Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 159, December 2019

by Neil Clarke (Editor), Rebecca Campbell, Henry Szabranski

FICTION
Such Thoughts Are Unproductive by REBECCA CAMPBELL
Witch of the Weave by HENRY SZABRANSKI
Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet by CATHERINE GEORGE
Eclipse our Sins by TLOTLO TSAMAASE
Appointment in Vienna by GABRIEL MURRAY
Symbiosis Theory by CHOYEOP KIM, translated by JOUNGMIN LEE COMFORT

NON-FICTION
But Is It Art? Science Fiction that Isn't Really Science Fiction by MARK COLE
Starfish and Sunflowers: A Conversation with Peter Watts by ARLEY SORG
Caste in Blood: A Conversation with Juliette Wade by ARLEY SORG
Editor's Desk: Staring at the Hole by NEIL CLARKE

PODCASTS
Such Thoughts Are Unproductive by REBECCA CAMPBELL, read by KATE BAKER

ART
Halo by DEREK STENNING

Genres: Short Stories, Science Fiction, Fantasy

147 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2019

About the author

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 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.

Reviews

[Gary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rebecca Campbell's short story "Such Thoughts are Unproductive" is a Must Read on my list of the Best Short SFF of December 2019: https://1000yearplan.com/2020/01/02/t...

[Jordi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Plato meets Lovecraft in “Symbiosis Theory”, the mind-blowing SF story by Korean writer Choyeop Kim featured in the final 2019 Clarkesworld issue. Even if it suffers from flat characters and an overdose of talking heads around a table delivering info dumps one after another, it has this classic sense of wonder, of discovery, that set me to read SF in the first place.

There’s also a bunch of other good stories in this issue: “Annotated setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet”, by Catherine George - a moving story on memory told through comments on a fictional setlist of a jazz band born in a generational ship; “Witch of the Weave”, by Henry Szabranski - a story that literally takes you to the alien landscape of a devastated world; and “Such thoughts are unproductive”, by Rebecca Campbell - an interesting take on the dystopian Government control trope, turned to eleven.

[Rebecca Crunden]

It only takes a few words when it’s people like us, the imperfect citizens of this perfectly known world. She told me things I do not wish to know, because they hurt to know, then we both looked instinctively for cameras and drones and microphones.

Listened to the audiobook version of Such Thoughts Are Unproductive by Rebecca Campbell. Available here. Really impressed, definitely recommend.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

I talk about this some in this wrap-up: https://youtu.be/qXJ03zNDrLY

I really liked:

Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet by CATHERINE GEORGE
&
Symbiosis Theory by CHOYEOP KIM, translated by JOUNGMIN LEE COMFORT

The rest were just 2-star reads, unfortunately.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

**Symbiosis Theory by Choyeop Kim, translated by Joungmin Lee Comfort**: Haunting and beautiful story, and evidence that the Korean translations in Clarkesworld are bringing some great sf to western audiences (related: why no Seoul Worldcon bids?). I really enjoyed this story, and I would heartily recommend it.

**Appointment in Vienna by Gabriel Murray**: I liked this story, it bewitches you into wanting to understand more rather than confusing you into skimming to the end. My immediate reaction upon finishing it was that I wanted to read it again because I’m sure I hadn’t grasped all it had to offer."


**Eclipse our Sins by Tlotlo Tsamaase**: I didn’t like this one much."

** Annotated Setlist of the Mikaela Cole Jazz Quintet by Catherine George**: I’m oftentimes very sceptical of stories with unusual framing devices because I find too often that they’re used to obscure the lack of substance in the story. Thus I was initially down on this story from the start, but it won me over. The way the world is built through a word here and an off-hand phrase there is done extremely well and the emotional payoff at the end made me shed a tear.

I don’t remember reading the first two stories, so I’m not sure they left a great impact on me…

[Nicola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Symbiosis Theory by Choyeop Kim is one of the best SF story of the last years so far. Please, translate all her books and story, she is sure one of the best korean author out there and can easily become one of the best here too.

[Mark Catalfano · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked "Symbiosis Theory" by Choyeop Kim

[J_BlueFlower · Rating 4 out of 5]

My comments for short story:
Such Thoughts Are Unproductive by Rebecca Campbell
read Dec 2020

”the Zika virus creeping north along the Mississippi, ”

I know the technique of having these lines come out like-matter-everyday stuff, and they are supposed to chock the reader. But here we are on the brink of the second national lock down due to a global pandemic. So there....

This story seemed to be able to move in two different directions, until Sophie admitted “I did actually know your parents...”. When the narrator disagrees with the reality of all other participants, it may be the narrator who is unreadable. I though that was the case especially after Sophie entered the story in person. I assume Sophie is somehow send/paid by “them”/the state. DDR showed that such surveillance is too expensive for the state to survive, so that did not seem so plausible in my view.

The initial part however is very well written.