[On May 10, 2021 Strange Horizons officially expressed its political support for Palestinian solidarity. The views of Tangent Online reviewers are not necessarily those of Strange Horizons. Fiction critiqued at Tangent Online is, as much as is humanly possible, without prejudice and based solely on artistic merit.]

Strange Horizons/Samovar, June 26, 2023

“A Pilgrimage to Memories Tattooed” by Elena Pavlova

“Plums in Chocolate” by Ernestas Parulskis

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Under its occasional rubric of Samovar, the magazine offers two newly translated stories by European authors.

In “A Pilgrimage of Memories Tattooed” by Elena Pavlova, translated from Bulgarian by the author and Desislava Sivilova, the so-called tattoos are actually full sensory experiences entered into a person’s mind, permanently or temporarily, through the use of futuristic technology. The narrator visits a woman who provides this service, undergoing the process several times and gaining insight into it.

The author manages to make this extraordinary procedure seem plausible, and provides many vivid descriptions of the sensations it offers. The story considers both the positive (pleasant daydreams) and negative (punishment for criminals) aspects of the technology, making it seem very real.

The protagonist of “Plums in Chocolate” by Ernestas Parulskis, translated from Lithuanian by Kotryna Garanasvili, is stuck in a time loop, reliving the same one and one-half minutes of her life countless times. It seems that she will be trapped this way forever, until she discovers the unexpected reason for the situation.

The explanation for the phenomenon renders the story an extended joke. The text explicitly mentions the movie Groundhog Day, which has a similar premise. As a lighthearted parody of the film, it may provide some amusement.

Victoria Silverwolf thinks plums in chocolate sounds yummy.