The Goldfish Man by Maureen Mchugh

Another story on the 2023 Locus short story prize short list

The Goldfish Man is a short story by Maureen Mchugh which appeared in the March 2022 edition of Uncanny Magazine. The story is on the 2023 Locus Award short list for best short story.

Sima, a Los Angeles ceramicist, has fallen on hard times during the pandemic. Living in her car, Sima still manages to produce some pieces of work for sale, using the facilities at a local pottery business called Great Earth. Sima also receives help from a homeless man called Lane. He looks after her when she becomes ill, taking no notice of warnings to stay away and avoid infection. It seems that Lane is not worried about Earth diseases because he is not from Earth at all.

Sima assumes he is delusional.

Once Sima recovers, Lane says he is leaving, with the suggestion that his destination is another planet or dimension, rather than, say, Las Vegas.

So, is Lane delusional or is he an alien?

The story is good at combining down-to-Earth and other worldly. Sima is a ceramicist, someone who uses Earth in her work. She designs complex, fret-worked double vases, so that a candle placed inside throws complex light patterns around a room. Yet these other-worldly light effects come from good solid Earth.

As well as a ceramicist, Sina is also in a sense an alien. All she had to do to become an alien is to lose her house. Lane could be an alien in the sense of being from another planet, but when you’re homeless you are a long way away from home, in your space ship Subaru hatchback.

A thoughtful story, nicely done