Perfect Lies
Our second piece of audio fiction for March is "Perfect Lies" written by Gwendolyn Clare and read by Kate Baker.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gwendolyn Clare resides in North Carolina, where she tends a vegetable garden and a flock of backyard ducks and wonders why she ever lived in the frozen northlands. She has a PhD in mycology, which is useful for identifying wild mushrooms but not for much else. Her short fiction has appeared or is forthcoming in Analog, Asimov's, and Beneath Ceaseless Skies, among others.
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ISSN 1937-7843 Clarkesworld Magazine © 2006-2019 Wyrm Publishing. Robot illustration by Serj Iulian.
DB wrote on March 20th, 2011 at 4:43 pm:
I enjoyed this story a great deal, the character was interesting,the aliens were fairly novel and the ending was great. Though I had mixed feelings on the comments at the end.
While I agree that people should not be forced to undergo elective surgery, I always roll my eyes when the person refusing said surgery for a disability tries to claim they are not, in fact, disabled.
To that end, I can't see comparing a hypothetical treatment for sociopathy with treatment for hearing loss. No matter how much "deaf culture" commentary I've heard, I have yet to understand how someone can claim a deaf person is in no way suffering an inherent disadvantage when compared to a person who can hear. This has nothing to do with a social construct or an inherent predjudice, it is simply a fact that a person unable to use a phone, hear a door knocking or listen to a recording is at a disadvantage. As such, I don't see this as a valid comparison. Additionally, the story did not suggest sociopaths were forced to use the cure for their condition, anymore than deaf people are forced to receive cochlear implants today.
Keep up the great stories, really enjoyed listening to this one!