Burn - James Patrick Kelly

Burn is a Hugo and Nebula nominated novella from James Patrick Kelly. It is available
for free download here.

The story is about a firefighter, Spur, on a world that has chosen to remain low-tech. One faction of the world want to carpet it in forest, the others don't and set fire to the trees. It's an interesting setting, and gradually the world's isolation and reasons for it are revealed.

The story starts with Spur's recuperation from a nasty burn accident, and then follows his journey home. In some ways the story is quite traditional, one of a war hero returning home after an injury, but there are enough extra ingredients to make a difference (for example, the post-singularity isolation thread). However what raises the novella above a mere adventure story is the neat emotional plot layered on top, involving family and friends, and resulting in a nice finish (which I won't spoil).

The slow bits for me were the explanations of the fire fighting and the forest fires, they seemed realistic but it's something we never experience here in the UK and I felt a bit bored with the detail.

All in all though a nice story. Worth downloading and reading.