Futureland

This story collection got off to a slightly slow start for me, but I'm so glad i read it. It's described as a collection, but the stories are all set in the same near-future dystopic reality, and not only do the same technological devices and socio-political concerns pervade all nine stories, but specific characters appear in multiple stories. I didn't love the first few stories, but they provide valuable information for characters that show up in the later stories that I really enjoyed. The result is as though you've read a single novel that richly depicts the world from multiple perspectives, withs close-ups on the various causes and symptoms of a poisonous world, including incarceration, corporate manipulation, labor exploitation, economic inequality, and racism. I primarily think of Mosley as a crime writer, and he infuses a sense of detective-noir (plus the occasional flesh-and-blood-and-bionic detextive) much more successfully and naturally than ohter cyberpunk novels that I've read. So glad I read this - thanks to Worlds Without End for reporting Nisi Shawl's list, which alerted me to this book!