Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 230

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Issue can be read on-line: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_230/

Rating: 3/5.

An average issue, with interesting stories by R.H. Wesley, D.A. Xiaolin Spires and a striking Philip K. Dick type tale of altered reality by Tade Thompson.

• “The Stone Played at Tengen” by R.H. Wesley: an interesting story about a Go board made up of stars that suddenly appear in the sky. In Japan, a Go master and a group of intellectuals believe somebody in space is challenging them to a game. The Go game starts with an unusual position that the Go master is familiar with. As the game proceeds, the group eventually realise they are dealing with a true Go master in space.
• “Jade Fighter” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: a person enters a VR world to do taichi exercises, only to discover that one of the NPCs (non-player characters) inhabiting the world has more agency than expected. She strikes up a friendship with the NPC and together, they will discover more of themselves and the possibilities of inhabiting other virtual and the real world.
• “The Apologists” by Tade Thompson: a striking Philip K. Dick like story that starts with a cold-blooded murder of a mother and child, which is investigated by a detective. As we follow the detective’s investigation, it becomes clear that something is off with the London she inhabits, with people unconsciously avoiding the Underground, and periodically plugging their ears against strange sounds. It is only when a violent confrontation between the detective and the murderer occurs do the pieces fall into place about this world that is not what it seems, and who the Apologist in the title may be.
• “Trees at Night” by Ramiro Sanchiz, translated by Sue Burke: a person arrives at a sanitorium on another planet for therapy to become who he used to be.
• “Prerequisites for the Creation of a Possible Predicted World” by Chisom Umeh: a company that recreates historial periods of earth prepares to reveal one based on a World’s Fair. But something apparently goes wrong during the recreation, and it would require the imagination of a person to help convince visitors to keep ‘alive’ the recreation.
• “Ratlines” by Brent Baldwin: a ‘brain in a box’ controls a spaceship that carries criminals, flees from pursuit. But when they are caught, the brain has to decide whether it wants to carry out one final order.
• “The Fire Burns Anyway” by Kemi Ashing-Giwa: a person who creates imaginary worlds for sale contemplates whether to give it up for a better paying job or not.

Magazine read from 2025/11/12 to 2025/11/17.