Reviews

Clarkesworld Magazine, Issue 137 by Neil Clarke

slategrey's review against another edition

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4.0

Umbernight

3.75 out of 5

bookaneer's review against another edition

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4.0

Rating and review only for Carolyn Ives Gilman's "Umbernight".

I love survival stories. I love space colony SF. Both require a well constructed world and this novella delivers it. The dangers from a second sun in a binary world, where certain nights bring out a change landscape with mysterious lifeforms. A team of colonists trying to take what the original settlers give them. Did it worth the journey? How do one know when to take a risk? Is rationality always applicable when it comes to long term survival? This gripping tale will make you think.

PS: Hugo-worthy? Yes.

rixx's review against another edition

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3.0

[Umbernight](http://clarkesworldmagazine.com/gilman_02_18/) is a strong science-fiction story, telling us about settlers on a harsh alien planet – the story and the setting were crafted very well, and felt real and relateable. The weak suit of the story was the writing which frequently felt like it lost its rhythm.

djotaku's review against another edition

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5.0

This issue was full of longer piece, but also pieces I loved so much. I was cracking up so much with Solderin'. I felt pretty emotional with Umbernight, especially as I am getting older like the protagonist and slowly being replaced by the next generation. I also really enjoyed The Power is Out - I couldn't stop reading that story. And The Girl-Thing was a good story, despite the few nits I had to pick with the narrative style.

Here are my story-by-story thoughts (mostly non-spoilery):

Deep down in the cloud: A story about trying hard to effect change even if what you can do seems so miniscule. A future I could see ourselves headed towards.

Obliteration: Reminds me a bit of the premise of Cory Doctorow's Down and out in the magic kingdom. Very interesting exploration of what life would be like if we could remember everything.

Umbernight: I've read a lot of stories of the descendents of generation ships. But this one was really unique in the world it created and the challenges for the colonists.

The power is out: A story about the collapse of society after a solar flare knocks out the electric grid. I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the first person narrative really works for me. I think it's at least in part the overall banality of the situation.

Soldierin': hilarious story about some Buffalo soldiers with a really fun first-person narrative. Can't see where it's science fiction or fantasy unless I missed something, but it was such a great story that I don't mind.

The girl-thing who went out for sushi: A pretty neat story about transhumanism that I think is a metaphor for the current trans situation. It works on its own and the only thing that was a little weird for me was that the main character spoke as if he didn’t understand the human mind-set, but they mention near the end of the story that the transhumans are sterile. So it didn’t make sense to me that someone who used to be human would speak in that way. But maybe that’s also some kind of metaphor that makes sense to trans folks who’ve transitioned.

Non-fiction
The undiscovered country: planets of dead stars: an essay about the habitability of planets as their stars die. Followed up by a short discussion of science fiction that has played with the concepts.

Classics, companionship, and a creature: a conversation with John Kessel: a discussion with the author of Pride and Prometheus, a mashup of Pride and Prejudice and Frankenstein.

Another Word: A Brief Parable about Exchanges Between Time, Independence, Technology, and Privacy: for someone with mobility issues, the trade-offs between online privacy and convenience is not so simple

Editor's desk: About voting for that year’s best stories and artwork.

kayeofswords's review against another edition

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2.0

I really enjoyed these two stories:

The Girl-Thing Who Went Out for Sushi by Pat Cadigan
The Power is Out by A Que, translated by Elizabeth Hanlon

(The nonfiction material was also good.)

Two stories may have disappointed me because I have a degree in library and information science; I can get thrown out of stories really easily when my professional brain notices that something doesn't work. "Deep Down in the Cloud" does not account for pre-late 90s information science architecture, so its premise and near-future information worldbuilding was not very believable to me. "Obliteration" was an interesting concept that could have been taken a bit further; I enjoyed the cautionary data management aspect of the story, but the characters took a backstage to it, and I found the MC a bit flat.

"Umbernight" was an interesting concept, and I guess one of the reasons it didn't land well for me is that I'm a bit fatigued about exoticism and alien planets.

mikewhiteman's review

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3.0

Deep Down In The Cloud - Julie Novakova ***
Quick espionage story, with three saboteurs attempting to destroy the information architecture of the company that controls everyone's data. Neat underwater adventure with familiar themes of breaking free of the observation and exploitation of all-encompassing corporations.

Obliteration - Robert Reed **
Exploration of memories, between artificially keeping records of every moment and one man who chooses to forget everything up to reading and writing to remain "pure". Felt a little muddled in itself but seemed to settle on a reasonable middle ground. Not much story and more whimsical people on Mars than to my taste.

Umbernight - Carolyn Ives Gilman ****
An exploratory adventure that leans towards horror in the second half, as a group of young idealists on a settled planet attempt to retrieve their final shipment of supplies from Earth before the titular "night" - a period when the system's other star is revealed and blasts the surface with x-rays radiation, bringing the local flora and fauna to activity. The battles between conservatism and freedom, pure rationality and artistic expression are simply delineated but the story is no less affecting for that.

The Power Is Out - A Que, trans. Elizabeth Hanlon *
Bleak and largely unimaginative, a group of people in northern China plan and prepare to travel south for the winter after all electrical power has stopped working and society has collapsed. All the characters are thin and clichéd, although given their names - Handsome, Mediocre, Violent, etc - there may have been a level of humour intended that got lost in translation. None of the traits they embody are enough to survive their situation and the presentation of those traits, particularly along gender lines, gets ugly fast.

Soldierin' - Joe R Lansdale ***
Apparently a straight western story (if there's anything speculative I missed it) but enjoyable enough. An ex-slave joins the army after escaping a lynching and gets into a running battle with a group of Apache. Humorous and cynical tone keeps it entertaining in the face of grim and meaningless violence.

The Girl-Thing Who Went Out For Sushi - Pat Cadigan ****
Cadigan's writing is the highlight here, her easy humour and light touch bringing out the personality of the sushi (humans adapted to aquatic forms for low-gravity life) work team and the beauty queen assigned to work with them. The political conflict between Jupiter and the Inner and Outer planets hums in the background but it's the characters that shine as they deal with out of touch bosses and Fry the girl-thing's decision to become sushi herself.
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