Lightspeed “The Knacker Man” by Scott Dalrymple
‘Sarah’s Laugh” by Melissa A Watkins
“The Star Where We Meet” by Sam W. Pisciotta
“The Aerialist” by Yoon Ha Lee
“The Stars Look Away From This Vessel” by Dave Ring
“Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord” by Ada Hoffmann
“The Test of Time” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
“The Last Season of Your Life” by Christopher Barzak
Reviewed by Mike Bickerdike
“The Knacker Man” by Scott Dalrymple is a very interesting and well-written piece of SF flash fiction. Set in the trenches of World War I, a man reflects on his sense of place in the world, and thinks back to when, as a lad, he met the knacker man on his uncle’s farm. The short tale has an unexpected end, which is usually a positive, and while I’m not certain how I interpret the author’s underlying meaning, I know I like the piece; recommended.
‘Sarah’s Laugh” by Melissa A Watkins is described by the editor as a fantasy short story, but it can also be considered an SF tale, as it describes a dystopian future society in the USA. The tale explores an extension of the current administration’s devolution of power to billionaire’s, and asks what happens when political power and whole cities are sold to unethical oligarchs for their own capitalist exploitation? What might have seemed an unlikely SF premise only a few years ago, now reads as a prescient warning, given the current direction of travel. The fantasy element in the story centres on the mysterious ability of a baby girl, who’s laugh causes the walls that surround the new corporate cities to simply disappear. The obvious metaphor, here—that the next generation, innocent and uncorrupted, can be our salvation—is perhaps a little clichéd. However, sometimes the obvious is okay, and the tale follows SFF’s rich history of addressing the worries of each generation. While this story isn’t perfect, it is well-written and carries off an important theme, and is also recommended.
“The Star Where We Meet” by Sam W. Pisciotta is quite a thought-provoking SF short story, exploring the idea of identity within the SF concept of transcribing individuals’ brains to microchips. A ‘man’ travels across space to make first contact, carried on a chip, but when he gets to his destination, several realities seem to co-exist. What exactly occurs or why is a little opaque though, making this story’s strengths its tone and mystery, rather than its internal logic.
“The Aerialist” by Yoon Ha Lee is fantasy flash fiction. The author seems to have obtained a new thesaurus and put it to liberal use, resulting in jarring, purple prose. A museum placard is both sententious and mellifluous—quite the feat. The protagonist is “bound by the disciplinary geas to wear the tarnish of disgrace”. Can you wear tarnish? A little later: “She could anatomize the problem to her heart’s content after she escaped.” Indeed, why use ‘analyse’ when such rich synonyms as ‘anatomize’ exist? I’m not sure what this short tale is really about—other than the hackneyed metaphor of words providing wings—but I’m pretty sure it’s not very good.
“The Stars Look Away From This Vessel” by Dave Ring is a short SF story, set in space, in which two members of a ship’s crew investigate a mysterious space station or drifting ship. The overall situation is not clearly elucidated throughout and is too short to develop character. This tale might have benefitted from a little more clarity and length to develop the plot.
“Ten Unsent Letters to the Dark Lord” by Ada Hoffmann is a fantasy short story that does exactly what the title says, offering letters written by the imprisoned assistant of a defeated ‘Dark Lord.” The letter writer seems to have developed a form of Stockholm syndrome sympathy for the erstwhile Dark Lord. It’s quite a nice read.
“The Test of Time” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an SF novelette, set in a time-travel academy. Students taking a class in ‘Advanced Temporal Disruption’ find the course extremely difficult, though one student may have insights her classmates lack. It’s quite nicely written, and the ideas are a somewhat novel take on time travel, but with such a well-worn SF trope, it’s difficult for such a story to seem very fresh. Moreover, the denouement lacks punch, and doesn’t quite pay off the preceding set up.
“The Last Season of Your Life” by Christopher Barzak is a piece of fantasy flash fiction. When people die they enter an old private school, as ghosts for a ‘final season’, to help them get ready for what is next. The idea, in literal terms, is a bit daft (does everyone in the world who dies go to the school?), so it depends on its emotional connections and character-driven verisimilitude to succeed. Unfortunately, the flash format doesn’t provide the space for these elements to develop much.
More of Mike Bickerdike’s reviews and thoughts on science-fiction can be found at https://starfarersf.nicepage.io/