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V.A.O.

Geoff Ryman

First published September 2002
Type Short Fiction
Length Novelette

Synopsis

<b>From the front flap of the PS hardback edition:</b> "Gus has his squeeze Mandy. Mandy used to be a lap dancer. She's still got a body, I can tell you. She's also got a mouth and the brains to use it. Her cover is that she used to be in property development. Well yeah maybe. A certain kind of old babe has the hardest eyes you'll ever see. Mandy says, "The trouble with that scum is they'll turn the heat up on all of us." The Happy Farm keeps its elderly guests protected with the latest security. VAO they call it, Victim Activated Ordnance. Sound guns or microwaves blast thieves and juveniles alike. The Happy Farm provides drugs and physiotherapy and advanced Neurobics to help heal its guests' bodies and minds. It also costs over $100,000 a year. So, some of the guests have turned to unorthodox ways of paying their bills. They hack it out of other people's bank accounts. Then a gang of aged street people starts taking more direct action. They turn the VAO onto the people it's supposed to protect: the young, the wealthy. Age Rage they call it. They even have a charismatic leader called Silhouette. The cosy criminals of the Happy Farm realise that Silhouette is drawing all together too much attention to the scourge of elderly crime. And the best way to do something about that is to catch Silhouette themselves."

Awards

YearAwardCategoryStatus
2003 Locus Poll Award Best Novelette Nominee/Finalist

Publications (10)

Date Publication Publisher Type Page
September 2002 V.A.O. PS Publishing Chapbook 9
September 2002 V.A.O. PS Publishing Chapbook 9
April 2003 Cities Gollancz / Orion Anthology 247
July 2003 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology 339
July 2003 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology 339
July 2003 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin / SFBC Anthology 418
August 2003 The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twentieth Annual Collection St. Martin's Griffin Anthology
December 2003 The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 16th Annual Collection Robinson Anthology
April 2004 Cities Four Walls Eight Windows Anthology 247
September 2011 The Mammoth Book of Best New Science Fiction: 16th Annual Collection Robinson Anthology |140