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A review by mikewhiteman
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 136 by Bao Shu, Tobias S. Buckell, Neil Clarke, Bo Balder, James Tiptree Jr., Michael Swanwick, Kelly Robson, Erin Roberts, Osahon Ize-Iyamu, Mark Cole
4.0
A World To Die For - Tobias S Buckell ***
A very Mad Max inspired setting for this parallel universes ecological cautionary tale. Keeps things interesting up to the second shift to another world, then gets a bit bogged down in the cross-universe smuggling and fighting. The second person narration makes the warning tone clear, if a bit rock-over-the-head by the end.
Say It Low, Then Loud - Osahon Ize-Iyamu ***
A little difficult to follow the mathematics-suffused language to begin with, but works that in nicely with the main characters PTSD and the clarity that enters the prose when dealing with his family instead of the abstracted war he is fighting in. Wavers between incoherence and poignancy but worth persevering with.
Sour Milk Girls - Erin Roberts ****
At a fostering agency where girls have their traumatic memories wiped to make them more adoptable, a new girl who seems to have retained hers stirs things up among the long-term residents. The use of the memory-wiping technology to compare whether each of them are better off in their current state is clever and each of the girls come through as individual.
A Cigarette Burn In Your Memory - Bo Balder ****
Really nice atmosphere to this one, as a private detective wanders a Netherlands where everyone has lost most of their memories from more than two years ago. She seems to take on the same case over and over without solving it but there are hints around the edges at something preventing them from recovering what was lost. That nagging frustration runs throughout.
The Lighthouse Girl - Bao Shu, trans. Andy Dudak ***
A dark story about a girl gradually finding out the truth about her biologist father. The diary format worked for the slow discoveries but was inconsistently applied. Some grotesque imagery that sticks in the mind towards the end. The initial conclusion it points towards is bad enough although fairly mundane, but the ultimate reveal, even with the good intentions behind it, is somehow more horrific.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - James Tiptree Jr *****
Snapshots of various personal and professional frustrations throughout the life of a man, from his adolescent attempts at shooting ducks through his relationships and scientific endeavours. Asks the question of what will remain of our lives after we have gone and, for him at least, answers with the moments of boiling rage and humiliation. Bleak and brutal, but pitch perfect and sharply observed.
For I Have Lain Me Down On The Stone Of Loneliness And I'll Not Be Back Again - Michael Swanwick ****
I found this very sad: dealing with people who have done well from an alien colonisation and those who are still resisting after the war has ended. The visitor falls in love with a member of the resistance but ultimately can't bring himself to join her in action, abandoning them to the rule of the aliens.
A very Mad Max inspired setting for this parallel universes ecological cautionary tale. Keeps things interesting up to the second shift to another world, then gets a bit bogged down in the cross-universe smuggling and fighting. The second person narration makes the warning tone clear, if a bit rock-over-the-head by the end.
Say It Low, Then Loud - Osahon Ize-Iyamu ***
A little difficult to follow the mathematics-suffused language to begin with, but works that in nicely with the main characters PTSD and the clarity that enters the prose when dealing with his family instead of the abstracted war he is fighting in. Wavers between incoherence and poignancy but worth persevering with.
Sour Milk Girls - Erin Roberts ****
At a fostering agency where girls have their traumatic memories wiped to make them more adoptable, a new girl who seems to have retained hers stirs things up among the long-term residents. The use of the memory-wiping technology to compare whether each of them are better off in their current state is clever and each of the girls come through as individual.
A Cigarette Burn In Your Memory - Bo Balder ****
Really nice atmosphere to this one, as a private detective wanders a Netherlands where everyone has lost most of their memories from more than two years ago. She seems to take on the same case over and over without solving it but there are hints around the edges at something preventing them from recovering what was lost. That nagging frustration runs throughout.
The Lighthouse Girl - Bao Shu, trans. Andy Dudak ***
A dark story about a girl gradually finding out the truth about her biologist father. The diary format worked for the slow discoveries but was inconsistently applied. Some grotesque imagery that sticks in the mind towards the end. The initial conclusion it points towards is bad enough although fairly mundane, but the ultimate reveal, even with the good intentions behind it, is somehow more horrific.
Her Smoke Rose Up Forever - James Tiptree Jr *****
Snapshots of various personal and professional frustrations throughout the life of a man, from his adolescent attempts at shooting ducks through his relationships and scientific endeavours. Asks the question of what will remain of our lives after we have gone and, for him at least, answers with the moments of boiling rage and humiliation. Bleak and brutal, but pitch perfect and sharply observed.
For I Have Lain Me Down On The Stone Of Loneliness And I'll Not Be Back Again - Michael Swanwick ****
I found this very sad: dealing with people who have done well from an alien colonisation and those who are still resisting after the war has ended. The visitor falls in love with a member of the resistance but ultimately can't bring himself to join her in action, abandoning them to the rule of the aliens.