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thesffreader's review against another edition
4.0
“Suzie Q” - Jacqueline Carey *****
A young girl with a bad reputation enters a magic school where she hopes to start over. However, after a couple of peaceful months, she’s betrayed by people she considered as friends and she’s now on the street trying to keep her inner demon in her body while protecting a little boy.
I love Carey’s longer epic fantasy works but it was the first time I tried her short fiction. I really liked Suzie Q, my favorite aspect of the story was seeing how the events of the story influenced Suzanne’s character arc. The pacing and the writing were excellent and the ending was very satisfying.
“Three Meetings of the Pregnant Man Support Group” - James Beamon **** 1/2
What would happen if men were pregnant? You might think that you have read this story a million time over but I can assure you Beamon’s take on this trope is pretty original and worth your time.
In this story, men are expecting alien babies according a contract binding aliens with humans. In exchange for advanced tech, a couple of chosen men bear alien babies. This story follows a pregnant man and the meetings he has with a support group of other pregnant men. At first, it’s hilarious but the tone gets more and more serious as we learn about the implications of those pregnancies.
“A Different Kind of Place” - Tobias S. Buckell ***
The zombie apocalypse is upon us but some of the inhabitants of a city are sure that it won’t happen where they live because are zombies even real? Why would they have to vaccinate themselves against zombies when they’re not even sure they exist? And anyway, the zombies would never go to their town, right?
I liked this story especially the ending but it’s not my favorite of the issue, it’s good but the themes explored were obvious and pushed in the face of the reader a bit too much for my taste
A young girl with a bad reputation enters a magic school where she hopes to start over. However, after a couple of peaceful months, she’s betrayed by people she considered as friends and she’s now on the street trying to keep her inner demon in her body while protecting a little boy.
I love Carey’s longer epic fantasy works but it was the first time I tried her short fiction. I really liked Suzie Q, my favorite aspect of the story was seeing how the events of the story influenced Suzanne’s character arc. The pacing and the writing were excellent and the ending was very satisfying.
“Three Meetings of the Pregnant Man Support Group” - James Beamon **** 1/2
What would happen if men were pregnant? You might think that you have read this story a million time over but I can assure you Beamon’s take on this trope is pretty original and worth your time.
In this story, men are expecting alien babies according a contract binding aliens with humans. In exchange for advanced tech, a couple of chosen men bear alien babies. This story follows a pregnant man and the meetings he has with a support group of other pregnant men. At first, it’s hilarious but the tone gets more and more serious as we learn about the implications of those pregnancies.
“A Different Kind of Place” - Tobias S. Buckell ***
The zombie apocalypse is upon us but some of the inhabitants of a city are sure that it won’t happen where they live because are zombies even real? Why would they have to vaccinate themselves against zombies when they’re not even sure they exist? And anyway, the zombies would never go to their town, right?
I liked this story especially the ending but it’s not my favorite of the issue, it’s good but the themes explored were obvious and pushed in the face of the reader a bit too much for my taste
mikewhiteman's review
4.0
Three Meetings Of The Pregnant Man Support Group - James Beamon ***
A Different Kind Of Place - Tobias S Buckell ***
Suzie Q - Jacqueline Carey ****
A Different Kind Of Place - Tobias S Buckell ***
Suzie Q - Jacqueline Carey ****
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