Fantasy and Science Fiction, November/December 2016

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Rating: 3/5 Stars.

An average issue with fun stories by Ester M. Friesner and Matthew Hughes; also fine stories by Lilliam Rivera, Charlotte Ashley and Minsoo Kang. And it’s always a treat to read a Gardner Dozois story as opposed to reading stories edited by him.

• “The Cat Bell” by Ester M. Friesner: a very entertaining light fantasy about a household for a famous actor run by a fussy, bossy cook who is secretly infatuated with the actor. However, there is one act she hates: feeding the actor’s cats. When she gives that job to a willing servant one day, it would set off a chain of events revolving around a strangely familiar cat with the power to make the wishes of people come true. But as in all such stories, be careful what you wish for, especially when the cook wishes for the actor to love her back.

• </id>“The Farmboy” by Albert E. Cowdrey: a well-worn type of tale about a group of people who, greedy for gold, are willing to kill or abandon their fellow travellers for it. Setting it on another planet, however, doesn’t make such a tale any more interesting that others of its kind.

• </id>“The Vindicator” by Matthew Hughes: an entertaining fantasy story about a thief who suddenly discovers that he has been targeted by an assassin. Investigating the reason for the assassination attempts reveals a trail of altered records and a strange object that may have a hand in bringing the various characters in the story together.

• “Passelande” by Robert Reed: a story about a private detective that didn’t hold my attention. Here, in a world where stored personalities may have a life of their own, the private detective is ask to help a personality find its missing owner. But it may be tied in with another request, this time to kill another person.

• “Between Going and Staying” by Lilliam Rivera: an emotional story about a dancer in Latin America who dresses up to dance to honour the dead. But her dance performances are usually for the rich and corrupt and her world comes crashing down when her close friend becomes one of the people made ‘missing’ and her mother implores her to come to dance for her. But at the end of it, does she have the will to give up her riches and join in the denunciation of corruption?

• “The Place of Bones” by Gardner Dozois: a fantastical piece about travellers who wander through a hidden pass to find a graveyard of dragon bones. But are they driven by madness in their search of the desolated land for a rumour of a still living dragon?

• “Lord Elgin at the Acropolis” by Minsoo Kang: an interesting detective / speculative story about a museum director who apparently goes mad by claiming that a well-known painting he sees everyday is suddenly a fake. A detective visits his writer friend about the case and as the writer starts throwing out possible reasons for this, you start to realise you may be part of the story itself and left wondering which reason, if any, are true; or fake.

• “Special Collections” by Kurt Fawver: a story that starts out interesting but descends into the run-of-the-mill ‘horror mystery without a solution’ type of story. The story is about the Special Collections room of a library that people are told never to enter alone for those who do never return. The story is a chronicle of the people who want to investigate the room, with asides telling of its past history, but the reader is left hanging at the end of the story.

• “A Fine Balance” by Charlotte Ashley: set in a place where duelling is used to decide standing and wealth, two duellers have been at it for some time, raising the stakes. But when one of them vanishes for a length of time and the other is ambushed, a plan is revealed to alter the balance of power between the city and the duellers.

• “The Rhyme Man” by James Beamon: the usual story of a musician who yearns to play well but is now past his prime. But he may be able to do so by choosing the right tune; and meeting a person who can tell him how to get the rhythm.

• “Merry Christmas from All of Us to All of You” by Sandra McDonald: consumerism has run rampant and Santa’s factory is working hard to fulfill orders. Of course, working conditions have to give way under the constant strain and willing recruits are hard to find. You know this won’t end well .

Magazine read from 2016/11/15 to 2016/11/29.