Strange Horizons, September 4, 2017

“Twelve Pictures from a Second World War” by Nghi Vo

Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf

Less than one thousand words long, “Twelve Pictures from a Second World War” by Nghi Vo consists of a dozen short paragraphs. Each one describes a photograph from World War Two. They include supernatural beings, resulting in an impressionistic portrait of a very different version of the conflict. Although there is no real plot, the last paragraph implies that real events may be as extraordinary as fictional ones.

Victoria Silverwolf learned something about history and mythology from this story.