Truer Love and Other Lies

The eclectic stories in Vick’s provocative first collection span from the serious to the whimsical and from hard-edged science fiction to gauzy fantasy. In opening tale “Moon Does Run,” an artificial intelligence has an identity crisis in the midst of a war as its memory is wiped several times over by ever-changing programmers to reflect which political group is in power. In a strong tonal contrast, “Silver and Scythe,” cowritten with Manny Frishberg, tells the quaint but unsatisfying story of the fae cutting off ties with the human world. “The Great Depth” leaves humanity behind altogether to follow a whale on a desperate mission to save her kind, and perhaps the sea itself, from a ravenous monster of the deep. Despite the broad range of subject matter, the authorial voice is strikingly assured throughout. Though some stories, including “Rebel the First and Only” and “Innermost Box,” feel more like premises than fully realized plots, Vick’s facility with language will keep readers engaged. There is a bit of something for everyone in this competent and quirky work. (Nov.)