REVIEW: “Salt” by Rosemary Melchior

Review of Rosemary Melchior, “Salt”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The story opens on Sigga arriving on a deserted island populated by criminals, the ship bearing her and others condemned to exile. Her crimes might not be as bad as some, but they have earned her the label “witch”, and that’s bad enough.

The settlers already there seem remarkably straight-laced and law-abiding given their reason for being there, criminals all — it’s as if whatever drove them to crime in their previous life has been removed or rehabilitated on this island. But a safe place in a peaceful settlement is no lure for Sigga, who opts for a life lived alone and untrusted.

It’s a powerful story of a man’s word against a woman’s, and how easy it is to damage a reputation forever, a story of how women must be punished — “There are many ways to punish a girl.” In the end, we see only a glimpse of Sigga’s vengeance for the wrongs that have been done to her.

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REVIEW: “A Unicorn in the Time of Dinosaurs” by L. C. Street

Review of L. C. Street, “A Unicorn in the Time of Dinosaurs”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 263-274 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Trek lives in a post-apocalyptic society ravaged by global warming and dinosaurs. Most cities lie abandoned, and much modern tech no longer exists or works. Trek herself makes a living as a messenger, running routes between the isolated civilisations. Keeping to the same route, the same pace, every day is what keeps her safe — any deviation can result in eventual death. So when she drops her canteen one day, she should have left it for lost; but instead, she turns around to retrieve it. A slight pause in her routine, a moment for something to start tracking her, and she ends up in an abandoned village to keep safe overnight. The unicorn she meets that night is not all that it seems…

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REVIEW: "The Spoils" by Aliya Whiteley

Review of Aliya Whiteley, “The Spoils”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 298, (February 27, 2020): Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

Prior to this issue of BCS, I had not read anything by Aliya Whiteley. But after reading this excellent story—perhaps the creepiest tale I’ve read since Megan Arkenberg’s “All In Green Went My Love Riding” in Asimov’s last year—I’ll be primed to read whatever she publishes next.  

“The Spoils” takes place on a world plagued for generations by creatures collectively called the Olme, the latest of which may be the last of its kind. To touch any part of an Olme, even once its dead, marks a person with a foul stench nothing can wash away no matter how long the person lives. Whiteley’s story depicts a gruesome ritual in which various people—for example, the man who first encountered the dying creature—are presented with the eye, or a toenail, or some other part of the Olme. In describing the effects such “gifts” have on the people who receive them, Whiteley also gives us a vivid description of a bifurcated society—some surface dwellers, others cave dwellers—which the existence of the Olme apparently helped create.   

If you’re a fan of horror stories—and even if you’re not—I think you’ll like this story. 

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REVIEW: “Callia” by Justin M. Siebert

Review of Justin M. Siebert, “Callia”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 249-262 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Content warning: attempted suicide.

This is a story of two interwining threads, of Melissa who is being abused and tortured by a monster she calls Callia (and who only learned how to tell time in 5th grade!), and of Tom, who see this happening when no one else does (and who is a hypochondriac). It takes me awhile to realise exactly who, or what, Callia is (or who they are…) It’s a dark take on the topic (can’t say more without spoilers), but it ends on a hopeful, if not happy, note.

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REVIEW: "Cooling Chaos" by Gregory Benford

Review of Gregory Benford, “Cooling Chaos”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2020): 117–122 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

A group of scientists and engineers come up with a measure of last resort to combat climate change: an aerosol spray that will reflect sunlight back into space. This new invention is first tested locally to cool down cities and prevent forest fires, before it is applied on a global scale in the Artic and the Antarctic. Despite some political opposition, the effort succeeds, ushering new hope for the future.

This is a speculative piece through and through, with little to none of what may be considered “science fiction.” I very much appreciated Benford’s highly realistic depiction of of the science, including the provided reference at the end which should be accessible by anyone. However, as a work of fiction there is hardly a story here. A big chunk of the text consists of preachy exposition of what has happened, or will happen, to Earth as a result of climate change, and how the proposed technology will fix it. Though informative to many, the overall result is rather uninspiring given the lackluster plot and characters. Not to say hard to get through. The readers will benefit a lot more from Benford’s fact article in the same issue, “Veiling the Earth,” to which this is presented as a companion piece.

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REVIEW: "A Stone's Throw From You" by Jenn Reese

Review of Jenn Reese, “A Stone’s Throw From You”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2020): 111–112 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

A young woman talks to the dead body her estranged sister. She is a scientist helping to save a world ravaged by pollution and climate change. However, she had to abandon her family in doing so. She hopes this final message to her sister will help her find some solace.

Unlike most stories of the kind, I felt the author made good use of the second person in this one. The whole thing is short enough to read like an extended monologue, almost in one breath. Overall, the story has a good sense of pacing. The author’s tendency to preach, which crept up almost every other paragraph, slightly diminishes the flow of the prose, though it is still an enjoyable, albeit too brief, read.

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REVIEW: "Midstrathe Exploding" by Andy Dudak

Review of Andy Dudak, “Midstrathe Exploding”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2020): 101–105 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom. 

Contains spoilers. 

A bomb with unusual temporal effects has exploded in Midstrathe, and for the last 200 years, it has been slowly engulfing the city with its expanding wave-front. Everything caught within it slows down to an almost absolute stop. Ciaran, a 14 year-old orphan, works for a rogue organization that leads over-eager “tourists” near the wave-front. One day he has to escort one such tourist — an old woman — near the wave-front. When they arrive, the old woman surprises Ciaran by going past the safety line and entering the wave-front despite his warnings not to. This is against the rules, but Ciaran finds himself unable to stop her. She goes through the bubble, leaving Ciaran with no choice but to skip town.

“Midstrathe Exploding” has one of the most original science fiction premises that I’ve read in a while. Aside from the use of a “time-bomb” as an Armageddon device — a uniquely ingenious idea in itself — this story shows a fascinating view of how a society would adapt to such an unusual catastrophic event. Dudak’s evocative prose goes a long way into bringing the strange melancholy of his setting into life, even if his intentional vagueness makes the plot a bit hard to follow. There’s a lot to digest here, especially since the author uses a litany of new terms that can throw the reader off (click-chance, scrip, Dyads, temporal normalization, etc.). It is the kind of story that almost certainly requires a second reading, though not one that necessarily rewards it. While I thoroughly enjoyed the world that the author has created even upon multiple readings, I can easily see certain readers feeling disappointed at the rather lackluster plot. It would be interesting to see the author revisit the setting with a more expanded story.  

Overall, I recommend this story. Like much of science fiction, “Midstrathe Exploding” may not be for everyone, but it is worth a try, if only for its richly unique and inspired premise.

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REVIEW: “Radio, Out By Pluto” by Lydia Pauly

Review of Lydia Pauly, “Radio, Out By Pluto”, Luna Station Quarterly 41 (2020): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a very sciencey-fiction story, with a mostly-robot protagonist collecting data in a satellite above Pluto. If sciencey stories are your jam, you’ll probably enjoy this. If you’re looking more for character development and personal relationships, then pass on, there are other stories better for you.

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REVIEW: “The Einsteiners” by J. Askew

Review of J. Askew, “The Einsteiners”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 237-247 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

I appreciate a novel take on time-travel, and that’s what Askew’s “skimming” is, liking skipping a stone across a flat pond, but instead of a rock and a flat space of water, it’s a person and a black hole.

Esther, the narrator, is one of the Einsteiners, one of the few people who has a legal license to skim. All she hopes is that she’ll get through to the other side of the black hole known as Lilith — a hundred years into the future — at the same time as her girlfriend, Andee, and before humanity makes first contact with an alien civilisation. Unfortunately, only one of those hopes will be realised…

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REVIEW: "Expecting to Fly" by Edd Vick and Manny Frishberg

Review of Edd Vick and Manny Frishberg, “Expecting to Fly”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2020): 94–100 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

Yetsade is the sole survivor of a spaceship that crashed on an alien planet where the predominant species is a group of bird-like creatures that roam the high skies. Yetsade grows up fully ingrained into the natives’ culture, even though she’s painfully aware that her anatomical differences — the lack of wings — will never allow her to fly. Eventually, another human spaceship arrives on the planet and takes Yetsade back to humanity. With the eager help of her teacher, Rhonda, Yetsade is able to adapt quickly to a human life, though she struggles to consider herself as part of the species. Her heart will always be with her former family.

From a science fictional perspective, “Expecting to Fly” has a rather implausible premise. It is essentially a “Mowgli in space” kind of a story, except that its futuristic trappings somehow make it less palatable than Kipling’s classic. It’s simply inconceivable that a child would survive in such an alien environment, or that it would be allowed to return after such a short acclimation period. This makes it especially disappointing since it is an otherwise fine story. Through the perspective of a well-realized protagonist, the authors give an exquisite description of the planets native life and their harsh customs. It was bold and original. Even Yetsade’s solution at the end was clever despite the overall implausibility of the situation.

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