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Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 143, August 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 August 2018 issue (#143) contains:
* Henry Szabranski ("The Veilonaut''s Dream"), R.S.A. Garcia ("The Anchorite Wakes"), Robert Reed ("Kingfisher"), Kij Johnson ("The Privilege of the Happy Ending"), Hao Jingfang ("The Loneliest Ward").
* Reprints by James Patrick Kelly ("Yukui!") and Rich Larson ("Othermother (Annex Excerpt)").
* Non-fiction by Carrie Sessarego, an interview with Emily Devenport, an Another Word column by Fran Wilde, and an editorial by Neil Clarke
Our August 2018 issue (#143) contains:
* Henry Szabranski ("The Veilonaut''s Dream"), R.S.A. Garcia ("The Anchorite Wakes"), Robert Reed ("Kingfisher"), Kij Johnson ("The Privilege of the Happy Ending"), Hao Jingfang ("The Loneliest Ward").
* Reprints by James Patrick Kelly ("Yukui!") and Rich Larson ("Othermother (Annex Excerpt)").
* Non-fiction by Carrie Sessarego, an interview with Emily Devenport, an Another Word column by Fran Wilde, and an editorial by Neil Clarke
135 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2018
2 people are currently reading
47 people want to read
About the author
Neil Clarke
403 books402 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.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
September 3, 2018
Three Stories from this issue made my list of the best short SFF for August 2018: https://1000yearplan.com/2018/09/01/t...
Very few authors have the skill to break the fourth wall, at least without coming off as pompous or extravagant. Kij Johnson has the skill to skirt that line, and she does so in “The Privilege of the Happy Ending”, in which a young girl named Ada and her talking hen, Blanche, are forced to go on the run from a horde of terrifying bird-like lizard creatures known as wastoures, who devour everyone and everything in their path. The narrator provides a dry, aloof meta-commentary throughout, mostly regarding what may or may not eventually happen to the people Ada and Blanche encounter during their flight. The story of Ada and Blanche is a hair-raising, cliffhanger-style medieval quest, while the narrator’s casual chilliness pokes the reader with the cruelty inherent, but generally camouflaged, in the act of storytelling itself. Such reflexivity may not be necessary to the story, but it is entertaining, suffusing the narrative with a lofty, apocryphal charm.
R.S.A. Garcia’s “The Anchorite Wakes” feels like a slightly spooky fantasy at first, gradually revealing itself as science fictional as it progresses. Sister Nadine is a nun at St. Nicholas’ church, whose interest in a peculiar little girl seems to unravel her sense of reality – but is she losing her mind or finding it? Idiosyncratic to say the least, it manages to spill its allegorical guts (organized religion as a tool for warmongering) without coming off as heavy-handed.
The immortal title character of Robert Reed’s “Kingfisher” long ago lost the ability to make new memories and is searches for hundreds of millions of years for his lost love amidst a massive, worlds-sized ship traveling the stars. Like the Great Ship, his true purpose has been muddied along the way, even as his trajectory remains unstoppable. Reed expertly balances the unimaginable scale of time and space with the intimate inner life of its hero. The writing is breathtaking, but it falls just short of solidifying the emotional distance its amplitude creates.
Henry Szabranski’s “The Veilonaut’s Dream” is a nicely conceptualized story of astronauts exploring a phenomenon called the Discontinuity, which opens and closes pathways to distant regions of space at random and never to the same place twice. It’s a dangerous occupation – if you are caught behind the veil when it shifts, you are lost forever. Hugo winner Hao Jingfang returns with the very short, Ken Liu translated piece “The Loneliest Ward”, where patients go when they’ve slipped into a social media coma.
This Issue of Clarkesworld also reprints “Yukui!”, from James Patrick Kelly’s brand-new collection The Promise of Space and Other Stories, and there is an excerpt from Rich Larson’s just-published debut novel Annex.
Very few authors have the skill to break the fourth wall, at least without coming off as pompous or extravagant. Kij Johnson has the skill to skirt that line, and she does so in “The Privilege of the Happy Ending”, in which a young girl named Ada and her talking hen, Blanche, are forced to go on the run from a horde of terrifying bird-like lizard creatures known as wastoures, who devour everyone and everything in their path. The narrator provides a dry, aloof meta-commentary throughout, mostly regarding what may or may not eventually happen to the people Ada and Blanche encounter during their flight. The story of Ada and Blanche is a hair-raising, cliffhanger-style medieval quest, while the narrator’s casual chilliness pokes the reader with the cruelty inherent, but generally camouflaged, in the act of storytelling itself. Such reflexivity may not be necessary to the story, but it is entertaining, suffusing the narrative with a lofty, apocryphal charm.
R.S.A. Garcia’s “The Anchorite Wakes” feels like a slightly spooky fantasy at first, gradually revealing itself as science fictional as it progresses. Sister Nadine is a nun at St. Nicholas’ church, whose interest in a peculiar little girl seems to unravel her sense of reality – but is she losing her mind or finding it? Idiosyncratic to say the least, it manages to spill its allegorical guts (organized religion as a tool for warmongering) without coming off as heavy-handed.
The immortal title character of Robert Reed’s “Kingfisher” long ago lost the ability to make new memories and is searches for hundreds of millions of years for his lost love amidst a massive, worlds-sized ship traveling the stars. Like the Great Ship, his true purpose has been muddied along the way, even as his trajectory remains unstoppable. Reed expertly balances the unimaginable scale of time and space with the intimate inner life of its hero. The writing is breathtaking, but it falls just short of solidifying the emotional distance its amplitude creates.
Henry Szabranski’s “The Veilonaut’s Dream” is a nicely conceptualized story of astronauts exploring a phenomenon called the Discontinuity, which opens and closes pathways to distant regions of space at random and never to the same place twice. It’s a dangerous occupation – if you are caught behind the veil when it shifts, you are lost forever. Hugo winner Hao Jingfang returns with the very short, Ken Liu translated piece “The Loneliest Ward”, where patients go when they’ve slipped into a social media coma.
This Issue of Clarkesworld also reprints “Yukui!”, from James Patrick Kelly’s brand-new collection The Promise of Space and Other Stories, and there is an excerpt from Rich Larson’s just-published debut novel Annex.
December 24, 2019
Individual rating for Hao Jingfang's "The Loneliest Ward" : medical treatment that function like social media and the people (patients) who need validation could get addicted. Not bad, but I read better stories from the author.
July 6, 2020
Review is (for now) solely for "The Privilege of the Happy Ending" by Kij Johnson, a novelette/novella. It's a very sharp and bloody medieval fantasy, about now-extinct predatory saurians, the wastoures, that periodically devastate the countryside. Think army-ants the size of St. Bernards. The story follows Ada, a six year old girl, and her old hen (as in chicken) Blanche, as they try to avoid the wastoures. Blanche turns out to have hidden depths. Plus dry metafictional interjections by the author. An exceptional story, highly recommended. 4.6 stars, rounded up.
"This is a story that ends as all stories do, eventually, in deaths. ... All authors leave a swath of destruction. We maim and move on.” Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johns...
Update: Winner of the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. So it must be right on the borderline by word-count. Good winner. I'll have to reread it.
Merged review:
"The Privilege of the Happy Ending" by Kij Johnson, an award-winning novelette/novella. It's a very sharp and bloody medieval fantasy, about now-extinct predatory saurians, the wastoures, that periodically devastate the countryside. Think army-ants the size of St. Bernards! The story follows Ada, a six year old girl, and her old hen (as in chicken) Blanche, as they try to avoid the wastoures. Blanche turns out to have hidden depths. Plus dry metafictional interjections by the author. An exceptional story, highly recommended. 4.6 stars, rounded up.
"This is a story that ends as all stories do, eventually, in deaths. ... All authors leave a swath of destruction. We maim and move on.” Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johns...
Update: Winner of the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. So it must be right on the borderline by word-count. Good winner. I'll have to reread it.
"This is a story that ends as all stories do, eventually, in deaths. ... All authors leave a swath of destruction. We maim and move on.” Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johns...
Update: Winner of the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. So it must be right on the borderline by word-count. Good winner. I'll have to reread it.
Merged review:
"The Privilege of the Happy Ending" by Kij Johnson, an award-winning novelette/novella. It's a very sharp and bloody medieval fantasy, about now-extinct predatory saurians, the wastoures, that periodically devastate the countryside. Think army-ants the size of St. Bernards! The story follows Ada, a six year old girl, and her old hen (as in chicken) Blanche, as they try to avoid the wastoures. Blanche turns out to have hidden depths. Plus dry metafictional interjections by the author. An exceptional story, highly recommended. 4.6 stars, rounded up.
"This is a story that ends as all stories do, eventually, in deaths. ... All authors leave a swath of destruction. We maim and move on.” Online at http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/johns...
Update: Winner of the 2019 World Fantasy Award for Best Novella. So it must be right on the borderline by word-count. Good winner. I'll have to reread it.
September 1, 2018
Best issue of Clarkesworld I’ve ever read!
The Anchorite Waits by R.S.A. Garcia ★★★★★
Sister Nadine watches over the secrets of her small town from her anchorage at St. Nicholas.
The scope of this grew and grew. It was beautiful.
Yukui! by James Patrick Kelly ★★★★½
“Sprite bit back a scream as the room fell away.”
Masterfully, tightly, emotionally written, JPK illustrates the fear of change, the step to freedom.
The Veilnaut’s Dream by Henry Szabranski ★★★★☆
A tear in space, a doorway, holds passing glimpses of heaven or desolation. It’s what you hold in your heart that determines your destination.
The Loneliest Ward Hao Jingfan ★★★★☆
“It’s not so bad to live like this forever, is it?”
The tougher reality gets the more tempting the alternatives.
Othermother (Annex Excerpt) by Rich Larson ★★★★☆
“...the othermother gathered herself again, leaning back on her haunches like an accordion. She sprang...”
This was a short story adapted from a book I’m going to need to read. It’s Mrs. Goodweather from The Strain meets Screamers. Freaky stuff!
The Privilege of the Happy Ending by Kij Johnson ★★★½☆
A fable dissected by a dark and meta-narrator.
Kingfisher by Robert Reed ★★★☆☆
“Are you able to envision one million years?”
“Yes.”
“That is a beginning,” the voice said. “Now count another nine million years, and fifty million after that.”
This story was expansive in its scope and got away from me at times.
Basically, it’s a story of one man’s very long life. You could look at it as an endless adventure/quest but I found it shockingly/depressingly petty.
The Anchorite Waits by R.S.A. Garcia ★★★★★
Sister Nadine watches over the secrets of her small town from her anchorage at St. Nicholas.
The scope of this grew and grew. It was beautiful.
Yukui! by James Patrick Kelly ★★★★½
“Sprite bit back a scream as the room fell away.”
Masterfully, tightly, emotionally written, JPK illustrates the fear of change, the step to freedom.
The Veilnaut’s Dream by Henry Szabranski ★★★★☆
A tear in space, a doorway, holds passing glimpses of heaven or desolation. It’s what you hold in your heart that determines your destination.
The Loneliest Ward Hao Jingfan ★★★★☆
“It’s not so bad to live like this forever, is it?”
The tougher reality gets the more tempting the alternatives.
Othermother (Annex Excerpt) by Rich Larson ★★★★☆
“...the othermother gathered herself again, leaning back on her haunches like an accordion. She sprang...”
This was a short story adapted from a book I’m going to need to read. It’s Mrs. Goodweather from The Strain meets Screamers. Freaky stuff!
The Privilege of the Happy Ending by Kij Johnson ★★★½☆
A fable dissected by a dark and meta-narrator.
Kingfisher by Robert Reed ★★★☆☆
“Are you able to envision one million years?”
“Yes.”
“That is a beginning,” the voice said. “Now count another nine million years, and fifty million after that.”
This story was expansive in its scope and got away from me at times.
Basically, it’s a story of one man’s very long life. You could look at it as an endless adventure/quest but I found it shockingly/depressingly petty.
July 21, 2020
Review for The Privilege of a Happy Ending by Akon Johnson. Not bad, but written in a depressing way. 3, kind of sad, stars.
November 10, 2019
This issue had 7 seven stories (5 original, 1 reprint, 1 novel excerpt) and 3 nonfiction pieces plus the editorial.
My favorite was Kij Johnson's "The Privilege of the Happy Ending" which just won a World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (it's really a long novelette, but WFAs use a different word count threshold). The narrator breaks the fourth wall periodically, but at its heart is the story of a girl and her chicken trying to survive in a medieval world.
I also really enjoyed R.S.A. Garcia's "The Anchorite Wakes" and James Patrick Kelly's "Yukui!"; the former is a setting with a wonderful gradual revelation and the second is a fun story about AI.
Additionally, Robert Reed has a Greatship story in here, and I always have a soft spot for this wondrous SF setting, though the story itself wasn't my favorite tale in that world.
My favorite was Kij Johnson's "The Privilege of the Happy Ending" which just won a World Fantasy Award for Best Novella (it's really a long novelette, but WFAs use a different word count threshold). The narrator breaks the fourth wall periodically, but at its heart is the story of a girl and her chicken trying to survive in a medieval world.
I also really enjoyed R.S.A. Garcia's "The Anchorite Wakes" and James Patrick Kelly's "Yukui!"; the former is a setting with a wonderful gradual revelation and the second is a fun story about AI.
Additionally, Robert Reed has a Greatship story in here, and I always have a soft spot for this wondrous SF setting, though the story itself wasn't my favorite tale in that world.
April 8, 2019
I know all my reviews of Clarkesworld sound the same, but come on: An e-magazine, of good quality speculative fiction, put into your email, every month, for three lousy bucks. For real, what do you want? This is worth doing, you ought to be doing it...
August 21, 2018
A very eerie short story with haunting imagery that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Definitely recommend this to anyone who likes darker sci-fi with a slight mystical feel.
August 3, 2020
This issue's stories didn't really work as well for me as the last few issues have.
Thoughts per story:
The veilonaut's dream: explorers at a spatial discontinuity explore it for money. Partially a tale of exploitative labor and partly a tale of the stages of grief.
The Anchorite Wakes: There are little hints here and there that something odd is going on. It is all revealed in the last few pages and it’s quite an incredible world hidden from us until that point. Very neat story and ending.
Kingfisher: A metaphor for being unable to let relationships go. It involved such strangeness that I often was left to discard various information about the world is the story because it often made no sense. But I think it worked alright as a metaphor.
The privilege of the happy ending: The author is literally in conversation with the reader in this extremely meta short story. It explores ideas of storytelling and, as per the title, happy endings. It’s quite well-written and reminds me of a fable, if fables got extremely meta.
The Loneliest Ward: a very short story about a nurse who works at a ward where people are becoming comatose in some kind of pandemic. The story is so short, it's hard to talk about without spoiling anything. But the ending really re-enforces the point.
Yukui!: An interesting take on AI that perhaps takes the slave metaphor to a more subtle place than I've often seen in other stories.
Othermother (annex excerpt): an excerpt for a novel that was turned into a short story for publishing in Clarkesworld. I often say I went to see more of a world and now I can. Some kind of Alien invasion is capturing children and had used an evil psychological plan to do it. Quite horrific.
Non-Fiction:
Mary and the monster: the life of Mary Godwin Shelley: a really neat insight into how Mary Shelley's life provided the experience to write Frankenstein at such a young age.
Augmentations, assassins, and soundtracks: a conversation with Emily Davenport: Some discussions on generation ships as a genre and how to consider the technological advances in the future.
Another Word: Keeping Time: A philosophical discussion of time and how that can be used for story-telling purposes
Editor’s Desk: Oh, the Horror of it All!: Neil decides no more horror for Clarkesworld
Thoughts per story:
The veilonaut's dream: explorers at a spatial discontinuity explore it for money. Partially a tale of exploitative labor and partly a tale of the stages of grief.
The Anchorite Wakes: There are little hints here and there that something odd is going on. It is all revealed in the last few pages and it’s quite an incredible world hidden from us until that point. Very neat story and ending.
Kingfisher: A metaphor for being unable to let relationships go. It involved such strangeness that I often was left to discard various information about the world is the story because it often made no sense. But I think it worked alright as a metaphor.
The privilege of the happy ending: The author is literally in conversation with the reader in this extremely meta short story. It explores ideas of storytelling and, as per the title, happy endings. It’s quite well-written and reminds me of a fable, if fables got extremely meta.
The Loneliest Ward: a very short story about a nurse who works at a ward where people are becoming comatose in some kind of pandemic. The story is so short, it's hard to talk about without spoiling anything. But the ending really re-enforces the point.
Yukui!: An interesting take on AI that perhaps takes the slave metaphor to a more subtle place than I've often seen in other stories.
Othermother (annex excerpt): an excerpt for a novel that was turned into a short story for publishing in Clarkesworld. I often say I went to see more of a world and now I can. Some kind of Alien invasion is capturing children and had used an evil psychological plan to do it. Quite horrific.
Non-Fiction:
Mary and the monster: the life of Mary Godwin Shelley: a really neat insight into how Mary Shelley's life provided the experience to write Frankenstein at such a young age.
Augmentations, assassins, and soundtracks: a conversation with Emily Davenport: Some discussions on generation ships as a genre and how to consider the technological advances in the future.
Another Word: Keeping Time: A philosophical discussion of time and how that can be used for story-telling purposes
Editor’s Desk: Oh, the Horror of it All!: Neil decides no more horror for Clarkesworld
October 25, 2018
A very mixed bag.
The Veilonaut’s Dream by Henry Szabranski 3.5/5
Sad story of a troup of scientists studying an another dimension searching for the remnants of their old friends.
The Anchorite Waits by R.S.A. Garcia 2.5/5
A story that starts off as a fantasy tale but that end up being science fiction based. The writing was quite nice but overall, it left me underwhelmed.
The Privilege of the Happy Ending by Kij Johnson 5/5
Definitely the gem of the issue, it's not my first Kij Johnson story but so far it's my favorite. I loved how Johnson repeatdly broke the fourth wall and the pacing and the prose was on point. I'm very impressed by this one, especially because I usually prefer my short fiction to be SF and not fantasy.
It follows a little girl and a hen as they try to survive humanity and other monsters.
Kingfisher by Robert Reed DNF
Oh no this one definitely wasn't for me, I usually tend to like Reed's fiction but I tried to read this three times and I was completely bored. It felt tedious and longwinded and absolutely not for me.
The Loneliest Ward Hao Jingfan 3.5/5
I still have yet to read Folding Beijing so that was my first Jingfan work and I liked it however, I wished it had been a tad longer. But it's definitely a nice and sharp view on social media.
Yukui! by James Patrick Kelly 3.5/5
An artificial intelligence is given freedom when it doesn't want it at first. It's nice and very readable but a bit overdone and I didn't see any elements particularly original or different from the dozens of stories I read based on this trope. Still, it had its moments and I enjoyed it but it's a bit forgettable.
I haven't read the excerpt from Annex by Rich Larson because I already intend to read the novel later.
The Veilonaut’s Dream by Henry Szabranski 3.5/5
Sad story of a troup of scientists studying an another dimension searching for the remnants of their old friends.
The Anchorite Waits by R.S.A. Garcia 2.5/5
A story that starts off as a fantasy tale but that end up being science fiction based. The writing was quite nice but overall, it left me underwhelmed.
The Privilege of the Happy Ending by Kij Johnson 5/5
Definitely the gem of the issue, it's not my first Kij Johnson story but so far it's my favorite. I loved how Johnson repeatdly broke the fourth wall and the pacing and the prose was on point. I'm very impressed by this one, especially because I usually prefer my short fiction to be SF and not fantasy.
It follows a little girl and a hen as they try to survive humanity and other monsters.
Kingfisher by Robert Reed DNF
Oh no this one definitely wasn't for me, I usually tend to like Reed's fiction but I tried to read this three times and I was completely bored. It felt tedious and longwinded and absolutely not for me.
The Loneliest Ward Hao Jingfan 3.5/5
I still have yet to read Folding Beijing so that was my first Jingfan work and I liked it however, I wished it had been a tad longer. But it's definitely a nice and sharp view on social media.
Yukui! by James Patrick Kelly 3.5/5
An artificial intelligence is given freedom when it doesn't want it at first. It's nice and very readable but a bit overdone and I didn't see any elements particularly original or different from the dozens of stories I read based on this trope. Still, it had its moments and I enjoyed it but it's a bit forgettable.
I haven't read the excerpt from Annex by Rich Larson because I already intend to read the novel later.
August 7, 2018
Don’t know if it’s because the kindle app has suddenly decided everything needs to be dual-column making it difficult to get into a flow, or just that the stories weren’t to my liking this time but I just couldn’t complete a single one. They all seemed to,drone on repetitively..
It’s a shame kindle for iPad doesn’t show,you how far through an individual story you are like it,does,with book,chapters. maybe I was nearly finished with,some,of them?
It’s a shame kindle for iPad doesn’t show,you how far through an individual story you are like it,does,with book,chapters. maybe I was nearly finished with,some,of them?
October 16, 2020
Kingfisher by Robert Reed is incredible.
Yukui by James Patrick Kelly is very good and worth the read.
I love Kij Johnson but her story here didn't do it for me. It's beautifully written but it was way too long and the concept and story couldn't hold my interest over that many pages. If you're a fan then perhaps check it out. If not your time would be better spent checking out her other work.
The rest of the stories didn't work for me.
Yukui by James Patrick Kelly is very good and worth the read.
I love Kij Johnson but her story here didn't do it for me. It's beautifully written but it was way too long and the concept and story couldn't hold my interest over that many pages. If you're a fan then perhaps check it out. If not your time would be better spent checking out her other work.
The rest of the stories didn't work for me.
August 9, 2018
Issue #143 is an outstanding issue of Clarkesworld, without a single bad story or essay (at least in my opinion). My favorite story was Kij Johnson's "The Privilege of the Happy Ending," though it was very difficult to single out a favorite with writers like Robert Reed and James Patrick Kelly also featured in this issue.
June 1, 2019
I'm reading my way through the Clarkesworld stories included in the Hugo Voter Packet for 2019, as Neil Clarke is a finalist for Best Editor, Short Form. This issue includes the stories 'The Anchorite Wakes' by R.S.A Garcia, and 'The Privilege of the Happy Ending' by Kij Johnson, which are the basis for my rating.
November 13, 2019
This is only a review of Kij Johnson's “The Privilege of the Happy Ending”.
Besides the obvious and good thematisation of "evil is in the eye of the beholder", Johnson elevates this seemingly fantasy tale into a treaty of the power of the author with some serious metatext considerations. Wonderful and I personally am very happy this got a Locus award.
Besides the obvious and good thematisation of "evil is in the eye of the beholder", Johnson elevates this seemingly fantasy tale into a treaty of the power of the author with some serious metatext considerations. Wonderful and I personally am very happy this got a Locus award.
April 12, 2019
The Veilonaut's Dream - Henry Szabranski ***
The Anchorite Wakes - RSA Garcia ****
Kingfisher - Robert Reed ****
The Privilege Of The Happy Ending - Kij Johnson ****
The Loneliest Ward - Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu ***
Yukui! - James Patrick Kelly ***
Othermother - Rich Larson ****
The Anchorite Wakes - RSA Garcia ****
Kingfisher - Robert Reed ****
The Privilege Of The Happy Ending - Kij Johnson ****
The Loneliest Ward - Hao Jingfang, trans. Ken Liu ***
Yukui! - James Patrick Kelly ***
Othermother - Rich Larson ****
October 11, 2018
The Anchorite Wakes - ***
Kingfisher -
The Privilege of the Happy Ending -
The Loneliest Ward - ***
Yukui - ****
Othermother - ****
Kingfisher -
The Privilege of the Happy Ending -
The Loneliest Ward - ***
Yukui - ****
Othermother - ****
April 20, 2019
I cannot get this short out of my head. First of all, I love the writing - the pacing was beautiful, the dialogue was great, the description lovely.
And I really really want to this to be turned in a novel, so I can know what happened next!
Merged review:
The best collection of stories so far, liked them all!
And I really really want to this to be turned in a novel, so I can know what happened next!
Merged review:
The best collection of stories so far, liked them all!
January 27, 2019
It's a very well constructed story and overall the narrative style works given the genre, although it does feel a little too unnecessarily judgmental of the reader's interest, thinking and purpose.
March 7, 2019
Excellent.
Would love to read this to my grandchildren, but fear to hear of their future recurring nightmares.
Would love to read this to my grandchildren, but fear to hear of their future recurring nightmares.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews