It took me a long time to read this collection of stories because I needed to give each one a bit of space to settle. Many of them ended with me being a bit teary, yet more understanding of how life can be so hard, yet tempered with kindness and hope.

This is not a common reaction to science fiction. My most succinct description of SF is that it's an exploration of what it means to be human. Maybe that describes all literature but SF is mostly what I read. And these stories are deeply about what it means to be human. Very much worth reading. ( )

So far read:

-- Recoveries - (2018) - 4.5* - I was trying to read a memoir by a blackout alcoholic so I started this one which also features a blackout alcoholic. I had a few "which story did this thought come from" moments. I ended up DNFing the memoir but loved this one. It has one of those ironic ending I grew to love from my experience with 1980s horror shorts or maybe Twilight Zone type shows. I found it enjoyable from start to finish and look forward to other stories by this author. I'm not sure I would recommend it as a "must read" but for me it was just right.

Free here: https://www.tor.com/2018/06/20/recoveries-susan-palwick/

-- Weather - (2014) - short story (available Clarkesworld, #96 Sept 2014 podcast also) - 2.5*
An estranged father is trying to get to his daughter before she dies in the hospital. It was a bad divorce and he has been a shit dad, he doesn't have a good relationship with her. It's a futuristic SF story and he wants to say goodbye in person before her mind is uploaded to a computer. It's snowing real bad and he stops by a friend's house whose daughter died but didn't have her uploaded. His friend helps him get to the hospital. the daughter dies in route and calls him "from the computer". She shows no mercy. "I told her I was sorry I wasn’t there. She said, ‘Daddy, you’ve never been there.' I don’t know how I can make it up to her now, except by talking to her whenever she wants to talk."

-- Remote Presence - (2017) - novelette (available from Lightspeed April 2017) listening now, narrated by Stefan Rudnick - 3.5*
Very unique. Ghosts are a normal part of life in this story but they can't stick around, they have to move on. The "minister" encourages a woman who doesn't realize she is dead to move her spirit into a computer so she can communicate. He wasn't supposed to do that, he was supposed to help her move on. He thinks she would like to stick around helping people in this condition but it is against the rules.

-- The Shining Hills - (2017) - short story (available in Lightspeed mag. Aug 2017)
I listened to the Lightspeed podcast narrated by Gabrielle de Cuir. She is a fantastic narrator.
This is the story where the title of the collection came from. “All worlds are real,” Seamus said, and she looked at him, startled, feeling herself give a grudging nod of admiration. Not many people knew that. We have a girl desperate to leave our world and go to the fairy world and at certain times and in certain locations you can. We also have a copy who lost his daughter in that way. It is an unknown world so he has no idea if she is okay and it hurts.

To Read:
-- Homecoming - (2013) - novelette a dark fantasy about a young girl on the cusp of womanhood who yearns to leave her village and go to sea with her best friend, a boy about her own age, despite natural and supernatural dangers. Available tor.com: https://www.tor.com/2013/07/10/homecoming/

~ Windows - (2014) - short story
~ Ash - (2016) - short story
~ Cucumber Gravy - (2001) - novelette (available in Lightspeed mag. Jan 2011)
~ Hhasalin - (2013) - novelette
~ Sanctuary - (2013) - short story
~ City of Enemies (2019) - short fiction
~ Lucite - (2016) - short story
~ Hodge - (2019) short fiction
~ Hideous Flowerpots - (2018) - novelette
~ Wishbone - (2019) short fiction