Diabolical Plots, December 2025

“Our Lady of the Elevator” by Shiwei Zhou

“This Is Not a Space Kidnapping Fantasy” by Priya Sridhar

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

The narrator of “Our Lady of the Elevator” by Shiwei Zhou is a ten-year-old girl. She leaves her apartment in search of her mother, who has run off in anger after her husband deserted her. The elevator in which the girl rides is stuck. When a repairman arrives, a gruesome event is followed by a miracle, seemingly performed by the woman who runs the elevator.

As this synopsis may suggest, this story varies in mood from realistic to horrific to fantastic. The author writes convincingly from the point of view of a child, but the sudden shifts in tone are disconcerting.

“This Is Not a Space Kidnapping Fantasy” by Priya Sridhar features a fan of a science fiction television program that was broadcast some years before the story takes place. At a convention, she meets the woman who, as a child, acted on the show and was severely injured during a stunt. What seem to be the same rocket ships that appeared on the series land nearby, causing the attendees to rush out in a mob to find them.

A lengthy afterword from the author deals mostly with the harm often done to child actors. This explains the first part of the narrative, when the fan meets the performer. The arrival of the spaceships seems like something from an entirely different kind of story. The conclusion is open-ended, leaving the fate of the fans left to the reader’s imagination. The title and the fact that it involves cosplaying conventioneers suggests that the audience for this story may be limited to those familiar with the culture of science fiction fandom.

Victoria Silverwolf is working extra today.