Short Science Fiction Story Review – Sarah Jasmon – The Uncertainty Principle

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Spoiler alerts – 2015 Manchester Speculative Fiction Press The opening story in a collection of quite dystopian visions of Manchester, my home city begins with this grim but ultimately hopeful look at over-population. I was reminded of an obscure 1972 Oliver Reed movie ZPG (Zero Population Growth). In Jasmon’s story, a young woman discovers she is pregnant at a time when only the rich are allowed to have children, and her husband seems to be in severe debt. The welfare state seems sympathetic but immovable on the situation. Indications are that he might be about to cut through the computer security protocols protecting their joint bank account to settle his dealings with some very dubious individuals, but is everything as it really appears? Could he actually be trying to help her? Matters reach a nerve shredding tense climax that is beautiful and satisfying in such a terrible all too plausible future. Arthur Chappell