Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 205

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Issue can be read on-line: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_205/

Rating: 3/5

An average issue, with interesting stories by Suzanne Palmer, David Goodman, Amal Singh and a humorous story by Michael Swanwick.

• “Possibly Just About A Couch” by Suzanne Palmer: in the beginning, a couch emerged. We follow its journey through space and time, until it ends up on the Earth, and then far into the future, when an intelligence ‘sits’ on it for the last time.
• “The Blaumilch” by Lavie Tidhar: on the Mars that we know, a settler pines for the Mars that Might Be, only to find peace by digging for a Mars that could be.
• “Down To The Root” by Lisa Papademetriou: two people find themselves working together in space, servicing satellites and other objects, at a time when open conflict is breaking-out between two warring parties. They find companionship with each other and learn about each other’s reasons for leaving their home worlds for where they are. But when disaster strikes, one person is determined to bring another one home to complete the circle of belief.
• “Such Is My Idea Of Happiness” by David Goodman: a story set in a future when an elite few controls the country and can live without sleeping. But they still depend on ‘normal’ people who can still dream and use intuition for work, but now worked to the point of sleepless fatigue. But one day, one man is offered a chance to get away and bring down that world with his intuitive skill and earn a well deserved rest.
• “De Profundis, a Space Love Letter” by Bella Han: a story of a space traveller who, one day, discovers a treasure that has been lost to mankind since the day machines took over the job of telling stories. But the telling of the story would involve the reader.
• “Post Hacking for the Uninitiated” by Grace Chan: as the story begins, a hacker has just pulled off a massive hack to release secret information. But now, she is being subject to a hack herself, revealing her own secrets.
• “Rafi” by Amal Singh: a daughter finds an unusual seed, which sprouts with a strange ability. Unfortunately, that ability is forbidden in the community which the daughter grows up in, a community that constantly monitors its inhabitants for rebellious behaviour. But perhaps it would all end with one final act of rebellion when the seed has grown up.
• “Timothy: An Oral History” by Michael Swanwick: a hilarious story set in a future where a Professor of Genomic Obstetrics does an act of genetic manipulation that sets off a social chain reaction in a society that has developed without a certain genetic personality.

Magazine read from 2023/10/03 to 2023/10/07