Clarkesworld #215, August 2024
“The Time Capsule” by Alice Towey
“Molum, Molum, Molum the Scourge” by Rich Larson
“Canyon Dance” by Rajeev Prasad
“Where My Love Still Lives” by Emily Taylor
“The Sort” by Thomas Ha
“Something Crossing Over, Something Coming Back” by Timothy Mudie
“The Deformed Saint and the Poison Wind” by David McGillveray
“Three Circuits of the Monoceros Ring” by Marisca Pichette
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Half a dozen short stories and a pair of novelettes appear in this issue.
“The Time Capsule” by Alice Towey takes place several centuries from now, when people have lost higher forms of technology. A space probe launched from Earth many years ago returns, bearing a functioning computer full of vital information and holographic messages from the woman in charge of the project. The ambitious leader of a community tries to steal the device from the woman who found it.
The author creates two different future societies and manages to make both seem real. Despite the conflict inherent in the plot, the story avoids melodrama. The characters are believable, including the antagonist, who is much more than a stereotypical villain.
The main character in “Molum, Molum, Molum the Scourge” by Rich Larson is an enhanced warrior, formerly employed in violent gladiatorial battles that are now illegal. His enhancements force him to consume a particular substance, essentially making him an addict. A young man who is a fan of his former glory as a fighter offers him the chance to steal a large supply of the substance. The situation turns out to be very different from what was expected.
This is a gritty, hardboiled story with the feeling of cyberpunk or grimdark science fiction. It offers a vivid portrait of a high-tech future inhabited by criminals, addicts, has-beens, and a small number of the wealthy elite. The heist plot creates suspense while going in an unpredictable direction.
The narrator of “Canyon Dance” by Rajeev Prasad is a recovering alcoholic. He achieves sobriety by changing his life and finding faith in his own version of God. While dealing with moving from his home, his wife’s health problems, and his adult daughter’s desire to lead her own life, he suffers a relapse that threatens to destroy his life.
I have deliberately avoided discussing the speculative content of this novelette, in order to point out that the basic plot is that of a mainstream story. The narrator lives in a spaceship, his wife’s health involves their environment, and the daughter is genetically engineered. One reason for the man’s relapse is a visit to a planet where the inhabitants are bioengineered to consume alcohol with no negative effects, exposing him to temptation. These science fiction trappings are detailed and imaginative, but not really relevant.
“Where My Love Still Lives” by Emily Taylor takes place in a future world where machines consume living and nonliving elements of the environment, transforming them into inexplicable structures. The remaining humans live in underground shelters. A few people are brave enough to risk their lives flying in gliders, in order to harvest food grown on the tops of surviving buildings. The plot deals with one such flyer who is forced to land at the shelter she left twenty years ago, where a former lover still lives.
The story mostly deals with the mixed emotions created by the unexpected reunion. As such, it is effective enough. Like the previous story, however, the science fiction elements are not really necessary to the plot. The premise of the relentlessly consuming machines (apparently created by people long before the story begins, for unknown reasons) is intriguing. One might wish for a more extensive use of this idea.
The narrator of “The Sort” by Thomas Ha and his son are genetically enhanced, including being able to communicate telepathically. This kind of manipulation of human beings is now illegal, and the pair try to hide their nature from those who might try to harm them. During a visit to a small town, the truth threatens to come out.
This basic plot outline fails to mention the most interesting parts of the story. One of these is a genetically manipulated tiger, which is completely harmless and able to greet tourists. The other is a ritual in which bulbs of genetically enhanced garlic that are defective are burned. These unique elements, perhaps meant as symbols of the father and son, are much more striking than the rest of the story.
The novelette “Something Crossing Over, Something Coming Back” by Timothy Mudie is a spy story. The protagonist has his consciousness transferred into the body of a citizen of an enemy nation. His mission is to prevent the other side from developing the same technology. After the war is over, he seeks to meet the man whose body he inhabited.
The text alternates between the anticipated peacetime meeting and flashbacks to the spy mission. This technique lessens the suspense; we know that the main character will return safely to his own body from the start. The method of transferring consciousness involves a serum that allows the spy to do this at a distance, without the other man’s knowledge. Even for a story that takes place in a world other than our own, this strains credibility. Much of the narrative deals with the protagonist’s relationship with the wife of the man whose body he inhabits. This part of the story is more effective than the espionage plot.
In “The Deformed Saint and the Poison Wind” by David McGillveray, a woman is forced to land on an unknown world after her spaceship is attacked by hostile aliens. The planet is inhabited by extraterrestrials who are dying out due to radiation, a side effect of the war. The woman tries to help them.
As is true of much science fiction, the background is more complex than the plot. The friendly, dying aliens are interesting, as is the woman’s background as a courier, designed from birth to serve in the war. The way in which she attempts to heal the extraterrestrials is too convenient to be fully believable.
“Three Circuits of the Monoceros Ring” by Marisca Pichette consists of messages exchanged among a trio of space explorers, each one of whom is in a different part of the borders of the galaxy. The three are also in a group relationship.
This portrait of a ménage à trois makes for pleasant, if extremely light, reading. The fact that the characters are called Neon, Pastel, and Chalk (possibly nicknames) may strike some readers as too cute.
Victoria Silverwolf likes garlic.