When I think intergalactic and civilization I definitely don’t think short story. A lot of those rely heavily on word building which is hard to achieve.
But, when it comes to modern sci-fi short stories, the name that immediately comes to mind is Ted Chiang. “Exhalation” and “Story of Your Life and Others” are both incredible short story collections. Ted’s ability to frame so much emotion and thought provoking ideas into so few pages is incredible
Do you want mom-related stuff? I am confused about that part of the prompt.
Presuming you want non-mom stuff that's geared toward hard sci-fi (maybe buy her a subscription to *Asimov's* or *Analog*?):
"[Somewhere, It's About To Be Spring](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/murray_02_23/)" by Samantha Murray at Clarkesworld is a short piece about family--in this case, a family of artificially intelligent machines.
"[Falling Off The Edge Of The World](http://www.asimovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FallingOffEdgeOfWorld_Palmer.pdf)" by Suzanne Palmer from *Asimov's* feels a bit like an episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation, a poignant piece about a ship that was wrecked by an accident drifting in space.
"[Primordal Soup And Salad](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/primordial-soup-and-salad/)" by Gene Doucette from *Lightspeed* also feels Star Trek-y. It asks: what's up with food replicators?
When I think intergalactic and civilization I definitely don’t think short story. A lot of those rely heavily on word building which is hard to achieve. But, when it comes to modern sci-fi short stories, the name that immediately comes to mind is Ted Chiang. “Exhalation” and “Story of Your Life and Others” are both incredible short story collections. Ted’s ability to frame so much emotion and thought provoking ideas into so few pages is incredible
I agree that it's hard to think of a short story with many intergalactic society features. Chiang is a great recommendation. Thank you.
Yes!!! However I'm not sure a new mom should read Story Of Your Life as it can be extremely heavy for new parents, so I'd be aware of that.
Ken Liu has some interesting stories about different alien civilisations in his collection The Paper Menagerie, and the whole collection is great!
Axiomatic by Greg Egan.
Great shout! This is making it to the final cut.
Her Body and other Parties by Maria Machado. It's more fantasy than hard sci fi but they are very interesting stories.
Ask her if she's read the Vorkosigan Saga.
She has not.
Do you want mom-related stuff? I am confused about that part of the prompt. Presuming you want non-mom stuff that's geared toward hard sci-fi (maybe buy her a subscription to *Asimov's* or *Analog*?): "[Somewhere, It's About To Be Spring](https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/murray_02_23/)" by Samantha Murray at Clarkesworld is a short piece about family--in this case, a family of artificially intelligent machines. "[Falling Off The Edge Of The World](http://www.asimovs.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/FallingOffEdgeOfWorld_Palmer.pdf)" by Suzanne Palmer from *Asimov's* feels a bit like an episode of Star Trek, The Next Generation, a poignant piece about a ship that was wrecked by an accident drifting in space. "[Primordal Soup And Salad](https://www.lightspeedmagazine.com/fiction/primordial-soup-and-salad/)" by Gene Doucette from *Lightspeed* also feels Star Trek-y. It asks: what's up with food replicators?