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Beneath Ceaseless Skies, Issue 268, January 2019
Issue #268 of Beneath Ceaseless Skies online magazine, featuring stories by Beth Cato and Morgan Al-Moor.
45 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 26, 2018
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8 people want to read
About the author
Scott H. Andrews
469 books24 followersScott H. Andrews is a writer of science fiction. He teaches college chemistry. He is Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of the fantasy magazine Beneath Ceaseless Skies.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
Andrews's short stories have appeared in Weird Tales, Space and Time, Heroic Fantasy Quarterly, On Spec, Crossed Genres, and M-Brane SF.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 1, 2019
"The Beast Weeps with One Eye" is my Must Read pick for the Best Short SFF of January 2019: https://1000yearplan.com/2019/02/01/t...
When the folded paper icons that sustain her people fail, Dreya realizes she is losing her power and the Company will soon unmake the town. The setting is the strength of Beth Cato’s “The Blighted Godling of Company Town H”, where a factory town on one of many worlds run by the Company sustains itself by the power of its godling. The Company hasn’t reached out to Town H in a long time, and the surrounding towns, along with their people and their godlings, are disappearing. Only Mother has the power to unmake the town, but Dreya and her people may not be strong enough to stand up to her. This is an engaging underdog narrative for a time, though the solution to Dreya’s and the town’s problems comes too easy. Cato builds a fascinating mythological framework to hang the story on.
Toronto-based debut author Morgan Al-Moor continues this issue’s theme of a people faced with extinction in “The Beast Weeps with One Eye”. The author wastes no time getting down to business: when his story opens, the last of the Bjebu people have already fled their homeland, pursued by a murderous swarm of ravens determined to finish them. High Sister Nwere is desperate to end her people’s plight and strikes an ill-advised deal with Babawa-Kunguru, the Keeper of Sorrows: Babawa-Kunguru will call off the ravens and give ownership of his land to the Bjebu in exchange for three offerings of sorrow. After collecting the first of his offerings Babawa-Kunguru promises that once he has collected them all, the Bjebu will know the deepest of sorrows. Al-Moor strikes a perfect balance between narrative momentum and expansive world-building, distilling a wide-ranging history and mythology into its essential parts and parsing it out among the various plot points and character moments. It’s a skill even the most experienced authors falter at from time to time, so kudos to a first-time author for pulling it off so well. This is an exciting parable of triumph and loss, with great characters in an inspired setting.
When the folded paper icons that sustain her people fail, Dreya realizes she is losing her power and the Company will soon unmake the town. The setting is the strength of Beth Cato’s “The Blighted Godling of Company Town H”, where a factory town on one of many worlds run by the Company sustains itself by the power of its godling. The Company hasn’t reached out to Town H in a long time, and the surrounding towns, along with their people and their godlings, are disappearing. Only Mother has the power to unmake the town, but Dreya and her people may not be strong enough to stand up to her. This is an engaging underdog narrative for a time, though the solution to Dreya’s and the town’s problems comes too easy. Cato builds a fascinating mythological framework to hang the story on.
Toronto-based debut author Morgan Al-Moor continues this issue’s theme of a people faced with extinction in “The Beast Weeps with One Eye”. The author wastes no time getting down to business: when his story opens, the last of the Bjebu people have already fled their homeland, pursued by a murderous swarm of ravens determined to finish them. High Sister Nwere is desperate to end her people’s plight and strikes an ill-advised deal with Babawa-Kunguru, the Keeper of Sorrows: Babawa-Kunguru will call off the ravens and give ownership of his land to the Bjebu in exchange for three offerings of sorrow. After collecting the first of his offerings Babawa-Kunguru promises that once he has collected them all, the Bjebu will know the deepest of sorrows. Al-Moor strikes a perfect balance between narrative momentum and expansive world-building, distilling a wide-ranging history and mythology into its essential parts and parsing it out among the various plot points and character moments. It’s a skill even the most experienced authors falter at from time to time, so kudos to a first-time author for pulling it off so well. This is an exciting parable of triumph and loss, with great characters in an inspired setting.
December 6, 2020
Beast Weeps with One Eye by Morgan Al-Moor is one of my Hugo Short Story nominee . For such a short tale it kept me engaged all the way to the end.
January 4, 2019
I only read one of the stories in this issue of BCS: Morgan Al-Moor's "The Beast Weeps with One Eye".
I don't usually like things that involve warring Gods or supernatural beings (or in this case "Elders" even tangentially, but I really liked this story, so props to the author.
It's a short story and so I don't want to give too much away, but just want to mention a couple of the things I liked about it. First of all, the world-building is amazing. Reading about this tribe as they escape horrors, from the POV of the shaman of the tribe it felt so real and so rooted in its African inspired mythology and language and customs. And then of course the main character has some pretty awesome powers!
I also loved the way the story handles its main theme. I just won't say anymore, but it was awesome.
So, check it out. It's free here: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
Definitely makes me want to read more by this author (and this magazine!) :)
I don't usually like things that involve warring Gods or supernatural beings (or in this case "Elders" even tangentially, but I really liked this story, so props to the author.
It's a short story and so I don't want to give too much away, but just want to mention a couple of the things I liked about it. First of all, the world-building is amazing. Reading about this tribe as they escape horrors, from the POV of the shaman of the tribe it felt so real and so rooted in its African inspired mythology and language and customs. And then of course the main character has some pretty awesome powers!
I also loved the way the story handles its main theme. I just won't say anymore, but it was awesome.
So, check it out. It's free here: http://www.beneath-ceaseless-skies.co...
Definitely makes me want to read more by this author (and this magazine!) :)
January 13, 2019
Both of the stories are good, with unique settings that feel integral in some way. As is often the case, the endings may be the weakest parts, wrapping up in ways that feel a bit perfunctory.
Of the two stories, I would say I liked the second more. The African inspiration gives it a unique flavor, and the Faustian bargain is fairly well done.
Of the two stories, I would say I liked the second more. The African inspiration gives it a unique flavor, and the Faustian bargain is fairly well done.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 24, 2019
I'd enjoy reading more in either story-world.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews