REVIEW: “The Hummingbird Temple” by C.C. Finlay

Review of C.C. Finlay, “The Hummingbird Temple”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 300, March 26, 2020: Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

This story, written by the editor of The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, is arguably the best of the five stories in this special issue of Beneath Ceaseless Skies. It features several interesting characters, including Lin, the adopted and youngest daughter of her country’s ruler, and Kuikin and Vertir, two agents of one of the country’s leading officials. As the story opens, Lin—last in line to succeed to the throne—is putting the finishing touches on what seems to be the major preoccupation of a solitary life: an intricate scale model temple built from the delicate bones of hummingbirds. Kuikin and Vertir, on the other hand, are enjoying a bit of the good life while posing as foreign investors in an anti-corruption investigation. 

The stuff hits the fan when Lin’s father, the Dynast, dies and she must flee for her life with no one to assist her but a servant and her giant pet killer spider, Snub. The resulting narrative is an enjoyably paced adventure that includes, among other things, an impressive fight with blood ants. Though the story comes to a satisfying conclusion, it can also be read as the beginning of what I hope will become an ongoing series. 

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REVIEW: “Song of the Water Bear” by Laine Bell

Review of Laine Bell, “Song of the Water Bear”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 299 (March 12, 2020): Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

It’s appropriate that this story of rebirth begins with the narrator awakening from hibernation. Cel belongs to a clan of aquatic, egg-laying creatures that live symbiotically with a species of eight-legged, egg-laying water bears. The lives of both species revolve around protecting themselves and their eggs—their future, in other words—from numerous environmental threats. These include poisonballs, which sicken whoever they touch, and rollers, which eat the eggs and bite off the limbs and tails of all they encounter. 

Shortly after Cel awakens and begins laying her own eggs, she learns of a new threat her people must confront: gray, shapeless beings that move slowly but relentlessly and somehow absorb whoever they meet. Further adding to the difficulty, the longtime leader of Cel’s clan has died and Cel reluctantly agrees to take charge. Whether she and her people have the inner strength and resourcefulness to face this foe and, in so doing, forge a different relationship with the water bears is what the remainder of the story relates. It’s a good story told well and the first-person description of Cel’s egg laying is particularly effective. 

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REVIEW: “Only the Messenger” by Emily C. Skaftun

Review of Emily C. Skaftun, “Only the Messenger”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 299 (March 12, 2020): Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

World weary, perhaps even universe weary, is one way to describe Astrill, the first-person narrator of Skaftun’s excellent story. More specifically, Astrill is chief engineer on a starship carrying illegal cargo. They have been reincarnated so many times, in so many forms—mammalian, reptilian, avian, etc.–and in so many different corners of the universe, that they have begun to feel life is pointless and love forever disappointing. Then they hear a knock on the porthole outside their cabin. It’s Ennesta, a cute, furry-looking, seemingly cat-like creature whose true nature is one of the story’s major plot points and the source of a profound moral dilemma for Astrill.  

My one problem with this story is its slow start. Had I been reading solely for pleasure, as opposed to the somewhat different responsibilities of a reviewer, I might have put it down without finishing. I’m glad I didn’t, since within two or three epub pages, Skaftun’s story becomes much more interesting. 

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REVIEW: “Uncompromised” by Ike Iblis

Review of Ike Iblis, “Uncompromised”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 341-348 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

The dystopian possibilities that AI opens up are easy to exploit in SF stories, whether it be medical diagnoses by machine, or letting an algorithm find you your next date, or something else. Iblis’s story takes these already-existing things and pushes them to their extremes, to give a dark, depressing story. Short, but successful (though better proofreading to put in a bunch of missing commas would have been helpful).

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REVIEW: “Meat Me in the Livingroom” by Michelle Enelen

Review of Michelle Enelen, “Meat Me in the Livingroom”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 325-340 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Before reading this story, whenever I saw this title I kept interpreting “meat” as a verb, a la its homophone “meet”, but no — Meat Me is a person, who is confined to the livingroom. She is visited regularly by Selene, who comes to tell her about the world outside (note: I was somewhat confused by Selene. First, Selene’s pronoun is “they/them”, except in the plural not the singular. And yet, when they refer to themselves, they use the singular “I”. Later on, “she” is apparently used in reference to Selene), as well as the egotistical, jerkish Poppy, who forms the final third of the trio. We never learn why Meat Me cannot leave the Livingroom, only that she is lonely there, despite visits from Selene and Poppy…until the Shipman arrives. Shipman brings with him many things Meat Me desires: he is new and exciting, he is interested in her and her life, he brings company to lonely days. But he also brings with him new, unpleasant ideas, and a purple-black smoke that follows his footsteps and leaves death in his wake.

The allegorical nature of Shipman is quite overt in the story, almost heavy-handed at times. Still, it wasn’t so overt as to make the ending foreseen, and I continued to read with interested to see who would win out in the end. I did feel that the Epilogue had no place in the story, though; it raised more questions than it answered.

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REVIEW: “Where the World Ends Without Us” by Jason Sanford

Review of Jason Sanford, “Where the World Ends Without Us”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 299 (March 12, 2020): Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

Having read and enjoyed other stories by Jason Sanford, I was looking forward to reading his latest work. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. SF/F has a long tradition of stories serialized over many years. Sometimes a reader’s enjoyment of the latest tale in the series does not require familiarity with the previous installments. Other times, it’s essential. In this particular case, I suspect I would have greatly benefited from having read the two previous stories set in this universe. Both stories–”Blood Grains Speak Through Memories” (a Nebula award finalist) and “The Emotionless, In Love”–appeared in BCS and are available in the magazine’s archives. However, not having read those two stories, I found this story’s premise difficult to accept and its large cast hard to understand. 

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REVIEW: “Truth as a Prize” by R. Z. Held

Review of R. Z. Held, “Truth as a Prize”, Beneath Ceaseless Skies Issue 299 (March 12, 2020): Read online. Reviewed by Richard Lohmeyer.

It’s rare that I dislike a story in Beneath Ceaseless Skies, but this is one of those unhappy occasions. It’s not that Held’s story is badly written. However, it’s premise—Naomi is a ghost trapped within and attempting to outwit a malevolent game whose origin is never explained—didn’t work for me. To be fair, it’s worth noting that another, far more prominent reviewer, has praised this story, so perhaps my reaction is an outlier. Nevertheless, I finished the story more out of a sense of obligation than pleasure. 

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REVIEW: “Four Horsemen of London” by L. H. Westerlund

Review of L. H. Westerlund, “Four Horsemen of London”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 309-323 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

Content warning: References to bulimia.

Premise: When the apocalypse is cancelled, the four horsemen are left at loose ends, so they relocate to London.

Execution: Pretty much no attempt to execute this premise is going to surpass Gaiman and Pratchett’s, and every attempt to do so will be unflatteringly measured against theirs. Alas, this one is not the exception.

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REVIEW: “Good Riddance” by Jennifer Worrell

Review of Jennifer Worrell, “Good Riddance”, in David G. Clark, Callum Colback, Joe Butler, and Alex Hareland, eds., Beneath Strange Stars, (TL;DR Press, 2020): 291-307 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman. (Read the review of the anthology.)

“Do you want to be a hero?” the story opens up: Who wouldn’t want to say ‘yes’ to such a question? Robert, the main character, is also tempted, and signs up for the info session to learn more.

What both he and the reader learns is quite an interesting proposal — from the point of view of present-day medical technology, it’s hard to believe the proposal could ever be actually realised, but, hey, this is fiction, I’m willing to give it a pass. The result is a comfortable piece of dystopian fic, well set up enough that I did feel a pang of sympathy for Robert at the end of the story, even if for most of it he comes across as a rather self-absorbed jerk.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment

REVIEW: “One Hundred” by Sean Monaghan

Review of Sean Monaghan, “One Hundred”, Analog Science Fiction and Fact March/April (2020): 173–182 (Kindle) – Purchase Here. Reviewed by John Atom.

Contains spoilers.

Earth is gone, and the last one-hundred remaining humans have managed to carve out a living on a Martian colony. It’s been over 18 years, and nearly every day presents a new challenge for the colonists. After a disastrous fire that takes out a whole portion of their habitat, the colonists rethink their survival strategy, allowing for more innovation and freedom.

First of all, I must mention that this story has some serious plausibility issues: for instance, it is hard to believe that the colony went over 18 years without any new births. And if it did, there can’t be many people left that are of childbearing age. All in all, this colony seems doomed in more than one way. The author touches on some of these issues very briefly (and unsatisfactorily), but ignores most. 

If you can somehow make it past all that, then this is a fairly enjoyable story. The premise is nothing new, but the author’s tone and style have a rather endearing sense of melancholy that add depth to the prose. The characters feel real and so do their emotions in the challenges they have to face (in spite of the aforementioned plausibility issues). I also enjoyed the optimism of the ending, even though I do not think it is entirely earned.

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