Kathleen Ann Goonan's "Memory Dog" (novelette)

A cocktail of a story of a personal loss combined with rebellion against a repressive government. With a very large dose of jargon & magical inventions.

Title comes from the transplantation of a man's brain into a female dog, so he can stay close to his wife who no longer wants him - it was his carelessness as babysitter that let their toddler walk out the door & get killed. Since dog's brain cage doesn't have space enough, man's brain is distributed throughout the cells of the body of the dog!

In addition, there is a "removable by operation" device grafted into the body of this dog that contains memories of his personal loss after the death of the child. It's a magical memory device used elsewhere in the story too - break open the bubble containing it, & the memory spreads through the world & is automatically (almost telepathically) received by everyone!

Collected in.

1. David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (Ed)'s "Year's Best SF 14" (2009).

Fact sheet.

First published: Asimov's, April/May 2008.
Rating: C.