djotaku's review

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3.0

Some COVID-circumstances led to me finishing the second-half of this two months after starting. So I don't quite remember the themes that piece together this issue, but here are my per-story thoughts:

The Rains on Mars: A delicate story of loss and how running away from loss can have consequences. Very nicely done.

Crossing LaSalle: Complex issues surrounding mortality and self-worth in a world in which people can have their brains loaded into new bodies.

Falling in Love with Martians and Machines: A little hard to interpret for sure, but to me it was a story about how much we are willing to debase ourselves in order to reach our goals.

Darkness, Our Mother: A very, very strange story full of metaphor and a little hard to follow at first. I also feel like it's probably a retelling of an ancient Greek myth, but I'm not sure.

Landmark: Another story high on metaphor and weird syntax that makes it seem like it's obscure just to be mean to the reader.

Who's Afraid of Wolf 359: A guy gets sent in indentured servitude to explore what happened to a system that has fallen out of communications. It as a light, fun tone and a surprisingly fun ending.

Botanica Veneris: A story told in the mold of John Carter, with the same language flourishes.

Non-Fiction

Your are (most likely) not living in a Simulation: The most intelligent thing I've ever read to refute the idea that we could possibly be in a simulation.

Bradbury, Lake, and The Named Lands: A Conversation with Ken Scholes: A discussion about inspiration, starting out by writing short stories, and his series, The Named Lands.

Another Word: What Authors Owe Us: An interesting look at the "contract" between readers and authors. This has been in the ether for a while - sometime last year or so I watched Lindsay Ellis' video essay about the kurfuffle with the author of Between their Stars (or some such book) and it seems things continue to evolve. The author of this piece brings in some good information from the author's side, including a mismatch between what readers want and what makes sense. As this section of the magazine usually is, a good think-piece.

Editor's Desk: Neil writes about his trip to China and what he learned about the Chinese SF community. I already know they've got a pretty vibrant SF scene from the translated works that Neil features in this magazine, but it looks like they might become a powerhouse (if the Communists don't turn against it - see what happened with SF in Russia during certain periods).

mikewhiteman's review

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3.0

The Rains On Mars - Natalia Theodoridou ***
A miner tries to escape their guilty conscience working on Mars. Strong atmosphere and the guilt and numbness of the main character pervades throughout. The use of the rain worked nicely with their mind state.

Crossing LaSalle - Lettie Prell ***
The setting and the characters here - their flatshare, roommates, relationships - are current and feel real. They are young and disillusioned, unable to work and fit into society, and searching for an escape, all very relatable. As a whole though the story is uncomfortable, dealing with suicide/euthanasia but providing the magic solution of everything being ok, not being a "drain on resources" but still being alive in some way - either in an artificial body or uploaded consciousness. To some extent this feels like a cop out, removing the consequences of the action and making the deliberation and fight easier to resolve instead of continuing the struggle. I'm not sure how useful or interesting the idea is beyond an escape/wish fulfilment - which is fine - but I'm still thinking about it, so something worthwhile there anyway.

Falling In Love With Martians And Machines - Josh Pearce **
More scraping by and hoping for a chance to escape in this one. Here, a woman gets along as the mechanic/assistant to a minor successful drag racer while waiting for something bigger. The scenery is all grime and neon and the racing sequences convey the thrill, but the real goal is something different from the racers and pilots, not just a better one.

Darkness, Our Mother - Eleanna Castroianni ***
SFF reworking of the minotaur myth, with mathematics acting as the thread and an inversion as Sadne befriends and tries to help her horned brother Erion escape the labyrinth he has been imprisoned in. Some lovely language and a nice tweak on the familiar tale.

Landmark - Cassandra Khaw ****
A pair of lovers attempt to maintain their connection as one makes the choice to move far beyond the other. Keeps the SF aspect of their separation vague and in the background, focusing on the attempts to communicate love across a distance - both physical and the inherent distance between two individuals. The little details of their love and the efforts to keep it alive through their challenges really shine.

Who's Afraid Of Wolf 359 - Ken MacLeod **
Strange one, this - there's an interesting story within it but it is so stripped of detail and skips over all the real events to give a few moments of snarky conversation. There are some funny lines but the big drama is dealt with in such short order it sticks out sorely.

Botanica Veneris: Thirteen Papercuts By Ida Countess Rathangan - Ian McDonald ***
Slow burning tale as an Irish heiress travels across Venus with her "dear companion", a Tongan princess, ostensibly to see the plant life and create papercut art but really to track down and confront her brother over the theft of a jewel from the family prior to her wedding. A very classic feel to the Venus depicted, but the length did begin to drag.
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