I don't read a ton of sci-fi short story collections (besides classics like Philip K. Dick, etc.) but I really liked this. Weinstein's stories are a great blend of realism and dystopia. Pretty much every story hit the right way, with characters I felt invested in (sometimes difficult to achieve in short stories) and outcomes that left me satisfied. There were only one or two stories that felt a tad unfinished to me, but that's a great ratio for a collection this length.

Weinstein's writing is really accessible, and it was easy to accept a lot of the technological terms and science-y concepts. I love when sci-fi makes me wish that some of the elements existed in our world already and when it raises ethical/moral questions about how we operate as humans once AI has taken over. I'm definitely curious to check out "Children of the New World," which has been on my TBR for awhile.

Short stories are where my heart truly lies so it was fun to take a dip into this twist on the genre.

Thank you NetGalley and Henry Holt & Company for the ARC.
Universal Love is a collection of 11 short stories that are about various types of relationship. Enjoyable!

A very intriguing book about the intersection of positive and negative technology, or whether there is a difference.

Weinstein’s style reminds me of Blake Crouch, and his stories leave me with a similar mixture of both awe and dread at what our world could one day include.

A recommended read for any sci-fi reader or one looking to branch out.

I loved Weinstein's CHILDREN OF THE NEW WORLD, so I was eager to read this title. The speculative stories in UNIVERSAL LOVE imagine how future technology will impact humanity; how we survive, how we come to know ourselves, and how we connect to each other. The premises seem far-fetched, but terrifyingly not the more you read. 

I enjoyed every single story, but "Beijing" and "Comfort Porn" were my favorites by far. LGBTQ+ folks who've been made to feel that living authentically creates problems for others will be moved by "Beijing." "Comfort Porn" frankly explores social media's effects on friendship and human connection, especially in a capitalist society that reduces people to transactions.

This collection was everything I love in speculative fiction: character-driven while still giving me that "must find out what happens next" feeling, futuristic technology that seems not too far away, and social commentary that relates to us today, giving me plenty to chew on after I've put the book down.

"Because I know there are countless timelines where I'm someone good, parallel universes where I make the right choices and no one gets hurt, infinite realities where I'm a better human being. And maybe, if I try hard enough, one of those realities can also be this one."

When it comes to speculative fiction exploring the future of this technological era, Alexander Weinstein is one of the names I turn to (another name is Ted Chiang). I loved Weinstein's debut Children of the New World and jumped at the chance to read his newest collection.

Like Children of the New World, Universal Love also explores the future of this technological era but focuses thematically on—you guessed it—love: romance, sex, dating, loneliness, friendship, family, grief. We experience love in a world with alternate realities, immersive virtual worlds, holographs, avatars, thought-to-text, robot children, and more. (My favourite story was “Childhood," involving robot children.)

The short stories offer a glimpse into these futures, exploring the impact and potential impact of technology on human relationships—which we have only begun to experience and imagine—without getting too bogged down in the science, making the stories very accessible, not that I would have minded a little more nerding out on the technology either.

What a fantastic collection of sci-fi short stories. They all imagine scarily believable futures, but what I found most impressive was the focus on human connection and different types of relationship. A very accessible and enjoyable book which I would recommend to fans of Ted Chiang.

Universal Love is a collection of short stories that hits all the marks of what a short story collection can - and should - be. So often, collections like this are off on something, something hard to put a finger on, like flow, length, tone, or message. But this book is inventive, moving, human, and captivating all at once. Not only does Weinstein construct haunting near-future worlds of dystopian technology, but he connects each of them to a lesson about true human connection. What we gain in efficiency due to technological upgrades, we may lose in empathy and interpersonal interactions - the things that make us human.

Weinstein creates brilliant worlds of future tech. I can visualize all of these technologies existing in some form - an app that reconstructs deceased people in hologram form programmed with their personalities so you never truly lose them; a world in which “patching” memories to selectively forget things is the new club drug; a video game that allows teenagers and middle-aged men to kill in real life via weaponized droids controlled by game players; a service called “comfort porn” that allows you to insert your name and receive videos of friends welcoming you and making you feel part of a group.

However, he doesn’t go overboard with these conceits. They are always a backdrop to the stories, providing mere context for the real stories of their effects on the people living in these worlds. Each story has a new and inventive concept, but Weinstein doesn’t let it carry the plot or overburden the reader with newfangled tech names and histories. Quite the opposite actually - I’m impressed at the restraint he exercises in choosing what lesson he wants the reader to walk away with, what relationships he’s commenting on, and the perfect moment to end the story.

I loved the length of the book and the length of each story within. Some short story collections make each chapter so short that you don’t even connect to the plot while reading it; some make each story so long that they could be novellas. Weinstein draws the story out just enough for you to understand the technological conceit and get to know the characters, getting the pace just right. You anticipate the moment of ending as a natural conclusion of the plot, but he still snaps the story closed with some moving, reflective moment. I needed a few minutes to really digest each story after it ended, particularly since you don’t see the same tech or same characters in any two chapters.

I often hear books like this touted as the new Black Mirror, which used to grab my attention as someone hungry for more of that addictive show. But I was let down too many times, and now that reference is so overused it means next to nothing to me. However, Universal Love is the first book with this tagline that actually lived up to the show. Not just because I can see the tech in these stories existing in the show, but because the best episodes of Black Mirror do the same thing that Weinstein does here: they comment on technology’s effect on humanity, what it does to our minds and souls and relationships. The technology almost becomes a side character, just another factor in the main characters’ lives.

I can’t recommend these stories enough - this is a quick read, but packs a punch.

No reviews for this one yet? Oh, that’s criminal. Well, ok then I’m the first. And nothing but good things to say. In fact, Weinstein’s first collection was pretty awesome. There is a trend now (as trends tend to go of picking a pop culture darling and comparing things to it) of comparing a specific kind of speculative fiction stories with morals to Black Mirror. If a book deals with social implications of technology, it’s practically a shoe in. And the thing is not every book can and/or should be held up to that mirror. It isn’t fair to book, readers and, frankly, the dramatically uneven overall due to the later years lacklusterness tv show. But the thing is in Weinstein’s case the comparison is actually right on the money, apt and well deserved. Because Weinstein’s stories are very much like Black Mirror episodes from the good (early) years. They are cleverly plotted imaginative and original tales contemplating the sociological effects on rampant pervasive technology. They are scenarios where the technological advancements have outpaced the mental and emotional states of the people utilizing them. It’s about creating a tool and forgetting to treat it as such. Not always, but all too often. Sometimes as in the first story, Nostalgia can be used to cope with death of a loved one, but even the technology meant to bring you comfort isn’t without its quirks. What makes this (and his previous collection) so great is…ok, well, it’s many things. First off, the absolutely awesome imagination, each story is such a fascinating original concept. But there is always, much like in a Black Mirror, an awareness that the technology we so desperately crave and so obsessively utilize and get addicted to is but a substitute for the things that really matter, such as personal connections, solace, love. And oftentimes an ersatz substitute at best, something that seems like a shortcut and has enough immediately glitzy appeal to distract from the fact that it isn’t a solution. I suppose if there was a general message here, it would be something along the lines of how you can’t make substitutions for real connections. That’s why there’s so much loneliness and isolation in this book, despite the pretty creative dating app inventions, that’s why there’s so much loneliness in the world. Despite the pretense of connection social media and such offer. But enough moralizing, you can do that for yourself when you read this book. Which you should certainly do. And then read Weinstein’s other collection too. Yeah, he’s that good. Loved this book. Recommended. Thanks Netgalley.