Two-time Hugo nominee Paul Cornell’s short story, “Catherine Drewe,” is online in its entirety. This is the opening story of Fast Forward 2, the second volume of the series, edited by Lou Anders, of all original, unthemed science fiction stories (and only science fiction, no fantasy or slipstream).
Paul describes the story as such: “Major John Hamilton serves with the 4th Dragoon Regiment of the British army in a present day rather unlike our own. Because of a single difference in the timeline that I haven’t yet revealed, the empires of Europe remain in place, and have indeed spread out to compete in the colonisation of the solar system, and the Great Game espionage cold war between them continues on many fronts. Indeed, the concept of a great balance to be kept has seeped into the fabric of these civilisations in all sorts of ways. Hamilton is often called upon to work out of uniform, as what we’d these days call an intelligence officer, intervening in the plans of rival empires.
“Hamilton himself is damaged, vulnerable, but also terse, repressed and honourable, though his concept of honour is shaped by his society. He can be horribly dangerous to those who get in the way of his duty, but he feels a need to be tender with innocents. He’s not cruel in everyday life, but he can be something of a sadist when his mission and the nature of his enemy gives him leave to be. Indeed, he lets himself enjoy those moments of release. His relationships with women are complicated and rare. I like to think I’m writing in the tradition of Ian Fleming’s Bond novels (not the movies) but I’m trying to stay away from pastiche, and instead hope to explore the same debates about masculinity and Britishness he did, while perhaps coming to different conclusions. I also hope this is serious SF in all sorts of ways, and that the politics and tactics make them genuine espionage stories too, but that they’re also, well, fun!”
Read samples of all the stories to be published in Fast Forward 2 here. Fast Forward 2 will be published in late October and contains the following stories:
“Catherine Drew” by Paul Cornell
“Cyto Couture” by Kay Kenyon
“The Sun Also Explodes” by Chris Nakashima-Brown
“The Kindness of Strangers” by Nancy Kress
“Alone With An Inconvenient Companion” by Jack Skillingstead
“True Names” by Cory Doctorow & Benjamin Rosenbaum
“Molly’s Kids” by Jack McDevitt
“Adventure” by Paul McAuley
“Not Quite Alone in the Dream Quarter” by Mike Resnick & Pat Cadigan
“An Eligible Boy” by Ian McDonald
“SeniorSource” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“Migration” by Karl Schroeder and Tobias S. Buckell
“Long Eyes” by Jeff Carlson
“The Gambler” by Paolo Bacigalupi
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