Read in The Year’s Best Science Fiction Thirty Fifth Annual Collection (Dozois, 2018).
Published in : Wired, The Fiction Issue, 2017, and still online here.
An intriguing vignette from Corey. They postulate a future in which something called ‘the roll’ (no caps) is providing humanity with a basic income. This story may well be part of a bigger work, but that’s not explained by the authors or the editor. The story is ostensibly about one man seeking an author who published online but whose identity is unknown. But that is in fact simply part of what the story is *really* about – with basic needs met, there appears to be a void at the centre of our being, and some look to find this by things like dangerous sports, others, as in this story, by looking for inspiration from others.
As my favourite philosopher puts it : “are we human, or are we dancers?”
