Lightspeed “Espie Droger Dreams of War” by Matthew Kressel
“Terms of Enlightenment” by Patrick Hurley
“Eat, Prey, Love: A Modest Proposal for Ensuring Gender Equality Through Selective Dietary Practices” by Jilly Dreadful
“An Encounter at the Dawn of the Time War” by JT Petty
“The Devourers Of War; or, An Excerpt by The Cookbook Of The Gods” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe
“Lotus Dew for the Emperor’s Tea” by Vanessa Fogg
“When We Loved Giants” by Sara S. Messenger
“The Tide Folk” by Jennifer Hudak
Reviewed by Axylus
I once criticized Lightspeed for being relentlessly left-wing. A spoonful of politics can be taken on board, but if I want a blast of agitprop, I’ll binge op-eds by Hasan Piker (though I’m cool with universal healthcare) or Victor Davis Hanson. Here, however, I must give Lightspeed credit where credit is due: This issue has only one such politically charged offering amidst some sterling speculative fiction.
“Espie Droger Dreams of War” by Matthew Kressel is a very good alternate-timeline story. The title says it all, as the protagonist wrestles with what may happen as a result of his wartime actions. This story might have benefited from the extra emotional depth of making its protagonist more relatable, perhaps by giving him someone specific from his past to care about. Definitely recommended.
In “Terms of Enlightenment” by Patrick Hurley a con man is sentenced to rehabilitation in an AI-generated virtual monastery set in a jungle. Based on the Buddhist parable of “The Tiger & the Strawberries.” Enjoyable. Strongly recommended.
“Eat, Prey, Love: A Modest Proposal for Ensuring Gender Equality Through Selective Dietary Practices,” by feminist author Jilly Dreadful, reports an online craze in which women eat men. The craze fades away and is analyzed in a TED talk by a character named Dr. McGowan.
“An Encounter at the Dawn of the Time War” by JT Petty is a story of a “Grothendieck Lens” which displays an image from five seconds into the future. Government agents are pursuing the woman who possesses it.
The elder gods have been destroyed, and the forces of evil run rampant. Well, one god still lives—Eshu, the trickster, the god of fate and pathways. Eshu has to restore balance to the world by fighting his way up an ascending series of evil powers until he reaches the boss-level Iku, the incarnation of Death. “The Devourers Of War; or, An Excerpt from The Cookbook Of The Gods” by Oluwatomiwa Ajeigbe is recommended.
I’m beginning to wonder how many times I’ve made it through a review without mentioning Brandon Sanderson’s “Promise, Progress, Payoff” plot structure. This obviously isn’t one of them. “Lotus Dew for the Emperor’s Tea” by Vanessa Fogg has a progressive sequence of short vignettes with different main characters, including a dew-maiden, the Moon heron’s lover, the youngest daughter of an emperor, and a cheerful old woman who is a master of tea. Each passage deals in some way with the magical healing powers of tea brewed in the dew of lotus flowers from the garden of the First Emperor of China. This story draws on Chinese Taoist legends; the traditional tale of Chang’e, the goddess of the moon; and Lu Yu’s Classic of Tea. It had me hooked most of the way through the tale. Yes, there was a midsection sag, but for the most part it was a winner in my eyes. Alas, the ending did not work for me. Some endings seem clever when you’re typing them, clever to your friends, and clever in a writing workshop, before ultimately falling short. The simple fact is that “Promise, Progress, Clever Ending” only works in a few special cases, and I was not on board with the supposition that this was one of them. Here it may have been wiser instead to extend Sanderson’s Zeroth Law of Magic to cover any and all scenes: “Always err on the side of what is awesome.” Eschew clever endings; go straight for iconic scenes or impactful images and emotions. If you just can’t think of a potent ending offhand, I refer you to my second-most beloved axiom, the “Hemingway’s 47 endings” rule: “You really need to spend more time rewriting your ending.” Recommended.
“The Tide Folk” is brief, wistful fantasy flash fiction by Jennifer Hudak. There are people who come from some unknown ocean realm in the space between daylight and night, gathering pretty bits and baubles. Like seaside Cinderellas, they must make it home before darkness falls, or they will be unable to return.
This is where I should summarize “When We Loved Giants” by Sara S. Messenger. Um, OK, a woman describes her unborn daughter, who will survive a plane crashing into a giant. I would like to thank the author, because I sometimes fear I am becoming senile, and my brain needs new sorts of stimuli to wake it from its impending slumber. For my money, although some may disagree, this tale was mildly mind-bending, in a very pleasant way. Strongly recommended.