REVIEW: “The Serpentine Band” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu

Review of Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu, “The Serpentine Band”, Clarkesworld Issue 179, August (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Clocking in at 18,500 words, this is a novella, and one of the longest ‘short stories’ I’ve ever read. A bit different narrative style than I have come to expect from short works of fiction, but probably only natural since it’s a longer format.

With that luxury of length comes the opportunity to create something greater and brighter, and Gu has done just that. A lovely tale full of evocative metaphors and haunting language (props to the translator too!) that combines the nature of space-time with spirituality and mythology.

The titular serpentine band is about a never-ending loop, creating the illusion of infinity. The father decides to build a garden, a gateway of sorts that follows the same structural rules of existence as the serpentine band. Both father and daughter deal with the knowledge, inferences, and possibilities very differently. They’re also brilliantly written characters. Set in a China of centuries ago, the setting, myth, and history played quite a role in shaping this story.

Having said that, this story took me a long, long while to read. It is written in such a way that you will likely end up in a similar place. The story is full of vignettes, meandering happenings, and the metaphors and haunting language I mentioned earlier. Due to this, I sometimes found that it may benefit from some editing. I still really did enjoy this slipstream novella, and if you have the time for it, or want to experience a uniquely set story – and a translated one at that – try this fantastic tale.

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REVIEW: “The Song of Leviathan” by Victor Pseftakis

Review of Victor Pseftakis, “The Song of Leviathan” Cossmass Infinities 5 (2021): 84-94 — Read or purchase online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

This was a delightfully bizarre story, full of flying Bureaucroaks and semi-sentient aqueducts, and of course the titular Leviathan who lives beneath the bridge and is either killer or saviour. There is a strong emotional tension in the story of the narrator and his friends, and the description of how the city first woke up and came alive is vivid and arresting.

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REVIEW: “A Thousand Tiny Gods” by Nadia Afifi

Review of Nadia Afifi, “A Thousand Tiny Gods”, Clarkesworld Issue 179, August (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Technology has grown to the extent that nanobots are used for preventative medicine as well as cosmetic treatments.

As with all new tech, there are feelings of general and vague mistrust among the common public, but one much-loved and popular wife of a high-ranking minister is trying to change that perception.

With Manal, our protagonist and a senior programmer for the nanobots, she works towards acceptance. In the process, Manal becomes a stronger, more determined person as well.

A tightly paced story of power, vulnerability, and realizing that real change takes time.

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REVIEW: “Candide; Life-” by Beth Goder

Review of Beth Goder, “Candide; Life-”, Clarkesworld Issue 179, August (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

A hauntingly beautiful story. The August issue starts off strong!

Seva is a lovely person – a focused, determined, and talented musician. One day, she experiments with a different form of art called emotion capture, one that she has no training or practice in.

Self-doubt is but a natural part of the process of learning something new, but having people who support you goes a long way. Here, it goes in the other direction. But strength comes to us in many different ways, and so it does for Seva as well.

A story about different types of art, trust, self worth, emotions, feelings, and the particular feeling of taking a leap of faith.

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REVIEW: “Birds of a Feather” by Jenna Hanan Moore

Review of Jenna Hanan Moore, “Birds of a Feather,” Luna Station Quarterly 48 (2021): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

I had to lolsob at the opening line of this story — “Today is the day. After months of lockdown, the Avalon Café is finally open for indoor dining” — because I read it the evening the UK voted to implement more stringent measures. There are days where I wish reality resembled fiction a little more…

But since I can’t do any of the things I want to be doing right now, I’m living vicariously through those who can, and that includes, Janice, who is back at the Café for the first time in far too long. That would’ve been good enough, but then it gets better: There’s an emu.

This was exactly the story I needed to read on a night like tonight.

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REVIEW: “The Falling” by M V Melcer

Review of M V Melcer, “The Falling”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

The world is falling, and there is a race against time and a “monster” in the sky that’s coming to devour the world.

The engineers try as hard as they can to save the world, but the most they have been able to do is delay the inevitable. After a few years our narrator then becomes an engineer and works to make the world safe, even while trying to escape the clutches of the solar system devouring monster.

This world works on points allotted to everyone, based on which they can live and work in particular rings. It’s not a very pleasant way to organize a society, but people have accepted it. And just like humanity in general, here too there is a streak of happy abandon, even while being acutely aware of the grave possibilities.

There are secrets, classified information, and terrible choices for people to make, and the narrator makes their own choice at the end.

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REVIEW: “I’m Feeling Lucky” by Leonid Kaganov

Review of Leonid Kaganov, “I’m Feeling Lucky”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

What a fantastic story! I read it twice. Once really quickly because the story was super engaging, and the second time to just enjoy the details and savor the story. I’m usually a slow reader of short stories because I feel the medium deserves full attention to detail, but stories like this one come along where I just can’t help myself.

Time jumps through temporal clips form the basis of our protagonist’s story. He comes from a world where people started to take advantage of this fact, and rushed headlong into the future in order to arrive at a better world. A world that would be ready for them to enjoy, not really considering that there might be a not-so-great world waiting, not considering that maybe all the time jumps are making things worse.

It’s interesting to see where our protagonist ends up and the journey he takes to get there. A lovely little story.

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REVIEW: “Tidings” by Jayne Moore Waldrop

Review of Jayne Moore Waldrop, “Tidings,” Luna Station Quarterly 22 (2015): Read online. Reviewed by Sara L. Uckelman.

Content note: Infertility; racism.

This was a sensitive, delicately written story revolving around Ruthie, and her struggle to conceive with her husband Joe, and her great-aunt Astrid, who too had faced barrenness all her life. When Ruthie receives a phone call that Astrid has died, aged 92, neither she nor the reader expect what follows afterwards at all. I spent much of the story anxiously awaiting the resolution, utterly unable to predict it, and if I didn’t quite get what I was waiting for, I got a very sweet happy ending.

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REVIEW: “Preserved in Amber” by Samantha Murray

Review of Samantha Murray, “Preserved in Amber”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

Spaceships are always a great way to start a story, but this ship is a bit different. It looks different, it’s goal is different, and it communicates differently.

We switch between two points of view – one is of a scientist trying to decipher the message coming from the spaceship, the other is another scientist farther in the future who has a different task at hand.

Memory is a strong part of this story, seeping into feelings, thoughts and conversations for both women. Another tale from this Clarkesworld issue about the transient nature of time, with the emphasis here being on the transient nature of humans in time. Longing, memory, and feelings collide to make this a powerful novelette.

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REVIEW: “When the Sheaves Are Gathered” by Nick Wolven

Review of Nick Wolven, “When the Sheaves Are Gathered”, Clarkesworld Issue 178, July (2021): Read Online. Reviewed by Myra Naik.

A story revolving around Johnny and his chosen family. Gaps in memory that are slowly but surely getting larger, to the extent of forgetting people entirely. Aided by hints of a folk song that takes on a tragic, terrifying color. A childhood memory that brings a certain type of solace.

The walls are closing in, but only metaphorically, because the world is getting larger and lonelier otherwise. A twist comes and makes things better, but the overarching feeling of the transient nature of memory remains. Time is fickle and we are reminded of this through the tale in various ways.

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