Reactor, March 2024
“The River Judge” by S. L. Huang
“Median” by Kelly Robson
“A Well-Fed Companion” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Two dark fantasies and one science fiction story appear in this issue of the website formerly known as Tor.com.
“The River Judge” by S. L. Huang takes place in China at an unspecified time in the past. The main character matures from a little girl to a young woman over the course of the story. At an early age, she learns that her father murders officials and other troublesome people at the inn he owns, with the apparent approval of the local villagers. He makes his wife and daughter bury their bodies. Years later, with the help of a cousin and other allies, the protagonist exacts her own form of rough justice.
I have deliberately avoided mentioning the story’s fantasy content, as it is minimal. A ghost briefly appears, and has an important part in the plot, but could easily be replaced with a non-supernatural occurrence.
This is a very grim, bloody story, with a particularly violent climax. One plot element, about halfway into the text, may disturb sensitive readers even more than the many murders. The least repellent characters are either victims or killers who are slightly less bloodthirsty than others. Readers of crime fiction and historical fiction, particularly those with strong stomachs, are more likely to enjoy this gruesome tale than fans of fantasy.
In “Median” by Kelly Robson, a woman’s car breaks down on the highway. Worse yet, passing vehicles crash into her automobile but do not stop, leaving her completely stranded. She is unable to reach 911, but, strangely, people call her thinking she is 911 herself. She helps the desperate callers as best as she can. Meanwhile, she makes a disturbing discovery and has an extraordinary encounter.
The story builds slowly from realism to fantasy, with early events that seem bizarre but explicable, until the purely supernatural ending. The author creates a sympathetic character and a great deal of suspense. Although the mood is often that of a horror story, the final effect is uplifting.
“A Well-Fed Companion” by Congyun “Mu Ming” Gu, translated from Chinese by Kiera Johnson, takes place at a future time when technology allows people to have their innermost personalities create artificial animal companions. The vast majority of people have dogs, a few people have cats. The protagonist, who has a cat, metaphorically feeds it with recordings of her experiences and the fictional stories she writes about historical figures and their imaginary animal companions. She meets a man who also has cat, but finds out he has a dark secret.
The premise reminds me of the so-called daemons in Phillip Pullman’s fantasy trilogy His Dark Materials, but with a scientific explanation. The notion is an intriguing one, but the way it works is not always clear. The main character’s writings, briefly quoted in the story, give the work the feeling of metafiction. These sections of the text, such as a scene in which the German mathematician Emmy Noether has a snow leopard companion, are sometimes more interesting than the rest of the story.
Victoria Silverwolf thinks “Reactor” is a clever new name.