Fantasy and Science Fiction, March/April 2022

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

One of the better issues of F&SF I’ve read so far under editor Sheree Renée Thomas, with a good mix of stories that make the reader think or feel for the characters. Very noteworthy is “Nana” by Carl Walmsley, with a twist at the end that will make you reread the entire story in a new light. Other noteworthy stories are by Megan Beadle, Matthew Hughes, Adriana C. Grigore, Yvette Lisa Ndlovu, Ethan Smestad and Tobi Ogundiran.

• “Dancing Little Marionettes” by Megan Beadle: a charming fantasy story about marionettes who appear alive. One, a girl suffers pain from the ‘death’ of her sister during a dance performance. The other, a boy, sees her anguish and tries to help her over the pain. What they least expect is to fall in love with each other.
• “Void” by Rajeev Prasad: set on a military hospital station over a rebellious Mars, a doctor has only one option when faced with a patient that cannot survive on the hospital or be sent back to Earth: the void of space. But he faces a medical ethical problem when his next patients are a rebel general and his son, and he has orders to void them. To add to the difficulties, an alien surgeon happens to be on the station whose sense of medical ethics may be stronger than his.
• “The Mule” by Matthew Hughes: a reluctant former discriminator (investigator) is forced to act as the conduit of a god from a higher physical plane. The nameless god wants to get back its name, stolen from it in ages past, and it needs a non-magical person to act of its behalf to avoid magical detection. In the end, the job is done, but not to the satisfaction of all involved with the god.
• “These Brilliant Forms” by Phoenix Alexander: a scavenger spaceship with an unusual crew member finds a derelict ship with a deadly secret. To escape, the crew member must do an act that would depend on the connections he has made with the crew.
• “Done in the Mire” by Adriana C. Grigore: an unusual tale of a woman stuck at the bottom of a well for a long time in a cursed bog that holds treasure, protected by a killing guardian. The latest treasure hunters meet their fate in the bog, except for one resourceful person who has a solution to get her out of the well, while keeping the treasure hidden to the satisfaction of the guardian.
• “From This Side of the Rock” by Yvette Lisa Ndlovu: an emotionally disturbing story of people being naturalized as citizens of a country. But to do so, they give up something they love. For an artist, it is his eyes. But what does a storyteller have to give up?
• “Lilith” by Ethan Smestad: on a Mars slowly being terraformed, two people watch over an ark of creatures waiting for the world to be ready for them. But some won’t be able to enjoy the new world.
• “Maker of Chains” by Sarah A. Macklin: In a world of magic, a jewellery shop owner is robbed of his magical jewellery. But only he can get it back from the robbing dragon, for he understands the power and temptation of magic made possible by the jewellery.
• “Where God Grows Wild” by Frank Oreto: in a land where desire comes from a pollen, one woman has to rescue his brother from a field is it before the desires drive him to his death.
• “Woven” by Amanda Dier: a boy helps an injured beast, who then proceeds to weave together a circle made of plants. But it needs one final ingredient, which only the boy provides unexpectedly after his grandmother finds him protecting it.
• “The Epic of Qu Shittu” by Tobi Ogundiran: a bard sneaks on board a boat of the killer Qu Shittu to learn his story. What he learns is the story of a man who loves his family, but then lets his desire for revenge get the better of him in the quest for knowledge.
• “Nana” by Carl Walmsley: a story about how a technological way to simulate a person who has recently died. In this case, the grandmother. It helps the mother to suppress her grief, but not for the father or their daughter. In the end, the pretence has to end, but not before a final twist in the story.
• “Spirit to Spirit, Dust to Dust” by Anna Zumbro: on a dusty farm lives a girl who can summon water from the ground. But not all are happy with her gift.
• “The Living Furniture” by Yefim Zozulya, translated by Alex Shvartsman: on the furniture of a man made from living people, and the lives they have to live.

Magazine read from 2022/03/08 to 2022/03/18