Aurealis “The Cost of Living” by Daniel Matters
“The Song of Circles” by Josephine Sarvaas
“Accidents Will Happen” by Connor White
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Two science fiction stories surround a fantasy in this issue.
“The Cost of Living” by Daniel Matters takes place in a highly polluted future world. A man and his pregnant wife work at the hazardous job of reclaiming materials from waste, hoping to earn enough credit to become citizens of the utopian city where the upper class lives. The man’s health is failing, and when a supervisor arrives with both an opportunity and a dilemma, he is forced to make a terrible decision.
This tale of the haves and the have-nots can also be read as an allegory for the way in which ecological disasters have a greater impact on poorer countries. The characters are well-defined, and the author avoids making the supervisor a stereotypical villain. The protagonist faces a choice between two evils, and readers are sure to sympathize with his plight.
In “The Song of Circles” by Josephine Sarvaas, cruel aristocrats enter an inn after they have devastated a forest and killed a peaceful giant. A mysterious woman makes sure that justice is served.
The setting will seem very familiar to readers of medieval fantasy or those who enjoy fantasy roleplaying games. The villains are one-dimensional figures of evil, and it is not hard to predict that they will pay dearly for their actions. Despite offering little that is new, the story provides vivid images of magical transformations.
The narrator of “Accidents Will Happen” by Connor White is an artificial intelligence located deep inside a mountain. Originally designed to predict accidents in the surrounding environment, it now sees the past, present, and future as one. It foresees the deaths of those who attempt to enter its stronghold and destroy it, as well as those who will succeed many years later.
The premise and narrative voice are unique and intriguing. The machine’s predictive powers seem more mystical than scientific, weakening the story’s plausibility.
Victoria Silverwolf has to do a lot of laundry tomorrow.