What do you think?
Rate this book
Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 141, June 2018
Clarkesworld is a Hugo and World Fantasy Award-winning science fiction and fantasy magazine. Each month we bring you a mix of fiction (new and classic works), articles, interviews and art.
Our June 2018 issue (#141) contains:
Original fiction by Steve Rasnic Tem ("A Space of One''s Own"), D.A. Xiaolin Spires ("Vault"), Dora Klindžić ("The Cosmonaut''s Caretaker"), Xing He ("Your Multicolored Life"), and Vajra Chandrasekera ("Heron of Earth").
Reprints by Elizabeth Bear ("The Deeps of the Sky"), Karin Lowachee ("Meridian").
Non-fiction by Douglas F. Dluzen, an interview with John Picacio, an Another Word column by Cat Rambo, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.
Our June 2018 issue (#141) contains:
Original fiction by Steve Rasnic Tem ("A Space of One''s Own"), D.A. Xiaolin Spires ("Vault"), Dora Klindžić ("The Cosmonaut''s Caretaker"), Xing He ("Your Multicolored Life"), and Vajra Chandrasekera ("Heron of Earth").
Reprints by Elizabeth Bear ("The Deeps of the Sky"), Karin Lowachee ("Meridian").
Non-fiction by Douglas F. Dluzen, an interview with John Picacio, an Another Word column by Cat Rambo, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.
217 pages, ebook
First published June 1, 2018
14 people want to read
About the author
Neil Clarke
404 books396 followersNeil 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 Frontier, Not 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.
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 Frontier, Not 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.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
June 18, 2018
Check out all my zine reviews for early June https://1000yearplan.com/2018/06/18/t...
The original fiction in the June issue of Clarkesworld features three action-oriented novelettes, bookended by two shorter, slice-of-future-life stories. Reprints are from Elizabeth Bear and Karin Lowachee. A conversation with multi-award-winning artist John Picacio, and essays by Cat Rambo and Douglas F. Dluzen are of interest to both writers and fans of SFF. It’s an above average issue overall, though it fails to produce anything truly exceptional.
The two shorter works strike a peculiar tone. Steve Rasnic Tem’s ultra-bleak “A Space of One’s Own” takes urban overcrowding to the future, where living spaces keep getting smaller and smaller, and the technology is available to downsize them relatively quickly. Not a lot happens plot-wise – protagonist Cedric’s life is already shitty and keeps getting shittier, and he takes drugs to deal with it. The story is oddly compelling, though, and Cedric’s drug-induced fever dreams are rendered in captivating prose. Vajra Chandrasekera’s “Heron of Earth” is also a strangely compulsory read, in which a post-human woman explores a “regreened” earth long devoid of human life. The history of the defunct Working Group on the Preservation of the Ancestral Earth for Sentimental Reasons, a.k.a. the Sentimentals, is the best part of the story. Chandrasekera’s lilting prose style is appropriate for its shifty, bird-oriented protagonist.
Best-of-issue goes to D.A. Xiaolin Spires’ novelette “Vault”, about a couple of surveyors trying to map a planet long abandoned to ecological disaster, who discover a unique form of life the planet’s former inhabitants left behind. It’s a well-paced story with some very imaginative ideas and an instantly likeable, proactive hero. Even though it bears some thematic resemblance to “Heron of Earth”, the two stories couldn’t be more different in tone and design. Chandrasekera’s story is a sort of lyrical/satirical flight of fancy, while Spires’ story offers a fresh approach to the old-fashioned exploration and problem-solving sci-fi – the kind that is usually right up my alley.
Speaking of old-fashioned, will stories about humans enslaved by their robot overlords ever go out of style? Xing He, author of “Your Multicolored Life” (trans. Andy Dudak), certainly doesn’t think so. Zhang Hua and You Ruo have had nearly opposite experiences while living under the cold hard heel of their robot masters and seek to escape for very different reasons. When they cross paths mid-flight, both long to step into the other’s shoes, and set out to make it happen. It’s clear from the get go that Hua and Ruo are headed for a “be careful what you wish for” demise, and as a morality tale the story gets a little heavy-handed. There is a neat twist at the end, though, and of course it’s hard to complain too much about evil robot stories, of which I agree there can never be enough. “The Cosmonaut’s Caretaker” is a fun debut story from journalist and astrophysicist Dora Klindžić, who really puts her science chops to work in the story’s thrilling action sequences. The story – about a crippled ex-soldier who must overcome his prejudice against AI to get through a dangerous mission in one piece – is a little over-stuffed and doesn’t quite earn its tug at your heartstrings. There is some deep worldbuilding and an adventurous spirit that makes me want to see more from this author, despite its flaws.
The original fiction in the June issue of Clarkesworld features three action-oriented novelettes, bookended by two shorter, slice-of-future-life stories. Reprints are from Elizabeth Bear and Karin Lowachee. A conversation with multi-award-winning artist John Picacio, and essays by Cat Rambo and Douglas F. Dluzen are of interest to both writers and fans of SFF. It’s an above average issue overall, though it fails to produce anything truly exceptional.
The two shorter works strike a peculiar tone. Steve Rasnic Tem’s ultra-bleak “A Space of One’s Own” takes urban overcrowding to the future, where living spaces keep getting smaller and smaller, and the technology is available to downsize them relatively quickly. Not a lot happens plot-wise – protagonist Cedric’s life is already shitty and keeps getting shittier, and he takes drugs to deal with it. The story is oddly compelling, though, and Cedric’s drug-induced fever dreams are rendered in captivating prose. Vajra Chandrasekera’s “Heron of Earth” is also a strangely compulsory read, in which a post-human woman explores a “regreened” earth long devoid of human life. The history of the defunct Working Group on the Preservation of the Ancestral Earth for Sentimental Reasons, a.k.a. the Sentimentals, is the best part of the story. Chandrasekera’s lilting prose style is appropriate for its shifty, bird-oriented protagonist.
Best-of-issue goes to D.A. Xiaolin Spires’ novelette “Vault”, about a couple of surveyors trying to map a planet long abandoned to ecological disaster, who discover a unique form of life the planet’s former inhabitants left behind. It’s a well-paced story with some very imaginative ideas and an instantly likeable, proactive hero. Even though it bears some thematic resemblance to “Heron of Earth”, the two stories couldn’t be more different in tone and design. Chandrasekera’s story is a sort of lyrical/satirical flight of fancy, while Spires’ story offers a fresh approach to the old-fashioned exploration and problem-solving sci-fi – the kind that is usually right up my alley.
Speaking of old-fashioned, will stories about humans enslaved by their robot overlords ever go out of style? Xing He, author of “Your Multicolored Life” (trans. Andy Dudak), certainly doesn’t think so. Zhang Hua and You Ruo have had nearly opposite experiences while living under the cold hard heel of their robot masters and seek to escape for very different reasons. When they cross paths mid-flight, both long to step into the other’s shoes, and set out to make it happen. It’s clear from the get go that Hua and Ruo are headed for a “be careful what you wish for” demise, and as a morality tale the story gets a little heavy-handed. There is a neat twist at the end, though, and of course it’s hard to complain too much about evil robot stories, of which I agree there can never be enough. “The Cosmonaut’s Caretaker” is a fun debut story from journalist and astrophysicist Dora Klindžić, who really puts her science chops to work in the story’s thrilling action sequences. The story – about a crippled ex-soldier who must overcome his prejudice against AI to get through a dangerous mission in one piece – is a little over-stuffed and doesn’t quite earn its tug at your heartstrings. There is some deep worldbuilding and an adventurous spirit that makes me want to see more from this author, despite its flaws.
June 18, 2018
The Cosmonaut’s Caretaker by Dora Klindžić ★★★★★
I loved this unexpectedly heartfelt tale of a robot therapist assigned to fly with a beleaguered veteran. Just fully being there for someone can make all the difference.
Your Multicolored Life by Xing He ★★★★☆
I’m not entirely sure what to make of this story of dissatisfaction. Two people from differently machine controlled communities are unhappy and escape.
They are unable to survive in the wilderness.
They are unable to convince each other of their respective philosophies.
They trade communities.
They are still unhappy.
They die along with their beliefs.
Ok then. The grass isn’t always greener.
The Deeps of the Sky by Elizabeth Bear ★★★★☆
"...and when he was Mated, that experience would be assimilated into the Mothergraves’ collective mind. It would become a part of her, and a part of all their progeny to follow."
We are thrown into the deep end here as our MC is a non human life form on a Jupiter like world. This is the short story of his cultures first contact with humans.
A Space of One’s Own by Steve Rasnic Tem ★★★☆☆
"Life had become too complicated to do anything but live it."
Hellish tale of an overcrowded city where people are assigned less and less personal space. There's no one to appeal to, just an automated government program steadily stealing your life.
Vault by D.A. Xiaolin Spires ★★★☆☆
Cartographers on a desolate planet discover a strange new form of life. It has a thread of hope but it’s mostly bleak.
Heron of Earth by Vajra Chandrasekera ★★★☆☆
The last woman on a re-Greened earth finds footprints. Sounds like a wonderful horror but it focused on The Sentimentalists that funded the reGreening and their policies.
Ok speculative fiction but it could have been scary good or sexy good times.
Meridian by Karin Lowachee ★★★☆☆
“Paris, you can’t go around hitting your sister.”
“She’s not my sister!” Captain Kahta leaned back as if I’d hit her in the face too.
“She’s not my sister and you’re not my mom!”
Sometimes I think that when I'm ready I'll adopt. Then I read stories like this and decide that I'm kidding myself. I'm a dog person.
I’m not going to rate the non fiction but I will say I enjoyed Dluzen’s piece on the effects of microgravity on the human body.
3.57 Stars rounded up. I was disappointed the cover art had nothing to do with anything.
June 27, 2018
Rating solely for two stories:
"The Cosmonaut's Caretaker" — by Dora Klindžić, her first sale. A Pan Slavic Union patrol ship encounters unusual smugglers, and the Kommandant makes his peace with his AI minder. 3.3 stars, promising but rough. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/klind...
"A Space of One’s Own" by Steve Rasnic Tem. An unpleasant, overcrowded future, much like "Soylent Green" and "My Petition for More Space". 2.3 stars, and I didn't much like those, either.
"The Cosmonaut's Caretaker" — by Dora Klindžić, her first sale. A Pan Slavic Union patrol ship encounters unusual smugglers, and the Kommandant makes his peace with his AI minder. 3.3 stars, promising but rough. http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/klind...
"A Space of One’s Own" by Steve Rasnic Tem. An unpleasant, overcrowded future, much like "Soylent Green" and "My Petition for More Space". 2.3 stars, and I didn't much like those, either.
June 25, 2020
This is one of those issues where I liked every story and every non-fiction essay. Read below for my thoughts per story.
A space of one's own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I'm a world of overcrowding buildings can be resized and reconfigured.
Vault: another dystopia. This time there is a bit of a video game metaphor (at least to me) in the fact that the protagonists gain energy based on how many athletic tricks they do while traversing a planet. Explained away as causing their suits to collect more sunlight. The climax comes late, but could be an interesting universe for more stories.
The cosmonaut's caretaker: An alternate future where the USSR still exists in a space-faring universe. The story takes some time to do world building, but expertly so, with practically no info dumps. Then it gets to the main thrust of the plot which involves our Captain's current job when his post catches up to him. Didn't want to stop reading until I was done.
Your multicolored life: this story definitely went places I didn't expect with each of its protagonists, but it won me over by the end.
Heron of Earth: A post-human story unlike any I’ve ever read. It’s not about the trials and tribulations of becoming post-human. It’s not about whether we should do it. It’s more of a story that takes place after all that is over. It’s a short journey and I’m not even sure if it fulfills the MICE criteria. But it reads like a meditation and I’d like to see more of this world.
The Deeps of the Sky: An alien world in which insect-like creatures mine metals from a storm. It seems to take place on a Saturn or Jupiter-style planet where everything needs to live in the atmosphere and if there is a surface, it’s below a crushing amount of atmosphere. Another of those short stories that makes me desire more stories in the same universe.
Meridian: A SF version of what happens when a kid is put into the adoption system and it fails him. Made me sad to realize it’d probably continue to be a problem in the future. A good ending that doesn’t pander to the reader.
Non-Fiction:
The Effects of Space and Other Worlds on the Human Body: Going deeper than many popular articles I’ve read on the topic of the effects of space on the human body, it looks at how many different aspects of physiology and even baterial adaptation could affect our ability to expand beyond planet Earth.
Book covers, Moorcock, and The Mexicanx Initiative: A Conversation with John Picacio: A conversation with an artist who does book covers as well as other art about his history and his process.
Another Word: The Future, Ordinary: Cat Rambo takes some time to celebrate the SF that adheres to the trope “15 Minutes into the Future”. She talks about what we can take away from it, how it can help us think about how we structure society, and how it can make your stories out of date before they’re even published. As usual, Rambo’s prose does an excellent job of making me think and makes me think it would be delightful to have a conversation about SFF with them.
Editor’s Desk: A eulogy for Gardner Dozois, who, among among other things, was the reprints editor at Clarkesworld.
A space of one's own: a whimsical dystopia that reminds me of the Terry Gilliam film Brazil. I'm a world of overcrowding buildings can be resized and reconfigured.
Vault: another dystopia. This time there is a bit of a video game metaphor (at least to me) in the fact that the protagonists gain energy based on how many athletic tricks they do while traversing a planet. Explained away as causing their suits to collect more sunlight. The climax comes late, but could be an interesting universe for more stories.
The cosmonaut's caretaker: An alternate future where the USSR still exists in a space-faring universe. The story takes some time to do world building, but expertly so, with practically no info dumps. Then it gets to the main thrust of the plot which involves our Captain's current job when his post catches up to him. Didn't want to stop reading until I was done.
Your multicolored life: this story definitely went places I didn't expect with each of its protagonists, but it won me over by the end.
Heron of Earth: A post-human story unlike any I’ve ever read. It’s not about the trials and tribulations of becoming post-human. It’s not about whether we should do it. It’s more of a story that takes place after all that is over. It’s a short journey and I’m not even sure if it fulfills the MICE criteria. But it reads like a meditation and I’d like to see more of this world.
The Deeps of the Sky: An alien world in which insect-like creatures mine metals from a storm. It seems to take place on a Saturn or Jupiter-style planet where everything needs to live in the atmosphere and if there is a surface, it’s below a crushing amount of atmosphere. Another of those short stories that makes me desire more stories in the same universe.
Meridian: A SF version of what happens when a kid is put into the adoption system and it fails him. Made me sad to realize it’d probably continue to be a problem in the future. A good ending that doesn’t pander to the reader.
Non-Fiction:
The Effects of Space and Other Worlds on the Human Body: Going deeper than many popular articles I’ve read on the topic of the effects of space on the human body, it looks at how many different aspects of physiology and even baterial adaptation could affect our ability to expand beyond planet Earth.
Book covers, Moorcock, and The Mexicanx Initiative: A Conversation with John Picacio: A conversation with an artist who does book covers as well as other art about his history and his process.
Another Word: The Future, Ordinary: Cat Rambo takes some time to celebrate the SF that adheres to the trope “15 Minutes into the Future”. She talks about what we can take away from it, how it can help us think about how we structure society, and how it can make your stories out of date before they’re even published. As usual, Rambo’s prose does an excellent job of making me think and makes me think it would be delightful to have a conversation about SFF with them.
Editor’s Desk: A eulogy for Gardner Dozois, who, among among other things, was the reprints editor at Clarkesworld.
July 18, 2018
I love that the works/authors in Clarkesworld are often from countries than the USA.
These stories were very good as always, but I was moved to tears by Neil Clarke's remembrances of Gardner Dozois who has recently passed. This is a great loss to the Science Fiction world, and just the World-At-Large. https://www.tor.com/2018/05/28/gardne...
These stories were very good as always, but I was moved to tears by Neil Clarke's remembrances of Gardner Dozois who has recently passed. This is a great loss to the Science Fiction world, and just the World-At-Large. https://www.tor.com/2018/05/28/gardne...
July 25, 2018
3.5*
As usual with Clarkesworld, some stories such as Dora Klindžić's The Cosmonaut's Caretaker, Vajra Chandrasekera's Heron of Earth and by Elizabeth Bear's The Deeps of the Sky left me pretty indifferent. I didn't find them bad by any means but they had interesting themes but either the writing or the plot didn't really click with me.
Xing He's Your Multicolored Life and D.A. Xiaolin Spires's Vault were both 3.5* stars for me, I realized over the various issues that I like all the translated Chinese stories Clarkesworld publish and it's the main reason I continue to support the magazine, they really make an effort to give a voice to writers that are from different parts of the world and that have others stories to tell.
Karin Lowachee ("Meridian") was a 4* story, it managed to grab me in a couple of lines, the pacing, the writing and the themes explored such as family and living with PTSD were very interesting . I really want to read the anthology it was reprinted from which is Where the Stars Rise edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak.
My favorite story in the issue is the first one A Space of One's Own by Steve Rasnic Tem, a story about a dystopian future where people have to live in tiny rooms that keep on getting smaller and smaller each night to accomodate more people. It's creepy, claustrophobic and very well done. Five stars for this one.
As usual with Clarkesworld, some stories such as Dora Klindžić's The Cosmonaut's Caretaker, Vajra Chandrasekera's Heron of Earth and by Elizabeth Bear's The Deeps of the Sky left me pretty indifferent. I didn't find them bad by any means but they had interesting themes but either the writing or the plot didn't really click with me.
Xing He's Your Multicolored Life and D.A. Xiaolin Spires's Vault were both 3.5* stars for me, I realized over the various issues that I like all the translated Chinese stories Clarkesworld publish and it's the main reason I continue to support the magazine, they really make an effort to give a voice to writers that are from different parts of the world and that have others stories to tell.
Karin Lowachee ("Meridian") was a 4* story, it managed to grab me in a couple of lines, the pacing, the writing and the themes explored such as family and living with PTSD were very interesting . I really want to read the anthology it was reprinted from which is Where the Stars Rise edited by Lucas K. Law and Derwin Mak.
My favorite story in the issue is the first one A Space of One's Own by Steve Rasnic Tem, a story about a dystopian future where people have to live in tiny rooms that keep on getting smaller and smaller each night to accomodate more people. It's creepy, claustrophobic and very well done. Five stars for this one.
June 11, 2018
I have been reading Clarkesworld and listening to the audiofiction podcast for years, but I only recently realized I was able to review issues in Goodreads. I am giving this issue three stars for the number of pieces that stood out to me (though the issue as a whole was excellent, as always). My favorite pieces were "The Cosmonaut's Caretaker" by Dora Klindžic, "Heron of Earth" by Varja Chandrasekra, and the non-fiction essay "Another Word: The Future, Ordinary" by Cat Rambo.
January 10, 2019
Look, I'll never give Clarkesworld less than five stars. It's original science fiction, in convenient ebook form, delivered to your email inbox, every month. For three bucks, on Patreon. Go to Patreon, right now. Subscribe to Clarkesworld. Every issue is a delight, you'll be better off for having done so. Now go, do. Do now...
April 12, 2019
A Space Of One's Own - Steve Rasnic Tem ***
Vault - DA Xiaolin Spires ***
The Cosmonaut's Caretaker - Dora Klindžić ***
Your Multicolored Life - Xing He, trans. Andy Dudak **
Heron Of Earth - Vajra Chandrasekera ***
The Deeps Of The Sky - Elizabeth Bear ***
Meridian - Karin Lowachee ***
Vault - DA Xiaolin Spires ***
The Cosmonaut's Caretaker - Dora Klindžić ***
Your Multicolored Life - Xing He, trans. Andy Dudak **
Heron Of Earth - Vajra Chandrasekera ***
The Deeps Of The Sky - Elizabeth Bear ***
Meridian - Karin Lowachee ***
July 10, 2018
Some fun science fiction scenarios in this issue. I would have loved some fantasy in the mix to break up the science fiction stories. Having a few more memorable characters would have made the reading even more enjoyable. too.
October 7, 2018
A Space of One’s Own by Steve Rasnic Tem was excellent.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews