The Fourth Dimension

The theme for this short story collection by Eduardo Capistrano is Time. Stories inspired by history, set in the past; dystopic visions, dark or well-humored, launched into the future; and narratives about the passage of time, in the contact between generations, in the invocation of memories and in the importance of the briefest of moments.

skoob/goodreads

Synopsis

The tales are ordered chronologically and address the diverse relations of man with Time. The first four are about the past. Mirrors of the Soul is a dialogue that exposes the condition of the Renaissance "man of science" and his relation with the average man, not so different as it happens today. In Opium Kiss a brazilian on the Victorian Age tells how he let himself be seduced by total moral decadence. First Lieutenant follows a military man under an abusive command at the early days of the Brazilian Republic. Carolina with Glasses shows the strange visions documented in the diary of a girl with fertile imagination.

The next four tales happen in the present. A boy tries to understand the capacity for stopping time que learned from his father in Between Seconds. A strange signal seems to be the answer to the monotony of the recluse life of a mathematician in Greetings From the Future. The title of Loose Screw brings the cause to a world coming to its end. Women and Children First shows the strength that social conventions have when the cause for a bus accident is revealed.

Six tales occur in the future. The Electric Apple follows a lonely programmer of artificial intelligences in emotional conflicts with his creations. Assured Future brings a humorous dystopia of a future in which corporations rejoice without limits. On the Assembly Line discuss the evolution of technology compared to human morals. Remote Control shows the brutal oppression of s society controlled through televisions. Planet Asphalt is a world dominated by intelligent automobiles. The Water of Chroma is a reflection about the sentimental evolution of humanity.

The collection concludes with Ouroboros, which discusses the eternal return with the medieval documentation of an interrogatory made with a visitor from afar.

Get the Book