Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2020

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

A better than average issue with good tales by Matthew Hughes, Gregor Hartmann, Amanda Hollander, Elizabeth Bear and a fantastic tale involving thinking mechanicals beings by Ian Tregillis.

• “Kikelomo Ultrasheen” by Dare Segun Falowo: an African fantasy story about a girl blessed or cursed with the ability to affect people by weaving and perming their hair. When she is forced to run away to the city, she falls into company of people who can use her ability until she returns years later to her mother to fulfil her destiny.
• “The Million-Mile Sniper” by SL Huang: a somewhat unbelievable tale of a sniper that can find its target spaceship for an unimaginable distance away, and a detective who somehow is able to deduce what happened from the evidence.
• “The Last Legend” by Matthew Hughes: a fascinating tale about a boy who is destined for greatness; until tragedy strikes and he is forced to make a living with a lowly job. Then an incident happens and he is forced to run away. Then, while in the company of another man, he encounters a strange magical dead region with only a blind man living in it. As in all such tales, it would be destiny that they would all come together at that time; or perhaps the strong hand of determinism and the strange lack of free will.
• “Come the Revolution” by Ian Tregillis: a gripping tale set in an alternative world where mechanical thinking beings serve humans and are limited in their actions by the interaction of various internal geas that force them to obey commands or suffer ‘pain’. But one particular mechanical ‘dreams’ of being free and one day that dream is fulfilled; with repercussions for humanity.
• “Red Sword of the Celiac” by John Possidente: a short piece about a reviewer reluctantly reviewing an editor’s favorite ‘unknown author’ book.
• “Say You’re Sorry” by Amman Sabet: a tale where saying your are sorry but not meaning it will have physical repercussions for the person involved.
• “A Solitary Crane Circles Cold Mountain” by Gregor Hartmann: an interesting look at a future where civilisation has become more environmentally oriented. But one last legacy of the previous ‘machine-oriented’ past remains: a hollow asteroid to be launched to a new world on a journey that will last many generations. It is the job of one woman to figure out how the inhabitants of the asteroid will survive the journey with an ‘intact’ society (not reverting to say, cannibalism) but as her many attempts to create a working one fail, it may require a rethink and a journey to simpler times for her to get the right answer.
• “A Feast of Butterflies” by Amanda Hollander: an unusual fantasy story about a police officer in an unnamed area ruled by a corrupt landowner who demands that he arrests a girl that may be linked to the disappearance of his grandson. During his investigations, he learns more about the unusual girl who feasts on butterflies from his predecessor’s files and comes to an arrangement with her to locate the grandson and get rid of the landowner in a most unusual manner.
• “Hungry Is the Earth” by William Ledbetter: on a Earth invaded by strange plants that are harvested by aliens, one girl struggles to feed and save his younger brother. But hope seems lost when her plant seeds fail and she makes one last desperate attempt, not knowing if it will kill them or turn them into something not quite human.
• “Hacksilver” by Elizabeth Bear: a returning Viking discovers his brother’s farm taken over and his brother exiled for a crime. When he himself is exiled, he has only his wits to help him with a wresting match with a giant and prove that his brother has been framed for the crime.
• “Death on the Nefertem Express” by Brian Trent: when a train that stays on the edge of disaster on a planet breaks down, it takes a probable pirate turned detective to figure out who caused the breakdown, why and how to save herself and the passengers. The clue to solve the mystery is there for the reader to see.
• “The Man I Love” by James Patrick Kelly: in an unusual bar where ghosts come to congregate, one lonely ghosts waits for a special person to come to bar. And on this night, he does indeed come.

Magazine read from 2020/03/06 to 2020/03/31