Fantasy and Science Fiction, Summer 2024

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Rating: 3/5 Stars

An average issue, with interesting stories by Alberto Chimal, Esther Friesner, Xinwei Kong and Phoenix Alexander

• “What It Means to Drift” by Rajeev Prasad: the story of an emotional connection between a person and a ‘Titan’ responsible for the education of thousands of children. The Titan is getting detached from its responsibilities, and need an emotional boost via the connection; a boost that leads to devastating emotional highs and lows for the person.
• “On My Way to Heaven” by Alberto Chimal, translated from the Spanish by Patrick Weill: the story of a family ‘weird’ uncle, who claims to have been abducted by aliens in the past. Then, during a demonstration against the government, the uncle vanishes, and it is up to the reader to decide whether it was the government that did it, or otherwise.
• “Mister Yellow” by Christina Bauer: a person can access other dimensions to affect what happens in our world. But then the person discovers, too late, what happens when the other world also takes an action.
• “Water Baby” by Tonya R. Moore: in a flooded future, one person tries to keep a colony from vanishing away while looking for her mother. But a visit to a doctor reveals just what happened to her and what may happen to her, as she discovers just what the doctor has been doing in secret.
• “Metis in the Belly of the God” by Nina Kiriki Hoffman: the story of a being who is swallowed by Zeus while pregnant. During her journey inside Zeus, she discovers some of his secrets and desires, and finally gives birth to a child who would eventually become Athena.
• “She’s a Rescue” by Marie Vibbert: a father and daughter (and their dog) are on a desperate journey from Mars to Earth and have to deal with their ex-wife/mother who does not want them to land at Ceres during the journey. But they have no choice, and come up with a desperate plan that, with some last minute changes, may yet work.
• “Snowdrop” by Raul Caner Cruz: an old couple fashion a child out of snow. Then, like in fairy tales, the child comes alive. But there is no fairy tale ending, as the child will have to cope with their passing and decide on what to do next.
• “Dog People” by Esther Friesner: a humorous story involving goddesses from several mythologies on an outing in New York City, suddenly finding that the dead have escaped from Hades’ Underworld. Sending them back and finding out what has happened would lead them to discover a side to Hades that they never saw before.
• “What You Leave Behind” by Ken Altabef: the survivor of a terrorist attack that kills her mother keeps the scene in her chest, literally. And there it remains, as a reminder until the day she can remove it and be at peace.
• “Another Such Victory” by Albert Chu: two pilots of huge machines battle strange alien monsters who descend to the Earth. But the constant battles have wearied one pilot, who seeks a way out. But doing so may require her to betray her fellow pilot, something she does not know if she can do.
• “Growth Rings of the Earth” by Xinwei Kong: a story of a future Earth where most people have become digital uploads. One of those that are not uploaded finds his work as a librarian taking care of printed books fulfilling. But one day, he meets a person who has returned from an upload, and gets a promise to meet again to read a book he will write before he dies. That day arrives, but other events would affect what the librarian will do when he becomes the last person left on Earth.
• “Jacob Street” by L. Marie Wood: a short, horror story of a couple who keep getting lost on their journey past that street, with their GPS telling them they are now at the bottom of a bay. But it is really a GPS mistake?
• “Red Ochre, Ivory Bone” by Deborah L. Davitt: an unknown artifact approached a space station with various alien races. An investigation by the station’s forensic expert finds ochre mixed in with the remains, which reminds the expert of what some ancient people on earth have done with the remains of their ancestors.
• “The Glass Apple” by Ivy Grimes: a lady receives a glass apple on her wedding, with instructions not to eat it. But as the years pass, the apple keeps ‘eating’ into her thoughts until one day, she decides to take a bite.
• “Slickerthin” by Phoenix Alexander: on a Greek island, the inhabitants share it with harpies, who give their eggs to the islanders to be eaten. But they fear that one day, they will get an egg with a ‘deformed’ harpy (or slickerthin), which they have to care for, despite its deformities. The day has come, and the person who has to take care of the slickerthin wants nothing to do with it. But the harpies have ways to make sure the job is done; or else.

Magazine read from 2024/09/15 to 2024/09/23