* Daniel Abraham's "The Support Technician Tango" (short story, non-genre)

I suppose you could call it science fiction, but you would have to stretch the definition. Key thesis of the story is: few people are immune to superstition.

David Osgood is a computer sysadmin at a law firm. There has been a computer virus outbreak overnight; David spent the night at office patching systems with the result that his firm is operational next day while its competitors' operations are badly affected. There is a rumor that a competitor is looking to hire David. As a defensive move, Mr Elms, a partner at the firm, offers David a week's salary as bonus plus a pat on the back.

But just before David was called to office of Mr Elms, he happened to look at one of those dime-a-dozen self-help books with generic advice indistinguishable from astrology. After hearing of the reward, he is kind of feeling superstitious about the contents of that book - which has vanished from where he left it, & seems to be destined to infect many minds in the office.

Fact sheet.

First published: "Subterranean" magazine, Fall 2007.
Rating: B
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Note: Why is this post so short?