Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 150, March 2019

by Neil Clarke (Editor)

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 March 2019 issue (#150) Original fiction by D.A. Xiaolin Spires ("But, Still, I Smile"), Erin K. Wagner ("When Home, No Need to Cry"), Rich Larson ("Death of an Air Salesman"), Nin Harris ("Dreams Strung like Pearls Between War and Peace"), Kai Hudson ("Treasure Diving"), and Emily C. Skaftun ("The Thing With the Helmets").* Reprints by Kij Johnson ("26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss") and Catherynne M. Valente ("The Future is Blue").* Non-fiction by Paul Riddell, interviews with Sarah Pinsker and Jean-Michel Jarre, an Another Word column by Fran Wilde, and an editorial by Neil Clarke.

Genres: Science Fiction, Short Stories, Fantasy, Anthologies

141 pages, Paperback

First published March 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

[Tatiana · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Future Is Blue" by Catherynne M. Valente

Only Valente can create such a bizarre world to portray a wrenching picture of an all too possible future climate disaster. Wordsmith extraordinaire.

[Lena · Rating 3 out of 5]

Treasure Diving by Kai Hudson ★★★½☆
Postdiluvian sea humans (dolphins?) deal with radioactive material, and mutated monstrosities, left behind.


When Home, No Need To Cry by Erin K. Wagner ★★★☆☆
Lovely sad story of a terminally ill astronaut who sneaks onto automated spacecraft so she can die in her true home - outer space.


Death of an Air Salesman by Rich Larson ★★★☆☆
In a terrible polluted dystopia two people still manage to carve out some happiness.


The Future is Blue by Catherynne M. Valente ★★★☆☆
Imagine Waterworld built on the Pacific Garbage patch. It’s a rough world but Tetley has found happiness and can’t understand why others would trade their current joys for hope (false hope?).

I’m not sure if this is a commentary on the current obsession with colonizing Mars or just a general climate change warning story.

But, Still, I Smile by D.A. Xiaolin Spires ★★☆☆☆
A long, weepy, painful and hallucinogenic lament of an astronaut who had a miscarriage and cannot accept she will ever have a child.

Dreams Strung Like Pearls Between War and Peace by Nin Harris ★★☆☆☆
Snapshot of a deeply layered sociological science fiction drama - far too much world building for a short story. You can’t fit Dune in twenty pages.

26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss by Kij Johnson ★★☆☆☆
Intelligent monkeys with inter-dimensional powers perform at a circus. Nothing happens.

The Thing With the Helmets by Emily C. Skaftun ★★☆☆☆
Zany story of a chubby roller derby girl who fights roller derby looking aliens. It doesn’t try to make sense, it’s an I-want-mommy-to-be-proud-of-me story.

Average: 2.56.

[Silvana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Review and rating only for Rich Larson's Death of an Air Salesman.

Okay, this is more 3.5. I liked the world alot, it is immersive and fascinating. Rich also knows how to make his main character engaging. I only wished it had a stronger ending.

[Jon]

Listened to "The Future is Blue" by Catherynne M. Valente (2-2.5 stars)

http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/audio...

[Jordi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Everything is better with Rich Larson in it.

The problem with this Clarkesworld issue is that there are three stories that are so good, that everything pales in comparison. The first is Rich Larson’s “Death of an Air Salesman”, a kind of romantic fairy tale set in a barren dystopian future. Even if that short description may not sound that appealing, the proof is in the pudding - you just need to read the story. There’s also two reprinted stories that are two little masterpieces: “26 Monkeys, Also the Abyss”, by Kij Johnson; and “The Future is Blue” by Catherynne M. Valente. The first one is a fantasy tale about magic tricks that can’t be explained, about what makes life still a mystery. The second one is a short story about a future drowned world where the protagonist lives in a floating island of garbage. This is something that at this point is not that new or original, but similarly to Rich Larson’s story, what makes this story so good is not so much the ideas but the writing.

The rest of the stories in the issue are more average in comparison, with the opener “But, Still, I Smile” by D.A. Xiaolin Spires standing out. A tale of first contact, reflecting on the blind power that leads life to reproduce itself. Interesting ideas, but the first-person narrative voice felt a bit tiring to me, falling too often into over-explaining things. A couple more stories I also liked were the hilarious “The Thing with the Helmets” by Emily C. Skaftun - which reads like a bunch of crazy cats fighting in a sack, but it’s so fun - and “Treasure Diving” by Kai Hudson, with a really nice atmosphere (I have to admit though my soft spot for submarine stories).

All in all, a great issue.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Treasure Diving - 4/5

[Baily]

Placeholder for "Death of an Air Salesman" by Rich Larson.