Bridesicle
"Bridesicle" is a 2009 science fiction short story by Will McIntosh, exploring the conjunction of suspended animation and forced marriage. It was originally published in Asimov's Science Fiction.
Synopsis
[edit]Eighty years after her death in a car accident, Mira awakens in a 'dating center'. The patrons of the dating center are lonely men seeking wives, and dead women in cryogenic storage. A male patron can revive a female patron's head and interview her — and, if he doesn't like her, press a button to immediately return her to storage. As various suitors reject her, and the years go by, Mira's only chance to avoid being frozen forever is to convince a total stranger that she loves him enough that he should pay for her full revival. However, Mira is a lesbian, and does not want to marry a man.
Critical reception
[edit]"Bridesicle" won both the 2010 Hugo Award for Best Short Story[1] and the 2010 Asimov's Reader Poll, along with being a finalist for that year's Nebula Award for Best Short Story. [2]
History
[edit]McIntosh had originally tried writing the story from the vantage point of a man who would regularly visit the dating center but be unable to afford a full revival; however, Mary Robinette Kowal suggested that the story would work better from the perspective of a woman trapped within the center.[3]
Expansion
[edit]In 2013, Orbit Books published Love Minus Eighty, McIntosh's novel-length expansion of "Bridesicle".[4]
References
[edit]- ^ 2010 Hugo Award winners, Locus Magazine, Sept. 5, 2010, accessed August 27, 2013
- ^ Locus Index to SF Awards, Entry for Will McIntosh Archived 2002-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, accessed August 27, 2013.
- ^ FROM THE AUTHOR, by Will McIntosh, The Nebula Awards Showcase 2011, page 75; edited by Kevin J. Anderson, published by Macmillan Publishers, 2011 (via Google Books)
- ^ Science fiction roundup – reviews at the Guardian, by Eric Brown; published July 20, 2013; retrieved August 27, 2013
External links
[edit]- Bridesicle title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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