Review of Emma Burnett, “Plastic-Eating Fungus Caused Doomsday [2][3],” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 12-15 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is the first time I’ve encountered a story written in the form of the talk page of a wikipedia article. Burnett constructed this brilliantly, right up to the ending that made me laugh Two thumbs up, recommended reading even if you don’t like fungus!
(First published in Nature: Futures June 2024).
Review of D. A. Straith, “A Year in the Life of the Drowned Wastewater Plant East of Bellmarsh Village,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 27-29 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
For a story set in a post-apocalyptic setting, this was surprisingly peaceful and serene, and even almost hopeful. A lovely little gem in this issue!
Review of Malda Marlys, “Bone Birds Fly,” Flash Fiction Online 135 (December 2024): 20-22 — Purchase here. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.
This is a story about living after the end of the world, when everything else is dead and dry and gone, and yet just because we’ve killed the world doesn’t mean that we ourselves aren’t still struggling along in the aftermath. Pretty bleak.
Review of Robert Reed, “Poubelle”, Clarkesworld Issue 177, June (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
This was set in a very imaginative, aesthetic and detailed world, and for me the world building was the best part of the story.
Caste and class differences play an important role, as does the inherent greed and avarice of humanity. I especially liked Fret, and would definitely like to read something elaborating on the history of the Family.
Review of Tang Fei, “Spore”, Clarkesworld Issue 176, May (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
A story of hurt, legacy, and the legacy of hurt. The protagonist has inherited loss and pain from their father, but not his sense of being wronged or passionate need for justice. It sheds light on the fact that we can only sympathize and commiserate; we can empathize, at most. The feeling of having experienced something, however, is not something one can pass on. Nor can you transfer a need for retribution or validation.
You can, however, pass on trauma, opinions and traits, which comes across in this story in a strangely haunting way. Our protagonist’s decisions and choices are affected by this, as well as their father’s attempts at passing on that need for justice. Worth a read for the lovely imagery as well.
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…
Review of Matthew Kressel, “Your Future is Pending”, Clarkesworld Issue 158, November (2019): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
This is a slice of life story about a dystopian future where people get even more engrossed in technology than they already are at present. Virtual reality has taken over, and people stay plugged in for days at a time. To the extent that people have service bots that clean them, because they’re too busy being plugged into the virtual world to even bother with basic hygiene.
Martha works for one of these companies, and her life is real life. She knows the temptations of VR, and actively rejects it. It’s a bleak, allegorical story, and oddly engaging because of it.
Martha’s life, as contrasted with the lives of those who are completely into virtual reality, is much more difficult, ordinary and frustrating. An illuminating insight into the ever increasing gulf between the haves and have-nots.
Review of A Que, “Song Xiuyun”, Clarkesworld Issue 157, October (2019): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Clocking in at over 10k words, this is more of a short novella. An arresting take from the very beginning, it drew me in immediately.
The concept in itself is something that has been done before, but not quite in this way. Song Xiuyun loves her son Li Chuan very much, and will believe everything he says to her. Wu Huang drives a remote powered car from the comfort of her home, and picks up Song Xiuyun and Li Chuan as passengers. This is where Song Xiuyun is telling Wu Huang the story, and Wu Huang is often affected by the narrative in a deeply personal way.
The story’s narrative format does increase it’s impact on the reader as well. Both Song Xiuyun and her son Li Chuan try quite hard to make each other happy. The ambiguous ending could go in many ways, but none of the options are perfect. It’s significant because if you think about all the possible options that are presented there, you’ll see that all of them have a tinge of sadness in a certain way.
A lovely tale that is fairly emotional but also about how lies can sometimes be the only thing that can make a loved one happy. A grey area to be sure, but sometimes that’s justified, or at least it can be, if you’re willing to believe in people.
Review of Youha Nam, “National Center for the Preservation of Human Dignity”, Clarkesworld Issue 157, October (2019): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
Set in a future dystopian timeline, this story focuses on acceptance, dignity and death. A world where, if you can’t pay survival tax, you’re. In effect, poor people who can’t afford it are taken to the National Center for the Preservation of Human Dignity.
When our protagonist gets the final letter asking for payment, she knows this is it. Her hours, not even days, are now numbered. The story is a peek into how she handles this, knowing her own time and manner of death.
The National Center is a place of mild luxury, for people to her to enjoy their last hours. Everyone handles this news and revelation differently, and our protagonist seeks dignity.
Her dignity is a character of the story in itself, something that she clings onto quite strongly.
Review of P H Lee, “An Arc of Lightning Across the Eye of God”, Clarkesworld Issue 157, October (2019): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.
An unusual sort of first contact story. Zhou is a young magistrate in a post where he has to do nothing but stay out of trouble. Indeed, his posting was chosen for this exact reason. Nepotism mixed with his inability to actually take decisions is a larger part of this story than you would expect.
The first contact, the girl creature, is not entirely human, but isn’t not human either. She shows a different kind of life, a different way of existence, one that may bring hope but may also be unsettling for many – and not just due to fear of the unknown. Her life, culture and way of communication is something humans have never seen before. Zhou himself is unsure of how to react to something possibly so monumental that he inadvertently doesn’t.
A nice insight into the bureaucratic systems of old as well..but in space.
SFF Reviews