Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 239

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Issue can be read on-line: https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/issue_239/

Rating: 3/5.

An average issue, with interesting stories by Ravn J. Silver, D.A. Xiaolin Spires and H.H. Pak.

• “As the Tide Loves the Diver, As the Diver Loves the Tide” by Ravn J. Silver: the story of a person who ‘dives’ into a data archive to try to retrieve information from a reluctant system that cut off access after a global catastrophe. The archive is intrigued by the diver’s attempt, but their final confrontation may lead to ‘forbidden’ information being retrieved.
• “All the Ruined Doorways of the Moon” by Eilis O’Neal: a wife and husband purchase a property on the moon, which comes with a fake artifact left behind by aliens that have left the moon. But the wife is bored with playing the ‘perfect wife’ for the husband and wants to resume her studies, which the husband objects. In the end, her desire to be free and a discovery about the artifact may give her a way to leave her ‘perfect’ life.
• “Passenger Pigeons, Dodos, Neanderthals” by Jordan Alexander: an Earth person is on Mars, as part of an Endangered Species Initiative. Here, the endangered species are humans after devastating the Earth, and now hopes to move to Mars. But the Mars people (descendants of the first colonisers before the devastation) treat him with disdain, and he comes to realise what people like him actually mean to the Martians.
• “Piece de Resistance” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires: the co-inventor of an energy shield finds her invention used in an unexpected way: as a way to stop food being eaten while an ad plays. Hoping to give her mother an ad-free meal, she hatches a plan to ‘borrow’ an ad-blocker developed by the same company showing the ads. But her plan may cause a change in the way ads for food are displayed.
• “Feed Them on Your Dreams” by E.N. Auslender: a rather sad story of an unplanned boy raised in isolation in a room on a corporate space station. He is educated and cared for by the AI library. The boy grows up and invents a faster way to get around the solar system. In return, he wants to be able to leave his room. The ending reveals just what he actually is to the corporation that runs the station.
• “The Universal Human Happiness Program” by Y.M. Pang: the story of a grim future, where much of humanity lives in dream worlds, looked over by the few supervisors. One supervisor cares so much for his dreamers, that he considers ways to override the machines and wake up humanity to live in the real world, despite the terrible conditions. But that decision may have been taken out of his hands.
• “When You Give a Dokkaebi Taco Tuesday” by H.H. Pak: the unusual story of a ‘spirit creature’ from a faraway land, bought to another country in a broom carried along by its owner, an old man. At night the creature leaves the broom to socialise with other creatures from other lands. The creature still resides in the broom for it has been tasked to curse the man and his descendants; but it is tired of its job and only observes the old man. But one day, it is forced to take action and curse the old man; but the curse may be a secret blessing.

Magazine read from 2026/08/06 to 2026/08/11.