Fantastic Stories #228, May 2015

Reviewed by Cyd Athens

In Amy Griswold’s “Little Fox,” Bella’s clone, Fox, has drugged Bella, swapped identities with her, and disappeared. Not wanting to alarm her mother or sister, Marissa, Bella pretends to be Fox while also trying to locate the real Fox and find out what happened and why. Here, clones are servants, created to take care of their original selves. In the process of her investigation, Bella learns more than she bargained for and has to decide how to proceed with the new knowledge. This is a coming of age story which is neatly welded with a tale about right, wrong, and choices.

Fifteen year-old Emily, the protagonist of Sara Grey’s story, “This Side of Time,” is looking for a husband. Emily uses a machine which lets her see fifteen to twenty years into the future to winnow down her list of hundreds of possible matches. We are shown a timeslice of Emily’s partnership with one possibility, husband seven-sixty-five. In the end, Emily, quite set in her ways for one so young, decides whether or not the potential husband is a good enough fit to warrant further consideration. That this might be a future of matchmaking is both disturbing and brilliant.

Cyd Athens indulges a speculative fiction addiction from 45ø 29 30.65 N, 122ø 35 30.91 W. Comments on Cyd’s reviews are welcome at www.cydathens.net.