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Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 169, October 2020
FICTION
- Callme and Mink by Brenda Cooper
- To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds by Natalia Theodoridou
- Wandering Rocks by Gregory Feeley
- You and Whose Army? by Greg Egan
- Last Wishes by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
- All Living Creation by Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon
- Ashes Under Uricon by Adrastos Omissi
NON-FICTION
- "I Can Build It!" Tom Said Inventively: The Strange History of the Six Tom Swifts by Mark Cole
- Eyewitness to History's Future: A Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson by Arley Sorg
- Living Raw and Out Loud: A Conversation with Rebecca Roanhorse by Arley Sorg
- Editor's Desk: In Mourning by Neil Clarke
PODCASTS
- Callme and Mink by Brenda Cooper, read by Kate Baker
ART
- Ancient Stones by Francesca Resta
- Callme and Mink by Brenda Cooper
- To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds by Natalia Theodoridou
- Wandering Rocks by Gregory Feeley
- You and Whose Army? by Greg Egan
- Last Wishes by D.A. Xiaolin Spires
- All Living Creation by Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon
- Ashes Under Uricon by Adrastos Omissi
NON-FICTION
- "I Can Build It!" Tom Said Inventively: The Strange History of the Six Tom Swifts by Mark Cole
- Eyewitness to History's Future: A Conversation with Kim Stanley Robinson by Arley Sorg
- Living Raw and Out Loud: A Conversation with Rebecca Roanhorse by Arley Sorg
- Editor's Desk: In Mourning by Neil Clarke
PODCASTS
- Callme and Mink by Brenda Cooper, read by Kate Baker
ART
- Ancient Stones by Francesca Resta
139 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 2020
3 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Neil Clarke
405 books403 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 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 18, 2021
Callme and Mink by Brenda Cooper *****
To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds by Natalia Theodoridou ****
Wandering Rocks by Gregory Feeley ****
You and Whose Army? by Greg Egan ***
Last Wishes by D.A. Xiaolin Spires **
All Living Creation by Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon **
Ashes Under Uricon by Adrastos Omissi ***
To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds by Natalia Theodoridou ****
Wandering Rocks by Gregory Feeley ****
You and Whose Army? by Greg Egan ***
Last Wishes by D.A. Xiaolin Spires **
All Living Creation by Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon **
Ashes Under Uricon by Adrastos Omissi ***
March 20, 2021
Review for now is solely for these two stories:
• "Callme and Mink" by Brenda Cooper. Post-collapse story features an autonomous, humanoid robot who raises dogs in an almost deserted town, and tries to find good homes for them with human travelers. "Julie’s core programming knew how to read dogs. Dogs are to help human hearts." Nicely done, strong 3 stars.
• "You and Whose Army?" by Greg Egan. Confusing (to me) story of quadruplets who were implanted at birth with illegal neurolinks. One of the brothers suddenly vanishes from his Australian home. His brothers find him in a Parisian suburb. A sinister, aging billionaire is involved. I had a lot of trouble telling one brother from the next, and some of the plotline didn't make sense to me.. 2.5 stars, rounded up.
Based on G33z3r 's review, I may (or may not) read on. The Cooper is definitely worth reading, the Egan less so.
• "Callme and Mink" by Brenda Cooper. Post-collapse story features an autonomous, humanoid robot who raises dogs in an almost deserted town, and tries to find good homes for them with human travelers. "Julie’s core programming knew how to read dogs. Dogs are to help human hearts." Nicely done, strong 3 stars.
• "You and Whose Army?" by Greg Egan. Confusing (to me) story of quadruplets who were implanted at birth with illegal neurolinks. One of the brothers suddenly vanishes from his Australian home. His brothers find him in a Parisian suburb. A sinister, aging billionaire is involved. I had a lot of trouble telling one brother from the next, and some of the plotline didn't make sense to me.. 2.5 stars, rounded up.
Based on G33z3r 's review, I may (or may not) read on. The Cooper is definitely worth reading, the Egan less so.
November 23, 2020
Probably the best from the issue is a set of two stories linked by tone, “To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds”, by Natalia Theodoridou, and “Callme and Mink”, by Brenda Cooper. Both are stories with emancipated robots as main characters, dealing with what makes us human. Both share a melancholic mood, and are set in troubled times.
“To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds” deals with the passage of time, and the questions that unsettle us. Poetic, it almost reads as a haiku on death. “Callme and Mink” is a small story about how to remain human in harsh times. In a post-apocalyptic America, with survivors wandering across a devastated country, a robot that shelters strayed dogs spends a few days with a family to decide if they are worthy to adopt one of the dogs. A somewhat simple but captivating story.
I also specially enjoyed “Wandering Rocks” by Gregory Feeley - a story with classic flavor with a great atmosphere, one of these stories that make you forget you are reading. You will be orbiting Neptune, with a scientist that has been sent to investigate the activities of a rebel group that escaped from a generational ship. He will discover that the mutiny was triggered by a group of AIs who have become independent from any hardware in particular, and are able to communicate with humans in an almost mystical way.
“To Set at Twilight in a Land of Reeds” deals with the passage of time, and the questions that unsettle us. Poetic, it almost reads as a haiku on death. “Callme and Mink” is a small story about how to remain human in harsh times. In a post-apocalyptic America, with survivors wandering across a devastated country, a robot that shelters strayed dogs spends a few days with a family to decide if they are worthy to adopt one of the dogs. A somewhat simple but captivating story.
I also specially enjoyed “Wandering Rocks” by Gregory Feeley - a story with classic flavor with a great atmosphere, one of these stories that make you forget you are reading. You will be orbiting Neptune, with a scientist that has been sent to investigate the activities of a rebel group that escaped from a generational ship. He will discover that the mutiny was triggered by a group of AIs who have become independent from any hardware in particular, and are able to communicate with humans in an almost mystical way.
December 28, 2020
I came here to read Greg Egan, whose story was excellent ( should have been a novel imo :)).
Other stories I did not like so much with the exception of Last Wishes by D.A. XIAOLIN SPIRES which is written by one of those narratives which grabs me and spits me our like from a dream when the story ends. Beautifully written.
Other stories I did not like so much with the exception of Last Wishes by D.A. XIAOLIN SPIRES which is written by one of those narratives which grabs me and spits me our like from a dream when the story ends. Beautifully written.
January 9, 2021
This one's a keeper. There are some good stories in here.
"Callme and Mink," Brenda Cooper
An apparent post-apocalyptic future where a robot is raising and training puppies to give to humans, to help them survive. It's short, but thoughtful and layered.
Grade: B+
"To Set At Twilight In a Land of Reeds," Natalia Theodoridou
I've noticed this author's name popping up more and more, as the author of quiet, sometimes sad, reflective stories that are really good. This is one of them. The protagonist, Dora, an older woman, is visiting the countryside after the death of her lover, taking an artificial skin to a farm run by an android caring for a group of sentient harvester robots. There are some compelling themes here, in the robots who love being told stories, who hold a funeral for one of their companions who is irretrievably broken in an accident, and the tragedy of their existence: "smart enough to ask questions about life, but unable to find any answers."
Grade: A
"Wandering Rocks," Gregory Feeley
This is more on the hard-SF end of the spectrum, with a revolution of artificial intelligences on the moons of Neptune. I didn't think the characterization was very good in this one, and it wasn't really my thing.
Grade: C-
"You and Whose Army?" Greg Egan
This might have been my thing, if I understood the ending. I didn't, even after reading it several times. This tale of four neurally linked brothers who share each other's memories, and what happens when one brother tries to extricate himself from their shadow, unplug from the artificial quadruplet, and strike out on his own, only to fall in with an aging billionaire he allows to share his memories, and (so the other brothers think, as they kidnap him to try to save him) eventually his body as well...there seems to be a more compelling story buried somewhere in here, struggling to get out. And I'm sorry, but that ending just bumfuzzled me.
Grade: D
"Last Wishes," D.A. Xiaolin Spires
This is an emotional, heartfelt tale of a daughter's tribute to her late mother, the final journey to deposit her mother's ashes, and the unlocking of her mother's final puzzle--an urn festooned with hidden holograms of the daughter. I liked it, but it also seemed to drag in the middle.
Grade: C
"All Living Creation," Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon
A short, nasty science fiction/horror story of a brother hunting down his little sister, who left home, leaked her genes online, and ended up getting cloned the world over, used for all sorts of benevolent and not-so-benevolent purposes. The more you read it, the darker and more twisted this story gets, and you realize the true villain is the brother that hunts his sister down and banishes her to a submarine cruising the bottom of the ocean, imprisoning her against her will to "save" her, even as he unleashes a virus that will murder all her clones.
Grade: B+
"Ashes Under Uricon," Adrastos Omissi
This is another post-apocalyptic robot story (the theme of this issue, it seems). Lottie is a care robot, wandering the earth after a final war when war robots cause the extinction of the human race--and mindlessly fight on long afterwards, shooting anything (large animals, other robots) that moves. This is a sad, melancholy little tale.
Grade: B+
"Callme and Mink," Brenda Cooper
An apparent post-apocalyptic future where a robot is raising and training puppies to give to humans, to help them survive. It's short, but thoughtful and layered.
Grade: B+
"To Set At Twilight In a Land of Reeds," Natalia Theodoridou
I've noticed this author's name popping up more and more, as the author of quiet, sometimes sad, reflective stories that are really good. This is one of them. The protagonist, Dora, an older woman, is visiting the countryside after the death of her lover, taking an artificial skin to a farm run by an android caring for a group of sentient harvester robots. There are some compelling themes here, in the robots who love being told stories, who hold a funeral for one of their companions who is irretrievably broken in an accident, and the tragedy of their existence: "smart enough to ask questions about life, but unable to find any answers."
Grade: A
"Wandering Rocks," Gregory Feeley
This is more on the hard-SF end of the spectrum, with a revolution of artificial intelligences on the moons of Neptune. I didn't think the characterization was very good in this one, and it wasn't really my thing.
Grade: C-
"You and Whose Army?" Greg Egan
This might have been my thing, if I understood the ending. I didn't, even after reading it several times. This tale of four neurally linked brothers who share each other's memories, and what happens when one brother tries to extricate himself from their shadow, unplug from the artificial quadruplet, and strike out on his own, only to fall in with an aging billionaire he allows to share his memories, and (so the other brothers think, as they kidnap him to try to save him) eventually his body as well...there seems to be a more compelling story buried somewhere in here, struggling to get out. And I'm sorry, but that ending just bumfuzzled me.
Grade: D
"Last Wishes," D.A. Xiaolin Spires
This is an emotional, heartfelt tale of a daughter's tribute to her late mother, the final journey to deposit her mother's ashes, and the unlocking of her mother's final puzzle--an urn festooned with hidden holograms of the daughter. I liked it, but it also seemed to drag in the middle.
Grade: C
"All Living Creation," Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon
A short, nasty science fiction/horror story of a brother hunting down his little sister, who left home, leaked her genes online, and ended up getting cloned the world over, used for all sorts of benevolent and not-so-benevolent purposes. The more you read it, the darker and more twisted this story gets, and you realize the true villain is the brother that hunts his sister down and banishes her to a submarine cruising the bottom of the ocean, imprisoning her against her will to "save" her, even as he unleashes a virus that will murder all her clones.
Grade: B+
"Ashes Under Uricon," Adrastos Omissi
This is another post-apocalyptic robot story (the theme of this issue, it seems). Lottie is a care robot, wandering the earth after a final war when war robots cause the extinction of the human race--and mindlessly fight on long afterwards, shooting anything (large animals, other robots) that moves. This is a sad, melancholy little tale.
Grade: B+
October 19, 2020
Okay issue with lots of AI stories and good worldbuilding, but lackluster plots. The best was actually the interview with Kim Stanley Robinson, but as for some of the stories:
“Callme and Mink” by Brenda Cooper is about a robot that teaches dogs to be companions for humans. It has an interesting future setting, but the emotional part of the story didnt do much for me. 2/5 stars.
“To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds” by Natalia Theodoridou is also about robots. This time maintenance robots on a farm and again it is a story that tries to put human emotions into robots, and it doesn't work that well. 2/5 stars.
“Wandering Rocks” by Gregory Feeley has a cool setting on one of Neptuns moons. Some rebels steal some ships and take off to another moon. Our protagonist is set to track them down and find out why. Cool setting but not the most interesting plot. 3/5 stars.
Greg Egans gives us a nice technothriller in “You and Whose Army?” where one of four brothers suddenly vanishes without a trace. The interesting part is that the four have some implants in their brains that makes it possible for them to share memories, but now this one brother have disconnected himself. 4/5 stars.
“Last Wishes” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires deals with death and loss. The narrator hides the ashes of hear deceased mother inside her artificial skin and she carries a hightech urn locked with a mysteric puzzle she needs to solve. Again a story with an interesting setting, but the story is rather boring. 2/5 stars
Translated from Chinese, “All Living Creation” by Xiu Xinyu is a strange story where people are afraid to get their DNA stolen, so everyone wears a protective membrane. One doesn't want to do that and clones of her appears everywhere as more or less slaves. The structure is a bit confusing, but otherwise well done. 3/5 stars.
“Ashes Under Uricon” by Adrastos Omissi is one of the those "the world has ended" kind of stories. Here we follow the narrator who travels through wasteland Europe alone. There is a bit of a twist ending, that is not overly surprising, but the story is short enough and well written, so for what it is, it gets the job done. 3/5 stars.
“Callme and Mink” by Brenda Cooper is about a robot that teaches dogs to be companions for humans. It has an interesting future setting, but the emotional part of the story didnt do much for me. 2/5 stars.
“To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds” by Natalia Theodoridou is also about robots. This time maintenance robots on a farm and again it is a story that tries to put human emotions into robots, and it doesn't work that well. 2/5 stars.
“Wandering Rocks” by Gregory Feeley has a cool setting on one of Neptuns moons. Some rebels steal some ships and take off to another moon. Our protagonist is set to track them down and find out why. Cool setting but not the most interesting plot. 3/5 stars.
Greg Egans gives us a nice technothriller in “You and Whose Army?” where one of four brothers suddenly vanishes without a trace. The interesting part is that the four have some implants in their brains that makes it possible for them to share memories, but now this one brother have disconnected himself. 4/5 stars.
“Last Wishes” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires deals with death and loss. The narrator hides the ashes of hear deceased mother inside her artificial skin and she carries a hightech urn locked with a mysteric puzzle she needs to solve. Again a story with an interesting setting, but the story is rather boring. 2/5 stars
Translated from Chinese, “All Living Creation” by Xiu Xinyu is a strange story where people are afraid to get their DNA stolen, so everyone wears a protective membrane. One doesn't want to do that and clones of her appears everywhere as more or less slaves. The structure is a bit confusing, but otherwise well done. 3/5 stars.
“Ashes Under Uricon” by Adrastos Omissi is one of the those "the world has ended" kind of stories. Here we follow the narrator who travels through wasteland Europe alone. There is a bit of a twist ending, that is not overly surprising, but the story is short enough and well written, so for what it is, it gets the job done. 3/5 stars.
March 19, 2021
Callme and Mink: 4/5 I really enjoyed this story. The world hinted at was intriguing and the story really hit me in the feels.
To Set at Twilight: 3/5 A solid story but not amazing. I liked aspects of the world and the way the author makes you feel about the robots, but not the ending.
Wandering Rocks: 2/5 I felt this was pretty clunky, if I'm honest, and it didn't make an impression. Not my cup of tea.
You and Whose Army: 4/5 This would have been amazing if it hadn't flubbed the ending, as it is it's still very good.
Last Wishes: 3/5 This one was nifty!
All Living Creation: 1/5 Bad.
Ashes Under Uricon: 2/5 Melancholy, but ticked along nicely.
To Set at Twilight: 3/5 A solid story but not amazing. I liked aspects of the world and the way the author makes you feel about the robots, but not the ending.
Wandering Rocks: 2/5 I felt this was pretty clunky, if I'm honest, and it didn't make an impression. Not my cup of tea.
You and Whose Army: 4/5 This would have been amazing if it hadn't flubbed the ending, as it is it's still very good.
Last Wishes: 3/5 This one was nifty!
All Living Creation: 1/5 Bad.
Ashes Under Uricon: 2/5 Melancholy, but ticked along nicely.
November 3, 2020
- Callme and Mink - Brenda Cooper * * * *
- To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds - Natalia Theodoridou * * * *
- Wandering Rocks - Gregory Feeley * * *
- You and Whose Army? - Greg Egan * * *
- Last Wishes - D.A. Xiaolin Spires * *
- All Living Creation - Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon * * *
- Ashes Under Uricon - Adrastos Omissi * * * *
- To Set at Twilight In a Land of Reeds - Natalia Theodoridou * * * *
- Wandering Rocks - Gregory Feeley * * *
- You and Whose Army? - Greg Egan * * *
- Last Wishes - D.A. Xiaolin Spires * *
- All Living Creation - Xiu Xinyu, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon * * *
- Ashes Under Uricon - Adrastos Omissi * * * *
October 14, 2020
Subtle storylines with strong emotional threads. An issue which seemed to explore the bonds with which we have with each other and how strong or not they are. An issue for those who like a light touch of science fiction mixed with excellent short storytelling.
October 14, 2020
Good issue. Standouts are You and Whose Army? and All Living Creation.
December 27, 2020
Loved the Cooper story, also Egan and Omissi.
November 11, 2020
Audio recordings.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews