Overscan: Stories from Beyond the Screen's Edge

Overscan is a book that I read last year, but didn’t review, even though it is quite important to me in a few ways. First, it’s a book written by fediverse creators, even featuring a story by Amin, who is quite the prolific in the Fediverse space, with his own Fediverse server and plenty of other projects, writings and hobbies.

But other than “I read this book because a friend shows up on it”, the simple idea, the way it was conceived is just commendable.

Nantucket Lit is a free and open source platform that allows writers to create and share high-quality e-books, maintained by Nicholas Bernhard. You can access these books freely online, or buy physical chapbooks as well! Honestly, I found this to be super charming, and when Amin mentioned to have worked on this project, I immediately pre-ordered the chapbook, which eventually got to my city, if not my house.

I still remember having to go to the post office because Correos de México—the national mailing service here—never finds my address for some reason. It was the middle of the week and I literally asked for an early leave at work—I was too excited to just get there and pick up my purchase.

Sitting down in a bench under some trees in the main plaza downtown, I went ahead and opened the book and took this picture:

Rarely do I get to just sit down and read in absolute peace, and doing so with this book was very comfy. I read half of it, with no pressure and no expectations, and just enjoyed my time there. Once I got to Amin’s story, I decided to head home and left…

Eventually I got to it, but a month or so happened since then, oops.

Since the first few stories were already fuzzy, I ended up not writing my review for it, but given the importance of this work, and since it was quite short, I ended up getting it again—this time in digital form—and give it a quick read during lunch at work.

The second re-read was somehow better than the first one.

Reviews

Overscan features different short stories from a variety of authors. Overall, it contains works that—as any good science/speculative fiction does—reflect on different aspects of reality today, and how it could be in the future. Some are fantasy, some are hard sf, some funny, some are rather thought-provoking and even scary. All of them written by humans, standing up against a world where AI runs rampant and continues to be a nuisance for every sane person out there.

Either way, each story has something to tell, so I’ll just review each of them individually! The book is so short and to the point that I will include mild spoilers here, so feel free to just read it yourself online or buy the EPUB or physical print! Either way, I’m sure you’ll enjoy it even if you read this, you do you.

In the Maize by Nicholas Bernhard.

I must admit! This one is the stranger ones to read for me, it is literally a single page filled with dread, it feels like a lot is happening and there’s just no time to understand what it is. My read on it is that the protagonist wanted to try something new and ended up joining a strange event—a sort of carnival?—where he’s now being hunted by some unknown entity while trying to hide in a corn field, trapped in some sort of alternate space out of time. It’s some wild stuff and the writing says so much with so little yet not enough.

The Warden by Bufallo

This one was very much helped by a reread. A very interesting tale about a man sentenced to death via the electric chair. The way time goes on and on and the protagonist doesn’t want it. The desperation is palbable in every turn of the page. The twist here is that the person who is going to die is not the one impatient and terrified—this is something I didn’t catch at first.

I thought I was seeing a prisoner refusing to accept his death, but it’s actually a man—the warden—unable to watch his only friend die. Another possible read could be that there’s some sort of bipolar disorder, I didn’t quite get it. Either way, the perspective really made it land even more for me.

Hers to Have by Sefton Eisenhart

Probably one of the most real, dystopian stories in this book, as it approaches pure science fiction more than the others. This tale features the “life” of a man who lost the girl she loved, and sheltered himself in drugs and depression until advertising detected his spiraling downfall and did its work, offer a solution. An AI recreation of her.

As time went by technology advances, we go from simple chats, to images, videos, VR technology and hardware. Bills need to be paid, subscription services are upgraded, and a whole fake family is formed. The life of someone refusing to accept reality, embracing the lies instead. A cautionary tale that I’m afraid is bound to happen in the future.

Galápagos Larvae by AT Gonzalez

Probably the most random, weirdly fun yet kinda scary story of the bunch that happens during a tour given in the Galápagos Island at some unknown date in the Discovatorium, a set of buildings where the wonders of the island are studied and showcased as a theme park.

Some special creatures are brought up to the stage, and their evolution in a matter of minutes is shown to the audience as if it’s a magic trick, with the hosts describing things like sellers. This showcase is rather gruesome—nature sometimes is and things eventually go out of control, giving place for some bizarre moments that left me wondering. A rather strong impression, to be honest.

Those Who Breathe Easy by Benjamin Hollon

This was rather interesting, and got me thinking about the implications on a second read in pretty much every sci-fi setting in space. We take oxygen for granted.

A family that goes on some fancy space cruiser—-get uncomfortable because of the limited air. A single mom and her kid, working in a refilling station—selling oxygen to other ships even though it barely sustains itself. The rich on tour give them some pocket change, she has no choice but to abide, they need money, those want comfort.

This disparity is rather thought provoking, foretelling a future where air is a commodity and those who work for it don’t even get to enjoy it.

Lonely Human by Seth Patterson

The longest of the short stories here, this is more of a romance with some fantasy elements in a sci-fi setting. A Human looking for another Human to partner with, being a refugee in an alien city where that’s a rare sight. On his obsession, and in typical manner, he’s unaware he already found love in the one friend who has always been there. You can tell how it’ll go in the first few paragraphs, but the way we get there is rather amusing.

We get to see a granter of wishes, magical paintings, and some rather wholesome moments that I really enjoyed.

Overall, the message about how we seek connection and relationships and the expectations or ideas that often blind us was very interesting, and something we often forget.

The Mirror by David W. Stoner

This one was rather mysterious and probably the more philosophical and mind-bendy of the bunch. It’s a short but intriguing tale about a man who sees a stranger looking at him weird, and without nothing else to do, decides to follow his tracks and see where the man is going. However, the man is actually in a strange timeloop that repeats over and over, and he always loses track of the shadow, of himself, of time.

A lovely one, a very interesting ending to the anthology that left me wondering about how sometimes we lose focus chasing our own shadows, or something like that, I guess, it was hard to interpret this one!

Finishing words

The final pages of the book talk about the authors featured in the anthology, and it’s a section as interesting as the stories themselves. With short bios and some words about the dangers and the damage that LLMs have already caused to the writing meidum.

Overall, I consider this book, as small and humble as it is, to be a triumph, a victory and a flag set to signal the way that we should follow. To keep real art alive, to write words true to our hearts.

Be it despair, be it hope, about sadness, about love, as long as it is human, it will reach beyond screens and pages like no AI ever will.

This one is absolutely recommended. Just check it out, get a printed copy or the ebook. You won’t regret it.

This is day 15 of #100DaysToOffload.