Clarkesworld #223, April 2025“Through These Moments, Darkly” by Samantha Murray
“Aegiopolis Testudo” by Gordon Li
“Symbiotic” by Carolyn Zhao
“An Even Greater Cold to Come” by Rich Larson
“The Seed” by Sheri Singerling
“Still Water” by Zhang Ran
“In My Country” by Thomas Ha
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Two novelettes and five short stories appear in this issue.
“Through These Moments, Darkly” by Samantha Murray takes place in a near future of permanent winter. The narrator’s lover, a physicist, theorizes that portals to other universes exist. The narrator is a biologist and notes the sudden disappearance of certain organisms and the equally swift appearance of others with unique characteristics, unlike any other lifeform on Earth. These two concepts lead to a dramatic change in the relationship between the two characters.
From the above synopsis, it may be clear what is going on. The story’s climax may also be predictable. Despite the presence of major speculative content, this is mostly a bittersweet love story. As such, it would be more effective if the narrator (addressed as “you”) were a clearly described character. The narrator’s lover seems far more real.
“Aegiopolis Testudo” by Gordon Li takes place on a human colony built on the shell of an immense turtle-like creature on an alien world. The narrator is ambivalent about the way thousands of people derive energy from the gigantic animal, thinking of them as parasites. When the creature mates with another of its kind, a crisis results.
The story is mainly notable for the detailed and imaginative description of its unique setting, which comes to seem like a genuine ecosystem. The human characters are much less involving. As evidence of this, there is only a tiny bit of dialogue scattered among long blocks of narration.
The novelette “Symbiotic” by Carolyn Zhao features two men who have been neurologically linked to share each other’s sensations. They work at salvaging a vessel sunk in the ocean of an alien world. An attack by a predatory sea creature threatens their lives.
This overly simplified synopsis makes the story sound much more linear and plot-oriented than it is. In fact, the text constantly jumps back and forth in time, from before the pair were linked to the aftermath of the attack. There are also sections told from the point of view of parasites that prey on the predator. Combined with complex speculative concepts, these narrative techniques make the story difficult to read, requiring close attention to the text to keep the order of events in mind. Whether this is a fair price to pay for what is clearly an ambitious work is a decision to be made by each reader.
In “An Even Greater Cold to Come” by Rich Larson, a pregnant woman and her two young daughters hide from soldiers. The older of the children takes the risk of leaving their shelter in search of her dog, leading to an encounter with the soldiers that ends in a shocking way.
The story’s climax is genuinely surprising and dramatic. The futuristic background is subtly conveyed, in a way that stirs the reader’s imagination to fill in the details rather than simply being confusing.
“The Seed” by Sheri Singerling takes place on an ocean planet inhabited by humans who discarded technology long ago after devastating wars. The narrator’s husband finds an artificial intelligence in the sea. The narrator retrieves it from its hiding place, intending to throw it back into the deep, but instead it has a profound influence on her life.
The author convincingly portrays the narrator’s distrust of technology and the superstitious ways of her culture. (She thinks of the AI as a djinn.) The way in which the device alters her society happens a little too quickly to be completely believable, but otherwise the plot is acceptable.
The novelette “Still Water” by Zhang Ran is translated from Chinese by Andy Dudak. Part of the text consists of third person narration of a character’s experiences from the time he is cured of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease) as a young man to the end of a long, happy life. Alternating with this are sections told in first person narration by the man’s mother, from her pregnancy to the time she takes him to an experimental clinic when he is a teenager suffering from the terminal stage of ALS. The conclusion reveals the connection between these two narratives.
This is a rare example of third person narration appropriately used to strengthen a story’s theme. The full impact of this technique becomes clear at the end. The author avoids the common flaw of third person narration, the fact that it often results in vague characterization.
The story is very sensitively written, dealing with tragic events without descending into melodrama or sentimentality. Praise should also go to the translator for conveying the author’s calm but emotionally powerful style.
“In My Country” by Thomas Ha takes place in an authoritarian society, but one with an unusual aspect to its repression. Clear, open criticisms of the government and the supreme leader are tolerated. However, ambiguous statements, which might or might not be rebellious, are dealt with harshly. The narrator’s adult son, a writer, creates works that are dangerously suggestive. His sister becomes involved with a mysterious group of revolutionaries.
Without explicit fantasy content, this story has the feeling of magic realism, with the peculiarities of its imaginary nation (agents of the government living in blue houses in every neighborhood, mirrors as forms of surveillance and communication, etc.) described in a matter-of-fact way. The work is partly self-referential, as one of the son’s tales begins in the same way as the story itself. This may weaken the reader’s suspension of disbelief. Some may find the climax overly ambiguous, although this seems appropriate to the theme.
Victoria Silverwolf notes that the word count of one of the pieces in this issue lies exactly on the border between a short story and a novelette. The magazine calls it a short story, so she will too.