Shortbits

Watermark by Michael Greenhut

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:15:59 -0400

In a series of letters from a different timeline, Etinaye beseeches her father to save her from being murdered by her sister.

It says in the author’s bio that this is one story in a series and it certainly reads like that. While there are enough tantalizing hints about multiple timelines and “threadkeepers” to give us a sufficient glimpse of the setting, which looks very interesting, the characters themselves definitely get the short shrift. I just couldn’t bring myself to care about any of them which left me with just some magical mumbo jumbo and a standard plot twist.

(Fantasy Magazine)

Practicing Perfection by Cathy Freeze

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:56:56 -0400

Practicing Perfection by Cathy Freeze :

Amber became a giant to free the fallen angels stuck in the Wall and nurse them back to health. Being a giant is painful, as Amber aches with every step she takes and constantly has to tighten the joints between her fragile, long bones with magical ribbons. But she loves being close to the angels. Then one day, one of the angels actually talks to her.

This story is an interesting meditation on having faith and holding on to that faith. It’s presented with some great, arresting imagery. The fragile nature of the patchwork giants hits just the right tone between pity and wonder. Good stuff.

(Fantasy Magazine)

Marsh Gods by Ann Leckie

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 17:53:07 -0400

Marsh Gods by Ann Leckie:

After Ytine’s husband, Irris, has been gone for more than a year, her neighbour becomes intent on marrying her to take hold of their fishing rights. Armed with a couple of frogs, Voud, Irris’ kid sister, does her best to convince the village’s gods to intervene after she overheard their neighbour talking about his succesful murder plot against her brother. But then Irris returns. Who is he really?

Ann Leckie manages to pack a lot of plot in a short story without losing track of her characters or setting. Voud’s matter-of-fact acceptance of what happened to her brother feels at once fresh and reminiscent of old folk tales. I had to reread the ending a few times to figure out what had exactly happened but otherwise it’s a well-told tale in an interesting setting and I’ll definitely seek out the other stories Leckie has written about this world.

(Strange Horizons)

The Philosopher's Stone by Brian Stableford

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 18:35:09 -0400

When the paranormal fraud Edward Kelley finds a mysterious black stone, he starts hearing the voices of angels. They implore him to seek out and warn scientist/magician John Dee. An alien invasion is about to hit 16th century England, if the country doesn’t tear itself apart before then.

While Stableford’s other two Plurality stories had clear references to the works of Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, I couldn’t pinpoint any obvious literary inspiration for this one (but that might just be my own ignorance). However, it’s uncanny how closely it matches up to real history. Meanwhile, the alien metastory is coming more and more to forefront, which is a good thing if you’re keeping up with it but I doubt that anyone unfamiliar with it got much enjoyment out of this story. But not to worry, it’ll all make for a great novel someday.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

26 Monkeys, also the Abyss by Kij Johnson

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 15:47:53 -0400

Aimee’s big trick is that she makes twenty-six monkeys vanish onstage. Well, it’s not really her trick as the monkeys do all the work. Aimee has no idea how they do it. But with the eldest monkey slowly dying, will the trick survive him?

Kij Johnson does a great job at evoking a feeling most of us have probably had at one time or other. Aimee finds herself lost in her own life, without any goals, surrounded by a random constellation of artefacts and people. It’s just that in her case there are also monkeys who disappear in a bathtub, contrasting Aimee’s feelings with a playful dose of whimsy. Add to that a truly wonderful ending and you get one of my favourite stories of the year so far.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

Vinegar Peace, or, The Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage by Michael Bishop

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 17:52:51 -0400

One evening, Ms. K— is escorted to the Wrong-Way Used-Adult Orphanage, an involuntary home for parents who’ve lost their children to the War on Worldwide Wickedness. It’s a place full of metaphors, where the only rule is that you may never leave.

Michael Bishop recently lost a son and it’s obvious he’s speaking from experience here. The story is filled with painful, evocative imagery of loss. However, it was just too metaphorical for me. I think this story will reverberate with a lot of people but unfortunately I wasn’t one of them.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

Cascading Violet Hair by R. Neube

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 16:52:25 -0400

With all his savings stuck in a negative equity apartment, Henry is still mourning the loss of his wife, who died when a starship tore through his city’s hull. When he falls for one of the city’s chars, Red Cross wards who are tolerated because they perform menial jobs, he has either found a salve for his heartache or he is about to get his heart broken a lot more.

Though the story lacks some of Bukowski’s raw authenticity, the characters feel like they’ve walked straight out of one of his stories (deliberately perhaps, with a main character called Henry). The science fiction elements seem rather superfluous, but what’s left is still a well-told tale of broken people using and loving each other.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

The Woman Under the World by Steven Utley

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:27:59 -0400

After a time travel transport goes wrong, an electormagnetic echo of Phyllis Lewis wakes up in an abandoned facility, glowing with radiation and able to melt solid rock. With all of Phyllis’ memories, is she human or not? Is she even real?

I haven’t been keeping up with Utley’s Silurian tales, so I don’t know how this fits in, or if Phyllis Lewis is a recurring character. The story explores an interesting idea and gives a brief glimpse of Phyllis’ life, but in the end, without any context, it’s just a nice vignette, too short to make much of an impact.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

Lester Young and the Jupiter's Moons' Blues by Gord Sellar

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:39:41 -0400

New York, 1948, the local jazz scene is bustling with great grooves but for musicians who want to earn big money, there are jobs waiting on interstellar cruises, organized by the mysterious, alien Frogs. As long as you don’t play any Monk. Robbie Coolidge wants to take his chance but sometimes, muscians lose part of theirself in outer space.

Gord Sellar obviously knows and loves his jazz. I know a whole lot less but he does an excellent job of filling in the gaps for us newbies. The narrator’s voice, based on that of Miles Davis, adds enough authenticity to the tale to make up for the somehwat haphazard introduction of aliens into New York’s past. And it has to be said, they make an excellent metaphor for soulless music executives.

(Asimov’s, July 2008)

Marrying the Sun by Rachel Swirsky

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:57:40 -0400

Marrying the Sun by Rachel Swirsky:

When he torches her wedding dress at the altar, Bridget calls it quits with Helios, the Greek sun god. As Eilethyia, godess of childbirth, takes Bridget out to dinner to comfort her, Helios goes to a bar with Apollo to seek solace in wine and women.

The story’s subject and tone is similar to that of last month’s On the Finding of Photographs of My Former Loves by Peter M. Ball, also published in Fantasy Magazine. But while that story’s mythical romances served as a metaphor for our own troubles, Marrying the Sun looks at what a relationship between gods and mortals might really look like. As a result, it packs less of an emotional punch but nonetheless Swirsky offers up some interesting characterisations of the gods.

(Fantasy Magazine)

Jimmy's Roadside Cafe by Ramsey Shehadeh

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 17:25:44 -0400

Jimmy's Roadside Cafe by Ramsey Shehadeh:

After a plague has wiped out most of humanity, Jimmy opens up a roadside cafe on the median of I-95, just north of the Fallston exit. There he sits in his lawn chair, surrounded by dead cars, waiting to welcome any survivors or those who haven’t quite succumbed to the plague yet.

This is a quiet, thoughtful story full of humanity. Shehadeh remains vague about the plague, never going into much detail. Instead he focuses on the interactions of a few survivors, showing how people deal with disaster, each other and being alone.

(Strange Horizons)

No Leaving New Orleans by Josh Rountree

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 14:44:23 -0400

No Leaving New Orleans by Josh Rountree:

In a post-apocalyptic world, New Orleans was spared from nuclear destruction by the sudden appearance of a mysterious dome over the city. Under the safety of the dome, the city’s vampires and zombies have come out from hiding while the general populace is divided into castes. Tired of the world’s woes, many people volunteer to become mindless workers, Drones, who are programmed by the Techs to do most of the menial and security work. Ruling this tiny world are the Peers, who live in a blissful world of technological augmentations. When Bink, one of the Techs, wants to leave New Orleans, how far is he willing to go?

The story’s mix of fantasy and science fiction elements didn’t work at all for me. For most of the story the vampires and zombies are nothing more than window dressing until they become a cheap cop-out at the end. It’s disappointing that in a story with such a strong social commentary as this one, it’s the mainly the fantastical elements and not the caste system itself which plunge everything into chaos.

This is an unfortunate blemish as the rest of the story is excellent. There are some cool science fiction ideas and a truly interesting moral dilemma but what I admired most was the depiction of Bink’s messed up relationships with his on-and-off girlfriend and the city and the many parallels between them.

(Lone Star Stories, June 2008)

Whatever Shall Grow There, Dear by Erin Hoffman

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 11:16:21 -0400

Whatever Shall Grow There, Dear by Erin Hoffman:

Annamarie’s family runs an orange grove that’s becoming less and less profitable as the ground becomes more and more barren. Passing the blame back and forth, her parents are continually fighting. But when their immigrant workers start disapearing, Annemarie’s about to find out that there are darker things going on than just matrimonial strife.

Though the missing workers seem more like a confusing red herring than anything else, this is still a wonderful story with a very convincing child protagonist. When marriages break down, a child’s first response is often to blame herself as Hoffman illustrates with painful precision and empathy. Add to this an old sacraficial myth and you get a story that’s both sad and hopeful, with an ending that’ll stay with you for a long time.

(Lone Star Stories, June 2008)

Death Follows Us to Restaurants by Vylar Kaftan

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 10:54:24 -0400

Death Follows Us to Restaurants by Vylar Kaftan:

Maggie’s brother dies on the operating table while the doctors are transferring one of his kidneys to her. She vows to do something worthwile with her life to make up for his sacrifice. But what can she do when Death itself is literally her constant companion?

While I didn’t care much for the story itself with its clichéd ending, the portrayal of Maggie’s (imaginary?) friend, Death, was wonderful. Kaftan avoids the common pitfalls of portraying Death as either too gloomful or whimsical. Instead we get a character that is both funny and deeply disturbing.

(Lone Star Stories, June 2008)

The Story So Far . . . And Beyond by Cory Doctorow

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 11:06:26 -0400

The Story So Far . . . And Beyond by Cory Doctorow:

In three connected vignettes, Cory Doctorow descibes the future of books for the next 150 years. It was written for The Bookseller’s 150th anniversary (wow!) and is mainly a thought experiment, but even so, Doctorow manages to squeeze in some great character moments and observations.

He posits that the only way for books to survive into the future is to get new generations of readers interested in them but that doesn’t work anymore through the old channels. His solution is a hybrid between collaborative writing, an ARG and DIY hand-crafted anthologies. Like most of Doctorow’s ideas, it sounds very plausible and only a few minutes away from our time.

Litany by Rand B. Lee

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:47:03 -0400

The mysterious, gray-eyed Anderssen arrives in La Llorona in search of something. He’s no ordinary mortal and the thing he seeks is miraculous indeed. But, as prophesied, dark forces are on the move to keep him from his goal.

This is a rather dull story. I got a bit of an attempted Stephen King vibe from it but unfortunately the story failed to engaged me in any way. The characters and plot aren’t very interesting or exciting and the writing is riddled with meandering descriptions that don’t go anywhere. There’s nothing appalingly bad about it but in the end it’s an overly long, forgettable story.

(F&SF, June 2008)

Monkey See... by P. E. Cunningham

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 10:25:59 -0400

Ji and her nagging soul sword arrive in a backwater village to check out reports of a possible insurrection against the Emperor. What they find instead are a whole lot of monkeys and precious few humans. It doesn’t take long before Ji finds out first-hand what happened there.

This is a fun, light fantasy story which doesn’t take itself too seriously but also doesn’t drown in its own irreverence. It feels very much like a good saturday morning cartoon. The only slightly negative note is that the solution to Ji’s predicament is very obvious early on. I definitely wouldn’t mind reading the further adventures of Ji and her soul sword. Hopefully Cunningham will revisit them soon.

(F&SF, June 2008)

The Lodger at Wintertide by E. Catherine Tobler

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 09:58:51 -0400

The Lodger at Wintertide by E. Catherine Tobler:

Sibley is the only person who can hear in a village of deaf people, though the trauma of a childhood accident and growing up there have made her mute. Every year, the mysterious but generous Silversack visits their village and brings gifts for the children. But when Sibley asks for her voice, Silversack has to abandon his own myth.

This story starts out promising as a look at the friction between myth and reality, seen through the lens of a Santa Claus analog. However, the story soon abandons this concept and turns into a rather formulaic love story. Even though it remained well written, it lost my interest at that point. I was also confused about why all the children were deaf, unless all genes causing deafness are recessive in this fantasy world.

(Fantasy Magazine)

My Greedy Plea For Help by Ted Prodromou

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 08:27:37 -0400

My Greedy Plea For Help by Ted Prodromou:

When a genie grants you three wishes, you have to be careful to ask for exactly the right things or they’ll interpret your wishes against you. But when you try to trick the genie, then you’re in real trouble!

This is a very short story, but it’s quite fun. It’s essentially a meta-story about wishing stories where there’s always a hidden price to be paid. Besides the meta-commentary, Prodromou’s depiction of genies as genuine preditors is pretty interesting and he even throws in some references to Hofstadter.

(Strange Horizons)

His One True Bride by Darja Malcolm-Clarke

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 19:02:00 -0400

His One True Bride by Darja Malcolm-Clarke:

When Margetta, a vestal dedicant, is visited by the Harper’s holy light before the Harper’s Bride dies her second death, she is slated to become His next Bride. And as His Voice lets her know, he is most eager to receive her. But something’s terribly amiss with the Harper.

Darja Malcolm-Clarke writes some great, disturbing religious imagery. The mystery of the Harper’s religion and what’s going wrong remains intriguing throughout this excellent story. The Harper’s treatment of his Brides is seriously creepy, as is by extension the general treatment of women in the story’s world. It’s not hard to read it as a critique of blind faith or the objectification of women in our society but it’s not laid on too thick.

(Fantasy Magazine)