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Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 186, March 2022

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Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction, articles, interviews and art. Our March 2022 issue (#186) contains:

Original fiction by Naomi Kritzer ("The Dragon Project"), EA Mylonas ("Saturn Devouring His Son"), Ray Nayler ("Rain of Days"), Tegan Moore ("The Memory of Water"), Cal Ritterhoff ("Wanting Things"), Priya Chand ("It Takes a Village"), R.T. Ester ("Meddling Fields"), and Arthur Liu ("Commencement Address").
Non-fiction includes an article by Carrie Sessarego, interviews with John Scalzi and Regina Kanyu Wang and Yu Chen, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

227 pages, Kobo

First published March 1, 2022

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29 people want to read

About the author

Neil Clarke

400 books398 followers
Neil Clarke is best known as the editor and publisher of the Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning Clarkesworld Magazine. Launched in October 2006, the online magazine has been a finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Semiprozine four times (winning three times), the World Fantasy Award four times (winning once), and the British Fantasy Award once (winning once). Neil is also a ten-time finalist for the Hugo Award for Best Editor Short Form (winning once in 2022), three-time winner of the Chesley Award for Best Art Director, and a recipient of the Kate Wilhelm Solstice Award. In the fifteen years since Clarkesworld Magazine launched, numerous stories that he has published have been nominated for or won the Hugo, Nebula, World Fantasy, Sturgeon, Locus, BSFA, Shirley Jackson, WSFA Small Press, and Stoker Awards.

Additionally, Neil edits  Forever —a digital-only, reprint science fiction magazine he launched in 2015. His anthologies include: Upgraded, Galactic Empires, Touchable Unreality, More Human than Human, The Final FrontierNot One of Us The Eagle has Landed, , and the Best Science Fiction of the Year series. His next anthology, The Best Science Fiction of the Year: Volume Seven will published in early 2023.

He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and two sons.

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5 stars
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Profile Image for Gerhard.
1,304 reviews885 followers
May 15, 2022
Naomi Kritzer "The Dragon Project" *****
EA Mylonas "Saturn Devouring His Son" ****
Ray Nayler "Rain of Days" *****
Tegan Moore "The Memory of Water" *****
Cal Ritterhoff "Wanting Things" *****
Priya Chand "It Takes a Village" *****
R.T. Ester "Meddling Fields" *****
Arthur Liu "Commencement Address" *****

Superb issue. Not a single dud in a diverse crop of stories all centred on AI, robots, and the human/machine interface.

My favourites: Kritzer’s take on designer gene splicing, Mylonas’s literal interpretation of robots replacing human workers (one limb at a time), and Ritterhoff’s joyous account of the love affair (including sex scene) between a smart home and a toaster.
Profile Image for H (trying to keep up with GR friends) Balikov.
2,125 reviews819 followers
December 14, 2022
Not every author is able to write engaging short stories, by which I mean those that can quickly pull you in and hold you. Not a problem for Kritzer who spins this tale of creating a “dragon” for a client on short notice. “For most of our first two years, we made hypoallergenic cats, clones of people’s dead pets, and occasional odd projects like a Chihuahua dog that looked like a tiny Siberian tiger if the tiger were also a dog.”

https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/krit...

Thanks, again, to GR friend, carol, and how I admire her ability to share such goodies with us. And for me, a new word was added to my vocabulary: “cryptid”

PS: This may be my last review of the year. My priorities are as follows -
1. Help my beloved in cooking and preparing for "the most wonderful time of the year."
2. Taking time with our granddaughters to see it all through their eyes.
3. Reading more when possible.
4. Writing reviews if possible.
5. Etc.
Profile Image for Hirondelle (not getting notifications).
1,321 reviews353 followers
partially-read
June 21, 2025
I only read of this issue The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer, a sf short story, in a near future, bioengineering pets for rich clients. And it is a Naomi Kritzer story, so it is so solid, and makes sense, and there is a good point for it. But my feelings about it "so cute but cutesy" and "too cutesy, but so cute". The pets are adorable, the humans so likeable (apart from stupid clients) but it feels a bit flimsy somehow.. Worth reading for the dragons! Besides all of Naomi Kritzer stories are worth reading, so far...
Profile Image for Oleksandr Zholud.
1,541 reviews155 followers
June 16, 2022
This is the March 2022 issue of Clarkesworld magazine #186. I read it as a part of monthly reading for June 2022 at SFF Hot from Printers: New Releases group. This was our first attempt as a group to read an SFF magazine instead of the more usual choice of SFF novel and the results are mixed.

Here is item-by-item reviews of the issue’s works:
The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer this is an easy story narrated by a person, working in a bio-lab catering for clients who want special creatures. Here a client comes asking for a dragon, even if he clearly doesn’t understand what he wants – like asking for a Chinese dragon, but with features of European one – e.g. wings. This story reminded me of a fresh novel with a similar concept – Domesticating Dragons. 4*
Saturn Devouring His Son by EA Mylonas a dystopian story mixing a famous painting with the same title and a company town with grisly details reminiscent of The Jungle. The narrator returns to his hometown for a Dad’s funeral. All his relatives work for the meat company, and the Company consumes them – like the Dad having multiple prosthetics instead of his limbs lost to this Saturn or Mom having dementia due to breathing pigs’ brains. Well-written, but not what I’d like. 2*
Rain of Days by Ray Nayler I admit, I’m a fan of Ray Nayler, but this work hasn’t touched me. The protagonist-narrator is an old woman living with three more old folks in a lighthouse on environmentally ravaged Earth. The inhabitants are cared for by robots and tele-doctors. The narrator is in therapy to restore her memories, but as the doctor mentions “What do you think a memory is? It’s not some static thing, just sitting there in the mind. Memories are changed every time they are accessed. Memories are in dialogue with lived experience. If you were remembering a real moment from your childhood, you would experience the same thing—memories are viewed from a present point in time, and they are invested with new knowledge.” The idea is correct and has potential, but I cannot say that the story delivers in full. 3*
The Memory of Water by Tegan Moore there is an ocean-world theme virtual park, and people are gathering to commemorate the last whale, that died. A protagonist is the manager of this park and she is grieving the death of her estranged husband as she tries to bug out the problems with some items. A sad story but it doesn’t really grab, so sadness is passing. 2*
Wanting Things by Cal Ritterhoff another nice easy piece, which starts with a warning: Warning: This story contains dangerous, almost radioactive levels of sincerity. Also, a sex scene between a smart house and a toaster. and then delivers what it promised. A narrator is a Tenster-brand Personal Assistant and House Management system named Lucy that serves a young labile woman, who at the moment has a love affair. What if our appliances start to emulate us? 4*
It Takes a Village by Priya Chand a generation ship / exploration story. Again, a strong start: A generation of traumatized fathers was raising a generation of children with trauma in their bones. The story is narrated by one of the fathers, who were left on a ship to care for children with damaged AI while mothers descended on a planet to prepare it for a settlement. However, soon we readers understand that words there aren’t what they ordinary mean. An interesting play with what is normal. 3.5*
Meddling Fields by R.T. Ester a weird SF/fantasy setting, where parts of a planet were a meteorite collision fragmented space-time, creating other ‘strands’ within which people known as ‘meddlers’ live. These strands are considered wrong and a special inspector with an implant behind her brain stem made from the same meteorite comes to clear them up and persecute offenders. Doesn’t work for me. 2*
Commencement Address by Arthur Liu a translated Chinese story, like many has interesting ideas but flat characters. Here we are told about recording memories and that people in a virtual reality may notably ‘lengthen’ time, and a character posts memories to his son while he falls with a plane damaged by terrorists. 2.5*
Validating Rage: Women in Horror by Carrie Sessarego an essay about horror movies and that women there have their traditional roles reversed. In today’s world, women are often expected to be polite, to be selfless and self-sacrificing, and to be nurturing. Women never face more vitriol than when they express anger, an emotion that taints them with labels like “shrill,” “hysterical,” and “bitchy.” In the world of horror, these rules are inverted. Alas, I haven’t watched any of discussed movies bar Aalien, so cannot judge.
Breaking the Gender Barrier: A Conversation with Regina Kanyu Wang and Yu Chen by Arley Sorg a new anthology of Chinese authors, written, edited, and translated by a female and nonbinary team, The Way Spring Arrives and Other Stories: A Collection of Chinese Science Fiction and Fantasy in Translation from a Visionary Team of Female and Nonbinary Creators. I’m afraid they again omit Taiwanese authors and well as themes frowned upon by CCP and therefore I may pass it.
Friendship in the Time Of Kaiju: A Conversation with John Scalzi by Arley Sorg with his new book, The Kaiju Preservation Society, out, John Scalzi discusses it as well as his other works.
Editor's Desk: The Best from 2021 by Neil Clarke I’m glad for all nominees and winners!
Cover Art: SurtiBot and Mister Oink by Alejandro Burdisio a pleasant cover

Profile Image for Elena Linville-Abdo.
Author 0 books97 followers
December 9, 2022
The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer
Stars: 5 out of 5.
This was such a heartwarming little story! Like a cozy sweater on a snowy morning and a cup of hot chocolate. Now I want my own dragon, even though I already have 4 cats and a dog.
Profile Image for Ed Erwin.
1,188 reviews128 followers
July 4, 2022
I read this together with a book group. We normally read books but decided to try a magazine for a change.

My favorite, and the favorite of most of us, was Cal Ritterhoff's "Wanting Things". It is about an AI home assistant (like Alexa) falling in love with a smart toaster. Delightful. Fans of Murderbot should enjoy it.

I also liked "Saturn Devouring His Son" by Ea Mylonas. It is non-subtle about its criticism of the way capitalist enterprises can destroy its workers, who in some cases, especially in a one-company town, continue to look to the company as a father figure.

Naomi Kritzer's story about genetically engineered dragons was also cute.
Profile Image for X.
1,183 reviews12 followers
June 25, 2025
I read the Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer. Cute and short!
Profile Image for Goran Lowie.
406 reviews35 followers
March 31, 2022
The Dragon Project (3.5/5)

A delightful slice-of-life story about bio-engineerint dragons. Didn't really feel like it had a proper ending but I'm not sure it needed one. Bonus points for cute dragon pets!!

Saturn Devouring His Son (2.5/5)

An average story, two sons are unable to move on from the death of their father. Set in a vaguely dystopic place ruled by some megacorp.

Rain of Days (3.5/5)

Robots are memory therapists, and much more than that... A poignant story about the Big Fears in life, and dealing with them.

The Memory of Water (2.5/5)

A creepy little story. I enjoyed the worldbuilding but was never able to immerse myself.

Wanting Things (4/5)

Very lovely Wiswellian (but horny) piece about a smarthome and a toaster falling in love.

It Takes a Village (3.5/5)

A group of people living on a generation ship is ruled by an unquestionably right AI. When they land on a planet with others, some slowly start to realise the AI isn't as perfect as they always thought.

Meddling Fields (3.5/5)

Big Blade Runner vibes from this one.

Commencement Address (3.5)

A story about how weak our human bodies are- and always will be, even as we unlock virtual worlds and the rest of our solar system.

Essays and interviews were worth reading, too.
Profile Image for Sergio.
356 reviews6 followers
March 6, 2022
Three favorites from this issue:

- Wanting Things: A story about intelligent home appliance AIs discovering and falling in love - this story is cute and funny until you think about it for longer than 10 seconds then it's nightmarish because the author put a fully conscious AI on a toaster. Loved it.

- Memory of Water: An underwater high tech hotel-aquarium is haunted by now extinct marine fauna. Very creepy and hard hitting with all the grieving marine biologists around. Loved it, want to play a TTRPG one-shot based on this setting real bad.

- Meddling Fields: Really cool, Blade Runner-esque story about a meteorite that enables timeline-jumps and helps a rebel group's dreams of revolution against the empire who's trying to take control.
Profile Image for Paul.
1,360 reviews196 followers
August 17, 2022
I really liked
The Memory of Water by Tegan Moore
Wanting Things by Cal Ritterford
546 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2022
A couple of OK stories, and a bunch of pretty average ones (as we say in Aotearoa). The best ones were Naomi Kritzer's "The Dragon project" and Cal Ritterhoff's "Wanting Things", both of which are fairly light, upbeat and quirky. "Saturn Devouring His Son" (Ea Mylonas) reminded me of Sinclair's The Jungle, and was a disturbing picture of an insular small-town based around a meat-works. The rest was just forgettable.
6 reviews
April 27, 2022
This issue sees two house appliances hook up in "Wanting Things", a very good (and amusing) debut from Cal Ritterhoff; there are also good stories from Naomi Kritzer (bioengineering pet dragons in "The Dragon Project") and Ray Aldridge (an old woman undergoes memory therapy in "Rain of Days", while robots occasionally make droll comments in the background).
The others didn't work for me (I rated them as mediocre), and one piece is borderline unintelligible (the translation, "Commencement Address").
Still, definitely worth a look for the three I liked.
Profile Image for Corrie.
1,688 reviews4 followers
December 12, 2022
Onwards with Clarkesworld Magazine issue #186 (March, 2022). You can read the stories online or listen to the podcast, hosted and narrated by the lovely Kate Baker
https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/prio...

Consider supporting them on Patreon.

I didn’t pick and chose, just dove in blind and read all of them, and I wasn’t disappointed! On offer where:

The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer
Saturn Devouring His Son by EA Mylonas
Rain of Days by Ray Nayler
The Memory of Water by Tegan Moore
Wanting Things by Cal Ritterhoff
It Takes a Village by Priya Chand
and Meddling Fields by R.T. Ester (I skipped Arthur Liu’s Commencement Address).

All stories were exceptional and very diverse, but if I have to pick just one favorite it will be The Dragon Project by Naomi Kritzer, closely followed by The Memory of Water by Tegan Moore.

(As usual, I didn’t read the non-fiction offerings).

Themes: sci-fi, fantasy, space opera, dystopian, AI, aliens.

4 Stars
December 7, 2022
The Dragon Project” by Naomi Kritzer:
“I want you to make a dragon for me,” the client said. “I need it ready to go by February first.”
Naomi Kritzer, your story made me feel despicably warm and fuzzy inside. That simply isn't done!



Quite right you are, Gertie Dearest

P.S. I want a bio-engineered, revoltingly cute pet dragon-dog-hippogriff for Christmas. Thank thee kindly and stuff.

This is short. This is FREE. This is here.
Profile Image for Michael Whiteman.
370 reviews4 followers
May 25, 2022
The Dragon Project - Naomi Kritzer ***

Saturn Devouring His Son - EA Mylonas ***

Rain Of Days - Ray Nayler ***

The Memory Of Water - Tegan Moore ***

Wanting Things - Cal Ritterhoff ****

It Takes A Village - Priya Chand ***

Meddling Fields - RT Ester ***

Commencement Address - Arthur Liu, trans. Stella Jiayue Zhu ***
Profile Image for Emelee.
17 reviews3 followers
June 28, 2022
Favorites: “The Dragon Project”, Naomi Kritzer; “Wanting Things”, Carl Ritterhoff; and “It Takes A Village”, Priya Chand.
Profile Image for Rebecca.
335 reviews11 followers
June 28, 2022
I only read three of the stories but they were all enjoyable, but not spectacular. A 3.5⭐️ read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews

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