2015 Stories 31 - 39
I've been reading short stories, just not posting my thoughts, over the course of February. I've been dealing with heavier-than-usual work travel, a home issue (furnace decided to "puff back" putting oily soot all over the house; we're on the beginning of week three of the clean-up because of various delays, etc), and working on my own short story writing. Here's the first of a couple of catch-up posts, this one featuring the contents of the February 2015 issue of Lightspeed Magazine, edited by John Joseph Adams:
31. AND YOU SHALL KNOW HER BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD by Brooke Bolander. I'm still not sure exactly what to call the main characters -- are they artificial humans? Androids? At any rate, despite physical similarities they are not traditional humans. Bolander does a great job of making this otherness a part of the story and keeping the characters completely accessible. In the story, Rhye must infiltrate a computer system to retrieve her partner, who had gone in to retrieve the kidnapped consciousness of a mobster's son. The use of senses and memory to add detail to both the artificial environment and the characters' internal lives is wonderful, and the story as a whole is thought-provoking not just for the question of what makes us human, but also for the question of what makes us who we are.
32. BUFFALO by John Kessel. The author posits a pair of meetings between his father, a worker for the Works Project Administration in Virginia in the 1930s, and author HG Wells. The story is full of life's hopes and disappointments in equal measure, and while there's no distinct SF element to the proceedings, there is a character discussion of what fascinates us about science fiction -- and technically this is alternate history, since the author's father never actually met Wells despite being in the same place at the same time at least once. Ultimately a very heart-warming tale.
33. RED PLANET by Caroline M. Yoachim A blind college student must consider sight therapy/restoration in order to be considered for a graduate program in the colony on Mars. The story is short but packs a punch; it is character-driven/internalized but not lacking in forward motion. Great example of how a few words can do a great deal.
34. VEIL OF IGNORANCE by David Barr Kirtley Five high school (or perhaps they are college; either way, school) friends take an alien drug that merges conscioussness as a social experiment. What could possibly go wrong? What really impressed me about this story is the way Kirtley moves the first person narration through FIVE different points of view multiple times; you get a sense of a hive-mind but also get the individual personalities. That's a risky thing and the author pulls it off and keeps the reader involved.
35. THE GIRL WHO ATE BUTTERFLIES by Mary Rickert A teen girl with an inattentive mother has a secret she keeps even from the boy who is infatuated with her: she eats butterflies. The story is atmospheric, the language is lyrical, and overall it feels more like "magical realism." Very poignant.
36. AND THE WINNERS WILL BE SWEPT OUT TO SEA by Maria Dhavana Headley A sea nymph loses her latest mortal lover and spends a year ruminating about the relationship and the nature of sacrifice as weighed against the events of her own long life. The story is told in direct address (first person narration where the main character speaks to "you") which is usually a hard sell for me, but the tone of the story felt less manipulative/controlling than most such written this way. The story is also filled with distinct, strong female characters and a nice central mystery.
37. CERILE AND THE JOURNEYER by Adam-Troy Castro Another story in the issue that is very short, only about 4 pages, but which packs a lot in. The Journeyer travels most of his life to find the witch Cerile, only to have his every wish granted before he can even make them. It's a story about dedication to a goal, getting one's heart's desire, and dissatisfaction. Some lovely language and some interesting twists.
38. THINGS YOU CAN BUY FOR A PENNY by Will Kaufman Another story that really plays with perspective, in this case time and the repetitive nature of such: "those who do not learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat it" seems to be the unspoken message here, as several members of the same village/family visit the same well to make bargains (for a penny each) with the "wet gentleman," (a genie of some sort) who lives in the well. The ties between characters are revealed subtly, and I almost feel like if I read the story again, I'm going to discover even more about them that I missed the first time around. There's a solid through-line despite the many time-jumps.
39. IN THE HOUSE OF ARYAMAN, A LONELY SIGNAL BURNS by Elizabeth Bear The story is a novella set in a future India, a science-fiction detective novel featuring Sub-Inspector Feron and her partner Indrapramit. They investigate the improbable death of a theoretical physicist named Dexter Coffin. Reality and Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality all overlap, layers of identities and perceptions to be peeled off of each main and supporting character in order to discover who each one really is and what they want. Even the detectives are multi-layered. I would read more mysteries set in this mileiu with these characters.
31. AND YOU SHALL KNOW HER BY THE TRAIL OF DEAD by Brooke Bolander. I'm still not sure exactly what to call the main characters -- are they artificial humans? Androids? At any rate, despite physical similarities they are not traditional humans. Bolander does a great job of making this otherness a part of the story and keeping the characters completely accessible. In the story, Rhye must infiltrate a computer system to retrieve her partner, who had gone in to retrieve the kidnapped consciousness of a mobster's son. The use of senses and memory to add detail to both the artificial environment and the characters' internal lives is wonderful, and the story as a whole is thought-provoking not just for the question of what makes us human, but also for the question of what makes us who we are.
32. BUFFALO by John Kessel. The author posits a pair of meetings between his father, a worker for the Works Project Administration in Virginia in the 1930s, and author HG Wells. The story is full of life's hopes and disappointments in equal measure, and while there's no distinct SF element to the proceedings, there is a character discussion of what fascinates us about science fiction -- and technically this is alternate history, since the author's father never actually met Wells despite being in the same place at the same time at least once. Ultimately a very heart-warming tale.
33. RED PLANET by Caroline M. Yoachim A blind college student must consider sight therapy/restoration in order to be considered for a graduate program in the colony on Mars. The story is short but packs a punch; it is character-driven/internalized but not lacking in forward motion. Great example of how a few words can do a great deal.
34. VEIL OF IGNORANCE by David Barr Kirtley Five high school (or perhaps they are college; either way, school) friends take an alien drug that merges conscioussness as a social experiment. What could possibly go wrong? What really impressed me about this story is the way Kirtley moves the first person narration through FIVE different points of view multiple times; you get a sense of a hive-mind but also get the individual personalities. That's a risky thing and the author pulls it off and keeps the reader involved.
35. THE GIRL WHO ATE BUTTERFLIES by Mary Rickert A teen girl with an inattentive mother has a secret she keeps even from the boy who is infatuated with her: she eats butterflies. The story is atmospheric, the language is lyrical, and overall it feels more like "magical realism." Very poignant.
36. AND THE WINNERS WILL BE SWEPT OUT TO SEA by Maria Dhavana Headley A sea nymph loses her latest mortal lover and spends a year ruminating about the relationship and the nature of sacrifice as weighed against the events of her own long life. The story is told in direct address (first person narration where the main character speaks to "you") which is usually a hard sell for me, but the tone of the story felt less manipulative/controlling than most such written this way. The story is also filled with distinct, strong female characters and a nice central mystery.
37. CERILE AND THE JOURNEYER by Adam-Troy Castro Another story in the issue that is very short, only about 4 pages, but which packs a lot in. The Journeyer travels most of his life to find the witch Cerile, only to have his every wish granted before he can even make them. It's a story about dedication to a goal, getting one's heart's desire, and dissatisfaction. Some lovely language and some interesting twists.
38. THINGS YOU CAN BUY FOR A PENNY by Will Kaufman Another story that really plays with perspective, in this case time and the repetitive nature of such: "those who do not learn the lessons of the past are doomed to repeat it" seems to be the unspoken message here, as several members of the same village/family visit the same well to make bargains (for a penny each) with the "wet gentleman," (a genie of some sort) who lives in the well. The ties between characters are revealed subtly, and I almost feel like if I read the story again, I'm going to discover even more about them that I missed the first time around. There's a solid through-line despite the many time-jumps.
39. IN THE HOUSE OF ARYAMAN, A LONELY SIGNAL BURNS by Elizabeth Bear The story is a novella set in a future India, a science-fiction detective novel featuring Sub-Inspector Feron and her partner Indrapramit. They investigate the improbable death of a theoretical physicist named Dexter Coffin. Reality and Artificial Intelligence and Virtual Reality all overlap, layers of identities and perceptions to be peeled off of each main and supporting character in order to discover who each one really is and what they want. Even the detectives are multi-layered. I would read more mysteries set in this mileiu with these characters.