This really is the ultimate identity crisis story, about a man who has lived his whole life in other peoples bodies. Every day he wakes up inhabiting the body of another man, approximately matching his age and always in the same city.

Asimovs September 1990

This is high concept science fiction at its absolute best, though the actual science fiction part is on the vague side of things as far as explanations go, but that doesn’t really matter. What elevates this story beyond just an interesting concept, is in the description of how it has shaped this mans life. How his self reflection, understanding of reality and what it means to be a person is completely different than ours. It is a very tragic story and one that really shows how stories with fantastical thought experiments can give real insight into the human condition.

The premise also inspired Makoto Shinkai for his animated film Your Name, which I would also highly recommend.

Read in Asimov’s September 1990
Rating: 5