The Happiness Institute by AnaMaria Curtis
Following a long period of war, six soldiers are sent to a place called the Happiness Institute. There, they are meant to figure out and find the true meaning of happiness and grasp an understanding of the core principles that make up the emotion. The Institute, however, is an old building from the war. Being surrounded by boxed up weapons and bomb proof steel, the soldiers feel that they are terribly far from happiness. It was clear no building in the area had been built for happiness, but for protection instead. The war is still fresh in the minds of the soldiers and everyone is on edge.
The story follows these soldiers as they try to build happiness for themselves while being almost completely alone and in the most unwelcoming building. It explores how difficult it can be to find happiness and to what ends people would go to be successful in their search. For soldiers just out of a war, their tactics at making a Happiness Institute seem harmless and simple at first. As the story dives deeper down into the true meaning of happiness, a single question arises: Do they have the right idea?
Several parts of the story were hard to follow but the end proved worth it. Curtis does an excellent job at capturing the search for happiness that so many people find themselves in. She masterfully constructs a world that, at a first glance, appears different from ours. But in the end leaves you asking, is it really?
Memories of Memories Lost by Mahmud El Sayed
Mahmud El Sayed wrote this story about the immense importance of memories and how tangled up in each other they can be. In the story, creatures known as Crablegs have invaded earth. The strange part is, they don't want to wipe out the human race, they just want to take memories. Every year, citizens are forced to pay a tax of one memory to the Crablegs. This seems simple enough, until everyone realizes how mixed together memories are. It’s impossible to take one out without forgetting a dozen other things along with it. Each time someone goes in to pay their memory taxes, they fear the possibility of accidentally losing a part of themselves along the way.
Throughout the story, we learn it’s completely normal not to know your best friend after tax day and just how important a single unwanted, seemingly bland memory can be.
Aside from the setting with the Crablegs and their taxes, everything feels eerily similar to the modern day. The story is close to home and connects to the reader on a deeper emotional level.
The Time Capsule by Alice Towey
Hundreds of years in the future, a woman known as Corrinne lives in a desert civilization. Following the third World War, old tech and universal knowledge had been lost. The world that she lives in has only a small amount of advanced technology compared to before the war. Facing droughts, Corrinne and her family fell into debt in order to keep their animals alive and their crops healthy. With debt looming over her head, Corrinne doesn’t hesitate when she sees a capsule fall from the sky, knowing it could contain valuable tech. When she investigates the probe she realizes it is from the year 2094 and contains not only old technology but lost knowledge worth a fortune. It becomes clear that this small space probe could change everything.
Throughout the course of the story, Corrinne grows rapidly as a character. Towey did a wonderful job advancing the characters along with the plot, resulting in a fantastic adventure. Though the ending felt rushed, the build up to the climax led to zero disappointment and the story managed to tie together pleasantly.