A review by rick_k
The Finite Canvas by Lee Mandelo

4.0

I think what is most impressive about The Finite Canvas is the robust world-building which Brit Mandelo was able to accomplish within the constraints of short form fiction. This is a story of a three day encounter between two women who are confronted by their own mortality. The mercenary threatened by violence and the doctor by illness. These aren't shadowy specters. They each vividly understand their reality. The title refers to a ritual scarification that is done to record a tribute to the victim on the body of the murderer. Within this act and the story that accompanies it, we learn all we need to know about the world, politics, environment and culture. We never get to the how and why the world is the way it is, but it doesn't matter. Those are not the questions which concern our characters. The restraint of writing keeps us focused on emotional truth of these women as they weigh duty against the cost of a life at the margins of society.