...The Long Chase is a very well written tale. I liked the style and non-linear way the story unfolds in particular. There is something strange about a story dealing with deeply human desires, expressed by a sentient machine in the hostile environment of interstellar space. It leads the reader to wonder how human the main character is, and what makes her human or machine....

Full Random Comments review. ( )

A war has been fought and lost throughout the Solar System. Humans downloaded into microscopic robots lost their struggle for individual freedom against their collectivised counterparts. A survivor flees to another star system but is pursued. ( )

After a war, one of the vanquished struggles to live separately from the victors. The main character’s brain has been uploaded into a microscopic computer. Perhaps owing to her past as a married and hating it woman, she really wants to remain independent. The winners of the war are other computer mediated minds that joined together to form a cooperative group mind. Why they fought a war over joining the group mind, I don’t know. Landis made that intentionally nebulous, if you read the interview that follows. Now she’s attempting to escape on her ship by heading out of the solar system, but the winners pursue her to get her to join. Most interesting of the issue’s stories because it has the most personality involved. Some of the piece is even about editing one’s personality. What pieces would you consider indispensable? ( )