Clarkesworld is a monthly on-line magazine edited by Neil Clarke.
Everything is available in HTML from
the magazine's site, and
it can be bought in various other formats.
"The Painter of Trees" by Suzanne Palmer has the invading Terran
ecosystem and the last of the aliens, with one human trying to help
but only screwing things up more. It's thoroughly depressing, but also
curiously old-fashioned; the basic setup feels like a 1970s new wave
story.
"Erdenweh" by Bo Balder is about someone trying to solve the problem
of depression and suicide suffered by people on extrasolar colonies;
but it relies on an unsupported leap of logic which the viewpoint
character assumes must be right even though there's no attempt at
confirmation. This isn't how solving scientific problems works.
"The Peppers of GreenScallion" by Myung-Hoon Bae has a war solved by
the actual inhabitants of the planet, nominally citizens of one power
or the other, talking to each other. It's desperately idealistic,
which is good for cynical me.
"Said of Angels" by Eric Del Carlo is a lush and baroque setting of
many races and civilisations, and the Arch Hierophant to whom their
religious decisions have been delegated… which makes about as much
sense as the Enigma Babylon One World Faith, especially when it
becomes clear that the Arch Hierophant's decisions won't necessarily
be respected even though he's been explicitly placed in charge of all
religions. Which breaks it enough, for me, that what Del Carlo
apparently considers the real story, how to detect the machinations
of an hypothesised invisible but benevolent agency, rather falls by
the way. Lovely atmosphere, though.
"Bonobo" by Robert Reed has people changing species, though it's
clearly presented more as tourism than as any question of identity.
Drifts off into the distant future and doesn't really say anything at
all.
"Field Mice" by Andy Dudak has one faction believing in continuity of
personality after destructive upload, and the other not. And what does
this mean when a spy for one faction is captured, and will be uploaded
and endlessly tortured, by the other? Should you care about the future
suffering of something if you believe it isn't you? Ignores all the
pragmatic answers in favour of philosophising.
"Two Sisters in Exile" by Aliette de Bodard is more of the
Vietnamese-empire-in-space setting that I rather enjoy; here, someone
involved in the accidental death of a ship travels to where the ship
came from, and realises that these people actually care about their
ships, and will simply roll over the smaller civilisation now that
it's been a nuisance to them. Not great, but pleasing.
"Love at Stake" by Carrie Sessarego reviews the way love is used
narratively in Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
"Time Threads, Epistolary Novels, and Collaboration: A Conversation
with Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone" by Chris Urie makes me
interested in, though not immediately enthusiastic for, their
epistolary collaboration This Is How You Lose the Time War. Which
has been optioned for a TV series even before publication.
"My World Wobbled and Changed: An Interview with Soyeon Jeong" by Gord
Sellar talks with the author of last month's "The Flowering", and
makes her sound dull.
"Editor's Desk: Living Through the Solstice" by Neil Clarke tells us
that Clarke has won the Solstice Award.
Nothing here quite gets over my awards threshold, though some come
close.
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