REVIEW: “De Profundis, a Space Love Letter” by Bella Han

Review of Bella Han, “De Profundis, a Space Love Letter”, Clarkesworld Issue 205, October (2023): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

“Dear Yuwen,

This is the last night of your existence.”

When a story starts like this, you can’t help but continue. Can I call it a space opera about stories? I thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this one. As long as feelings exist, there will always remain a very real need for good storytelling. The flood of AI-generated stories aren’t cutting it, as it turns out. A human tries to change that.

An enchantingly grand novelette.

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REVIEW: “Mephisto & Me” by Lyle Stiles

Review of Lyle Stiles, “Mephisto & Me,” Assemble Artifacts 2 (2022): 156-176 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

When Jerod’s demon-possessed robot finally succeeds in harnessing Jerod’s angerinto bringing about Armageddon, he won’t have anyone to blame but himself. After all, it was Jerod who was willing to do anything to bring his father back after he was murdered — including a pack with the devil.

The premise has a lot of potential, but I found the implementation of it sometimes a bit clunky and stodgy; I never really quite got into the story. I did appreciate Jerod’s attempts to speak up against the horribly whitewashed version of BML his teacher tried to give him in school.

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REVIEW: “Down To The Root” by Lisa Papademetriou

Review of Lisa Papademetriou, “Down To The Root”, Clarkesworld Issue 205, October (2023): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Across time, space, and civilization, feelings remain the same – often simultaneously all consuming and incomprehensible. Sometimes what drives you is simply a determined feeling, and sometimes that simple feeling is the most important thing of all.

A story about space battles and planets with cyclical time. Also a story about relationships, friendship, and a sense of faith and hope.

I also feel like Luriel is the kind of friend everyone should aspire to be. True to her duty and her friend, while traversing the confusing journey of life.

Two things to remember from this story – there are a million ways to die, and taking risks gives you strength.

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REVIEW: “Prism” by Nick Shafir

Review of Nick Shafir, “Prism,” Assemble Artifacts 2 (2022): 97-118 — Purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

The narrator is off to test their potential as a Querier, a person in charge of gathering information that will contribute to determining what, exactly, are the Prism Events. We see their interview with an astronomer, we hear about their own experience with the first Prism Event, and the twist at the end is both fitting and not so telegraphed in advance to not be a surprise. But the entire thing was let down for me by a simple inconsistency in how the main character was presented. First, they say “It’s fortunate that in a job like this, being emotionally attuned wouldn’t do me any favors. That’s part of the reason it was a good fit for me” (p. 98). But then just a few pages later — “I’d been warned about keeping my sympathy in check when I took the assignment” (p. 101) and on the next page there’s a reference to “my unintentionally callous nature” (p. 102). So: sympathetic/empathetic or not? Which are we to believe? I’m not sure I can buy this being simply an unreliable narrator when the explanation of inconsistent author strikes me as more likely. And as soon as I am worried that I’ve got an inconsistent author, it makes me uncertain about everything else I’m given in the story.

A real shame, because the idea had potential, I think.

Sara L. Uckelman1 Comment