★★★☆☆ Loneliness Universe, by Eugenia Triantafyllou
** Ware spoilers ** A vision of introvert heaven
Loneliness Universe
Eugenia Triantafyllou
* Ware spoilers **
A vision of introvert heaven
Eugenia Triantafyllou's Loneliness Universe is a finalist for the 2025 Best Novelette Hugo. Our heroine Nefeli finds herself somehow shuffled off into a strange reality, which she calls "Loneliness Universe," where she cannot physically meet up with anyone she loves or even knows well. She can still communicate with them electronically. This a variously explained as a theatrical illusion or a multiverse thing. The explanations make about as much sense as explanations in science fiction usually do, which is to say, none whatsoever.
Well, the horror entirely failed to land for me. For an extreme introvert, a universe in which one never must share physical space with other humans, but can only communicate with them electronically, is The Best of All Possible Worlds. I know, as an intellectual fact, that there are people who enjoy the physical presence of other humans, so I can appreciate that for normal folks Loneliness Universe is scary.