Identity Crisis by Kevin J. Anderson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The concept of this novella makes for some interesting thought poking. The introduction to the Fictionwise publication notes that the novella was developed into a full novel called “Hopscotch”. While the short story was entertaining, the concept wasn’t to my taste enough to go look up the longer piece.
Essentially, you have a world advanced enough to transfer between bodies all the mental parts that make us uniquely ourselves – memories along with personality, all that. You have a protagonist who makes a living by body swapping with people who want to get out of a bad experience – surgery, exercise, etc. And you have a client with less than perfect morals. What could go wrong?