utopian-solar-farm community she has built. In Requiem, a heartbroken niece travels to Alaska to explore the bizarre loss of her aunt following a devastating rise in temperature. The pieces vary in length and lightness, making for an intriguing adventure across the author's concepts of time and space. Singh, both a physicist and wordsmith, is developing an exciting new subgenre all her own, and Ambiguity Machines is an enjoyable introduction to her voice.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2018, American Library Association.)