Clarkesworld #184, January 2022
“The Uncurling of Samsara” by Koji A. Dae
“The Five Rules of Supernova Surfing or A For Real Solution to the Fermi Paradox, Bro” by Geoffrey W. Cole
“No One at the Wild Dock” by Gu Shi (translated by S. Qiouyi Lu)
“For Whom the Psychopomp Calls” by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko
“The Lion and the Virgin” by Megan J. Kerr
“Bishop’s Opening” by R. S. A. Garcia
“Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism” by Andrea Kriz
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
The 184th issue of Clarkesworld contains seven stories, including one novella. There are several excellent stories in this collection.
“The Uncurling of Samsara” by Koji A. Dae
This short science fiction story takes place on the colony ship Samsara during the fourth generation of travelers. Gram recently died of cancer before perfecting her cherry pie, and now it falls to her granddaughter, Annessa, to finish the recipe.
But after Gram’s body passes back into the protein vats, Annessa can’t bear to eat again. Days drift past while she pushes herself to develop better recipes for the members of the ship. Her mother worries as more than twenty days go by, and still, Annessa hasn’t eaten.
This was a short but thought-provoking character study in dealing with grief in an environment where you can never entirely cut the physical ties with your recently departed loved ones.
“The Five Rules of Supernova Surfing or A For Real Solution to the Fermi Paradox, Bro” by Geoffrey W. Cole
Two surfer dudes leave Earth to ride the shock waves of supernovas in this SF short. Reef saved the life of Ka-10-8 at a surfing contest in Hawaii, and in return, the alien invites Reef to travel the universe for the ultimate surfing experience.
Over billions of years, they travel in a simulated VW bus, crisscrossing the universe. They calculate the death of supermassive red stars and ride the shock waves when they go boom. But entropy threatens to end their rad experience when finally there are too few stars to maintain their surfer lifestyle. If they could come down from all the drugs, they might find a solution.
The whimsical tale is a warning about what can happen when you leave the fate of the universe in the hands of gnarly surfer dudes. It was an entertaining read despite the rad language.
“No One at the Wild Dock” by Gu Shi (translated by S. Qiouyi Lu)
Ai is struggling to learn human things in this short SF tale. He does not understand descriptions or even who he is, and his frustrated teachers despair of him ever learning enough to be useful. Then they incorporate sight into his programming, and Ai’s understanding expands faster than his instructors can keep pace with.
They show Ai poetry and films and encourage him to see things from a human perspective. They create specialized copies of Ai, which soon begin taking over roles once considered impossible for any AI to replicate. Ai’s teacher soon fears where it will end.
The first three-quarters of the story was a treatise on AI learning before adopting the unoriginal premise of AI taking over from humans.
“For Whom the Psychopomp Calls” by Filip Hajdar Drnovšek Zorko
A space hauler returns from deep space in this short SF; en route it picks up a Psychopomp. The Psychopomp is a harbinger of death, and the two crew members wonder which of them it has come for. When some heavy cargo squashes the android crew member, the human crew member gives a guilty sigh of relief. But then the android recovers.
Now the human believes it must be him, and the pressure mounts as he waits and waits. They are approaching Earth when he learns the truth.
The author’s story was light and gently funny. It was a pleasant read that occupied twenty minutes as the coffee cooled to a drinkable temperature.
“The Lion and the Virgin” by Megan J. Kerr
Anna is alone on a tiny spaceship and confined to a single room in this short SF story. Her only company are the virtual people she can talk to via her computer screen.
Each avatar does its best to keep up her spirits. But after eleven months, Anna’s body is beginning to atrophy. When the computer tells her she is days away from the proxy station, it only makes time drag more, and she is soon approaching a nervous breakdown. Can her virtual friends pull her through?
The author created a curious story that got into the mind of the POV as she fought her way back to civilization.
“Bishop’s Opening” by R. S. A. Garcia
In this intrigue-filled SF novella, Bas and his two partners, Olly and Reece, find themselves wrapped up in an assassination attempt of Bishop, who is a high Valencian official. They are only looking for Olly’s favorite cook when Bas saves Bishop’s life.
Valencia is a brutal culture where each sept wars against the others in the Great Game. They show no mercy to an enemy or anyone else who doesn’t come from their sept. And so, it is a mystery why Bishop doesn’t kill Bas, just in case he was a part of the plot.
Bas and the other two try to protect themselves in this grand chess game, as they seek out some good food. The challenge for these pawns is how to survive in a game where you don’t know the rules.
This sweeping novella included liberal doses of mystery with characters named after chess pieces. It was a highly entertaining read.
“Learning to Hate Yourself as a Self-Defense Mechanism” by Andrea Kriz
In this SF short, she plays a virtugame developed by her friend. The game is a best seller with a chance to be voted greatest of all time. She had resisted playing for some time, but her friend developed the virtugame, so she feels obliged to some extent.
Inside the game’s VR, she realizes that she recognizes many of the scenes, and the dialog could have come from her own mouth. The virtugame maps out her entire time spent with her friend. It feels like an invasion, exposing her true feelings toward her friend. But what can she do about it?
This was a story where the abstractions pushed the story over the boundary into slow and confusing.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com