Reactor, October 2026
“The Monster Hunter’s Bargain” by Genoveva Dimova
“Tomas the Castaway” by Michael Swanwick
“The Date” by Ian McDonald
“An Eye for Property” by Tania Fordwalker
Reviewed by Mike Bickerdike
“The Monster Hunter’s Bargain” by Genoveva Dimova is a dark fantasy short story, set in the same universe as the author’s Witch’s Compendium of Monsters series. It is rather more engaging than it has reason to be, as the story is somewhat limited and the ideas are only moderately inventive. A monster hunter takes a contract from a man, to rid him of the ghost of his murdered wife, but all is not as it seems (of course). While the plot is slight, the execution is good, and there is a brightness to its prose and dialogue.
“Tomas the Castaway” by Michael Swanwick is a fantasy novelette. A man in Venice tries to kill himself, only to find he is transported to another Venice in the 17th Century. Taken in by a great artist and his wife, he starts to work as a mathematician at the Kingdom’s arsenal. However, he believes he cannot share all his knowledge of mathematics with the more ancient Venetians, leading to tension with his friends and colleagues. It’s an effective story, well-told, and offers some interesting new ideas. Recommended.
“The Date” by Ian McDonald is an intriguing fantasy short story. A man goes for an annual date at a very good restaurant with his dead wife. Albeit dead, she is warm and corporeal, and dinner dates with the dead are not uncommon at this restaurant, it seems. While he uses these dates to reminisce, he may be taking the date for granted… The story is nicely conveyed, and the characterisation is quite rounded.
“An Eye for Property” by Tania Fordwalker is an engaging and well-executed cyberpunk novelette. A dying, wealthy old women, of style and substance, has her mind transferred at her death into the host body of a young Asian woman. Although the deceased woman (the ‘Passenger’) should only be awake and aware of the shared body at agreed times of control, she in fact retains awareness of the Asian girl (the ‘Driver’) at all times, even when not in control. Although this idea of sharing consciousness and fighting for control has been explored many times in SF, this story manages to maintain a sense of freshness and surprise and a fair amount of morbid humour. It also uses the concept as a way of contrasting and commenting on the very different outlooks of Baby-Boomers and Millennials. The young women is saddled with debt, seems to lack drive, and is viewed contemptuously by the Passenger within. The tale also has a fair few great lines in it that add humour and bite, such as “Your body is a temple: oversized, underused, and full of wishful thinking.” This is highly recommended.
More of Mike Bickerdike’s reviews and thoughts on science-fiction can be found at https://starfarersf.nicepage.io/