Fantasy #78“isio” by Martins Deep
“How to Make a Man Love You” by Hannah Yang
“Practical Childcare Considerations for Knights Errant” by Rachel Locascio
“Beginnings” by Kristina Ten
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
All four new works of fiction in this issue are quite short, the longest well under three thousand words and the briefest not quite reaching six hundred.
Although listed as fiction, and laid out in prose, “isio” by Martins Deep might be more appropriate for the magazine’s poetry section. It consists of paragraphs made up of short phrases separated by forward slashes. There are no capital letters, and a minimum of punctuation. The author creates evocative images and an eerie, dream-like mood, but the narrative, if there is one, is entirely opaque.
In “How to Make a Man Love You” by Hannah Yang, a man learns that his wife of many years used magic to win his affection. Shocked by this discovery, he later learns the real nature of love. This is a simple, sweet, and pleasant little story, with no surprises at all in the plot. Readers of a romantic nature are likely to be the best audience for it.
“Practical Childcare Considerations for Knights Errant” by Rachel Locascio is a spoof of heroic fantasy. The author mixes the clichés of the genre with cell phones and day care centers. It’s a silly piece, which may amuse those familiar with the worn-out tropes of roleplaying games and sword-and-sorcery adventures.
In a similar way, “Beginnings” by Kristina Ten blends modern life with traditional fantasy. A pair of young women fresh out of high school are best friends. A young man of their acquaintance is the son of a king straight out of a fairy tale. When the women fail to show up at a party for the prince, the king seeks them out, leading to unfortunate consequences.
The author tells us what’s going to happen to the women in the first paragraph of the story, so there is no suspense in the plot. The theme of the story, spelled out clearly in the final paragraph, is that beginnings can be happy, even if endings are not. Readers may find the introduction of magic in an otherwise entirely mundane setting difficult to accept.
Victoria Silverwolf has been working a lot of extra days lately.