The stories were ok, non particularly memorable, except for the one I'd read before about the Neanderthals and another one about a pipeline in Nigeria (hmm, maybe that's why they were first and last) ( )

A collection of stories about paradigm shifts. This is easily the best anthology I've read this year (although the single author collection [b:Pump Six|2819368|Pump Six and Other Stories|Paolo Bacigalupi|http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51SDuDLIRSL._SL75_.jpg|2845301] still contains my favorite short stories of the year). The editor kept his choices to the best, not the biggest names, and thus captured some of the most innovative work in sf. Unlike pretty much every other anthology I can think of, there are no losers here--no stories that insulted or frustrated me, no lazy writing or poorly thought out plot points. These are stories with muscle and brain behind them, taking place all over the globe, all over the future.
The best:
"N-words" by Ted Kosmatka, is of course about racial prejudice, but also has a great deal to say about biology-as-destiny, and the effects of genetic diversity.
"Faceless in Gethsemane" by Mark Budz. A group has removed their ability to tell facial features and skin colors apart. A man tries to deal with his sister's choice to join the movement.
"Resistance" by Tobias S Buckell. A cameo appearance by Pepper does not distract from the work this story sets out to do: observe and pick apart the end results of a truly democratic republic. ( )

Really great stories. I loved all of them- and they made me think! That's one of the things I love about really good SF. ( )

Like any anthology, this has ups and downs. It's worth picking up just for N-Words, Spider the Artist, and Resistance.

N-Words by Ted Kosmatka - 4.5/5 stars
Really touching and well written. It's one of the best in the compilation, and I'm sure it will stick with me for a while.

The Future By Degrees by Jay Lake - 3/5 stars
OK, but not noteworthy.

Drinking Problem by K.D. Wentworth - 1/5 stars
I think this was the longest story in the book. It felt that way at least. It was nonsensical.

Endosymbiont by Blake Charlton - 3/5 stars
Good, with a really interesting premise,

A Dance Called Armageddon by Ken MacLeod - 2/5 stars
Never managed to suck me in.

Arties Aren't Stupid by Jeremiah Tolbert - 2/5 stars
I found the writing style and characters annoying.

Faceless in Gethsemane by Mark Budz - 3/5 stars
I loved the concept, but the execution was a bit lackluster.

Spider the Artist by Nnedi Okorafor-Mbuchu - 4.5/5 stars
I bought the book for this story, and it did not disappoint. It's an engaging, though somewhat depressing, story.

Resistance by Tobias S. Buckell - 4/5 stars
Really good! I instantly loved Pepper. I look forward to reading more by this author. ( )

Copied in full from my blog Grasping for the Wind

When John Joseph Adams, editor of the apocalyptic short story collection Wastelands and Slush God for The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction offered readers of his blog the opportunity to read and review an ARC e-copy of his newest collection Seeds of Change, I jumped at the chance. Adams has proven himself to be an editor worthy of comparison to Gardner Dozois, Martin H. Greenberg, and George R. R. Martin. And this antholgy once again proves that Adams is an editor of high skill.

The first story, by Ted Kosmatka, is a story called "N-words" about the relationship between science and racism. The "n" in the title stands for "Neanderthal" as supposed secondary race of humans long since died or bred out. When the scientists of Kosmatka's future bring them back from the grave, there are significant consequences for homo sapiens. Kosmatka tells the story through the eyes of once of our subspecies of humans who is sympathetic to these neo-Neanderthals. It makes the tale extremely intimate. Kosmataka's story ends on a dire note, serving as a warning against unbridled science and the more evil instincts of humanity's nature, particularly its tendency toward racism. This story has to be my favorite of the anthology.

Jay Lake's contribution reminds me of the movie version of The Saint with Val Kilmer and Elisabeth Shue. "The Future of Degrees" is about a scientific breakthrough in waste heat management. A brave salesman, Grover, must rescue this breakthrough from being stolen by an evil government seeking to suppress it. Unfortunately, while Lake's contribution is tightly written and interesting to think about, it is so close to the exact same plot of the aforementioned movie, that it ends up being interesting only for its concepts, not for its story. It ends up being unoriginal in that respect. Still, it is worth thinking about whether technology should be in the hands of the people, or the hands of its government.

When I say the title of K. D. Wentworth's "Drinking Problem" the first thing that came to mind was the scene in Airplane! where Ted Striker has a "drinking problem" that causes him to spill his drink off to the side when he raises a cup to his lips. Wentworth has continued that tradition to write a humorous story about the consequences of adopting innovations without thoroughly vetting them. The poor unfortunate hero of the story, a frequent denizen of a local bar, is forced by law into owning a sentient bottle that is genetically coded to an individual, and that is infinitely reusable. The "Smart Bottle" was supposed to help reduce filling of the landfills with glass and cans, but ends up having farther reaching social implications than its makers intended. Wentworth's story helped lighten the mood of the mostly serious collection. This story ends happily, and ends up being a quite hopeful. This a rarity among science fiction that also provides social commentary, and for that alone "Drinking Problem" is a worthy read. Wentworth's story will also resonate well with any reader in a deeply committed relationship that has struggled, but still has hope for survival.

Blake Charlton is a brand new, unpublished writer (who has a three book deal with Tor, with the first novel coming out this year), who is also a medical student at Stanford. His story, "Endosymbiont" draws on his knowledge of the medical field. The story thinks about the idea of the ability of a human mind having he ability to be downloaded into a machine. Would such people whose minds were downloaded remain human? If not, what would it take to help them retain some semblance of humanity? What would the government of the people do about such a technology? Charlton's story has immediate implications even now, in an age where disease ravages a body but leaves a mind whole, or Alzheimer's destroys a mind but leaves a body whole. Some readers with a personal history of such diseases may find this tale painful so some caution is warranted. However, it is too well constructed to miss. The primary character is a sympathetic, cancer ridden fourteen year old girl, and the story's tale of personal sacrifice is hopeful and deeply saddening. There are some technical terms interspersed throughout the story that some readers may not be familiar with, but ultimately they are not distracting. Charlton very likely has a fruitful career in writing as well as the medical profession, and I look forward to more from this debut author who donated all the proceeds from the sale of this tale to the American Cancer Society.

Ken Macleod writes a tale that echoes the ancient Gaelic ballads. "A Dance called Armageddon" is an extremely pessimistic tale the end of Western tradition. Macleod's tale is short, but in it we learn about the music of defeat, and the strange pride that the Scots and their kin take even in their many defeats. Macleod recognizes the strangeness' of the tradition of the Irish and Scottish people's preoccupation with stories of sadness and loss. What comes from Macleod's pen is both a celebration and a resignation and that strange juxtaposition makes for a powerful tale.

"Arties Aren't Stupid" by Jeremiah Tolbert, is a story about art and its ability to effect societal change. The arties of Tolbert's tale manage to find a way to meld art and science, and in doing so, create a brave new world. The story takes a little work to understand, as Tolbert creates slang for his ragtag band of arties, but that just adds to the otherness of his world. Though less thought-provoking than others in the anthology, the story is well-written, and is descriptive of the effect art can have on a society.

Prosopagnosia is a condition where a person is incapable of seeing faces to a defection in the mental faculties. Mark Budz uses this as the primary motivator in his story "Faceless in Gethsemane". The narrator must deal with a sister who voluntarily makes herself a sufferer of prospagnosia. This story was perhaps the hardest to understand. Budz is making a comment on racism and the concept of being colorblind in regards to people, but the concept and the story didn't seem to mesh. Up until the ending of the story, what Budz relates makes sense, But his ending left me confused, as I cannot seem to understand its relationship to the rest of the story. Budz's story was strong on concept, and only fair on execution, though that concept is very interesting to think about.

Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu writes a story set in Nigeria, in a small town that has an oil pipeline through its backyard but that reaps none of the benefits of the oil production. This a story all to common in today's Africa, and it is in this setting that "Spider the Artist" tells us of a young woman, a musical artist, who encounters a machine designed for the preservation of the oil pipeline that has intelligence. Okorafor-Mbachu's is a modern folk tale that draws on Africa's rich oral tradition. Its story is disheartening, especially when the reader realizes that many of the specifics the author describes are present day reality for many people living in oil-rich Nigeria. The story ends of being a call to action for complacent Westerners, and a tale of hope for the people of Africa, if both set aside their antagonism and realize that though they maybe different in many ways, music can transcend this, as it does for the narrator and the robot of "Spider the Artist".

The final story of the collection comes from one of my favorite authors, Tobias Buckell. "Resistance" gives another story to the character of Pepper, the favorite creation of Buckell's fans. In it, an asteroid colony's government has been overthrown and a dictator has taken its place. The resistance movement has brought Pepper in to help them destroy the dictator. Things do not go according to plan. Buckell uses this story to make a comment about democracy, and those democratic governments that seem to be chugging along well, only to be overthrown in a coup and replaced with a dictatorial government. The conclusions that Buckell draws will be surprising to many. Fans of Pepper should be warned that although Pepper appears, he does not exhibit his fighting skill a great deal in this story. Buckell has not written an action story in this case. "Resistance" is about the nature of governments, particularly democratic governments and the will of the people who comprise them. For all that, Buckell still writes entertainingly, and it was a good choice for the closing story of this anthology.

Seeds of Change continues to exemplify Adams ability to pick short stories of distinction. These nine stories of, in Adams words, "paradigm shift - technological, scientific, political, or cultural" are thought provoking without being didactic, asking the reader to think deeply about issues of today through the stories of the future. Conclusions are not drawn by these authors, avoiding the giving of answers. Even though I took some issues with a couple of the stories, they are all still worthwhile reading. This is the sort of writing the speculative fiction the genre was meant to produce. Readers should be pleased with the results of the contributors' and editor's efforts. ( )