Review: Pump Six and Other Stories by Paolo Bacigalupi

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."

Star rating: 4 stars

This is the first book of short stories that I have ever finished. Thank you Paolo Bacigalupi for showing me that short stories can be great and that I can enjoy them as much as other people seem to.

The stories in this book were fantastic; I liked all of them although there were some that were just ok while others were firm favourites. I really do like this author's writing style, the bleak worlds he creates, the messed up characters and the interesting technologies. I would love to see more of all of these that were featured in this book.

Three of the stories are set in the worlds of his main novels; "The Calorie Man" and "Yellow Card Man" are set in the world of The Windup Girl and "Tamarisk Hunter" is set in the world of The Water Knife. While I enjoyed being reacquainted with the Windup world again, I think I enjoyed the others stories more.

I liked the body modifications in "Fluted Twins"; the organic city in "Pocketful of Dharma"; the ability to loose and then instantly grow back limbs (plus the poor dog) in "People of the Sand and Slag"; the conflicting customs in "The Pasho"; the rejoo in "Pop Squad"; and the loss of intelligence in "Pump Six".

My favourites were "Pop Squad" and "Pump Six". Oh and I love the front cover of this book.