2013 Locus Award for Best Novella (nominee)
In the near future, a machine called the Elysium Chamber is built. The highest of high physics are woven into its design, and it's only job is to instantly execute murderers. But the Elysium soon reveals a second unexpected power. For reasons still unknown, vaporizing any guilty man or woman will cause each of his or her victims to return to life.
In other words, capital punishment can now bring back the dead.
"The bushy eyebrows were a distinctive trait, but for some reason they haven't returned. The man sits on a stool in what is obviously a photographer's studio. He wears khaki shorts and sandals but no shirt. The old scar from bypass surgery makes a bold statement on his chest. Despite doctors' warnings, the man is smoking again. He holds the cigar clamped in his teeth, furiously blowing smoke into the lights. A dense mat of new brown hair covers his scalp and tiny slivers of red show where the razor cut his chin just minutes ago. He was making himself ready for this portrait. Always the photographer, he claims that the cuts were intentional, giving his face the necessary mortality. But there is no such monster as Death. That is what Simon Foster shows the world. There might be other realms and other realities, unmapped and mysterious, but the firm and eternal grip of Nothingness has been expelled, and probably forever."
Robert Reed has been writing and selling science fiction for more than thirty years. He won a Hugo Award for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
"Murder Born" is one of his personal favorites.
Genre: Science Fiction
In other words, capital punishment can now bring back the dead.
"The bushy eyebrows were a distinctive trait, but for some reason they haven't returned. The man sits on a stool in what is obviously a photographer's studio. He wears khaki shorts and sandals but no shirt. The old scar from bypass surgery makes a bold statement on his chest. Despite doctors' warnings, the man is smoking again. He holds the cigar clamped in his teeth, furiously blowing smoke into the lights. A dense mat of new brown hair covers his scalp and tiny slivers of red show where the razor cut his chin just minutes ago. He was making himself ready for this portrait. Always the photographer, he claims that the cuts were intentional, giving his face the necessary mortality. But there is no such monster as Death. That is what Simon Foster shows the world. There might be other realms and other realities, unmapped and mysterious, but the firm and eternal grip of Nothingness has been expelled, and probably forever."
Robert Reed has been writing and selling science fiction for more than thirty years. He won a Hugo Award for his novella, "A Billion Eves."
"Murder Born" is one of his personal favorites.
Genre: Science Fiction
Used availability for Robert Reed's Murder Born