Reactor, April 2024

“Have You Eaten? Part 1: Daneka’s Birthday” by Sarah Gailey

“Have You Eaten? Part 2: Dinner with Peter” by Sarah Gailey

“Have You Eaten? Part 3: Morrow’s Comfort” by Sarah Gailey

“Have You Eaten? Part 4: Harper’s Homecoming” by Sarah Gailey

“The Plasticity of Being” by Renan Bernardo

“Blackjack” by Veronica Schanoes

“Judge Dee and the Executioner of Epinal” by Lavie Tidhar

Reviewed by Mike Bickerdike

This month Reactor (formerly Tor.com) delivers a dystopian novella (presented in four parts, as distinct short stories) as well as two fantasy novelettes and an SF short story.

“Have You Eaten?” is a novella written by Sarah Gailey comprising four parts, set in a dystopian future, in which we follow the travels of four friends, some of whom are outwardly queer or non-binary, though the identity of all of them is unclear. The future setting is rather thinly described, and there are few SF elements here. Other than seeming to be set in a future world, the activities and worries of the group, as homeless drifters, would probably work equally well in any time period. Each part of the novella takes place in a different geographic place, as the group travels from one location to another with the overall aim of reaching Chicago, and each part also centres on the preparation of a different meal, made up of sparse scavenged food. Indeed, the four meal recipes and their instructions are given at the start and end of each story part. This use of recipes to bookend the tales is an inventive idea but doesn’t add much to the stories.

“Have You Eaten? Part 1: Daneka’s Birthday” by Sarah Gailey introduces a group of four characters who we will follow through all four-parts of the novella. The characters are not especially likeable, though in this first story the writing is quite engaging, and the story carries the reader along rather well. A friend of the group, Daneka, has disappeared and the group is worried about her. The matriarchal figure of the group intends to cook Daneka a birthday pie, with the hope she will return.

“Have You Eaten? Part 2: Dinner with Peter” by Sarah Gailey rejoins the group after they have left their home to search for Daneka and has reached a decrepit farmhouse. Here they meet Peter, whose background seems somewhat shady. Much of this part of the tale comprises the making of a meal, though again, the writing is quite engaging, and we are left to wonder what has happened to Daneka, and where the group will end up. The author sets up a mystery of whether Daneka is truly messaging the group, or whether the messages are ‘deep-fake’, sent by some mysterious person or organisation.

“Have You Eaten? Part 3: Morrow’s Comfort” by Sarah Gailey represents the point where the novella starts to lose some of its grip and promise. The characters demonstrate a previously unrevealed viciousness, and we lose any sympathy for them or their situation. The search for Daneka may continue, but we are given no reason to care for her or hope the group will find her—this is the unfortunate consequence of providing no background or characterisation for the lost friend Daneka. Moreover, the transgender and queer elements in the tale start to dominate and obscure the genre intrigue that had otherwise been developing.

“Have You Eaten? Part 4: Harper’s Homecoming” by Sarah Gailey concludes the tetralogy of stories that comprise the novella. Having reached Chicago, the group reconnects with others in the city, and spends a long time considering their position, and making another meal. As a concluding story, it doesn’t entirely satisfy, and without the preceding parts to provide some context, it seems very light in content, despite being the longest part of the tale.

The decision to split the novella into four parts is a little unusual—it is usually novels that are serialised—and I’m not sure it works especially well. Not enough occurs in each story to make them be sufficiently self-contained to justify splitting the novella up. On the flip side, perhaps it’s too light overall to justify publication in standard novella format.

“The Plasticity of Being” by Renan Bernardo is a reflective, serious and slightly depressing future SF short story, in which the human population of a South American slum has been genetically modified to be able to consume plastic. The technology has been developed to address two problems: world hunger and a growing mountain of plastic waste. The tale explores the importance of human dignity, how technology can threaten that pillar of the human condition, and whether we should follow through with scientific advances because we can, without inquiring whether we should.

“Blackjack” by Veronica Schanoes is quite a successful ghost story novelette. There is a freshness to the story, in part because it is set in the early 1960s—not a commonly-mined time period these days, outside of ‘space-race’ tales—and partly because it taps into Jewish mythology and culture, which is not a frequently used cultural backdrop in genre fiction either. In this family drama with a twist, Grandmother Josephine’s daughter, Myra, has recently died, and so Josephine has taken in Myra’s children to live with her. Thirty years ago, Josephine’s first husband, Harry, was a small time gangster in the prohibition era, who left Josephine when Myra was still a little girl, never to be seen again. On a trip to Las Vegas with a friend in 1961, Josephine bumps into Harry again after three decades…though all is not how it seems at first glance. Josephine is a well-drawn character, her thoughts and actions ring true, and the use of Yiddish terms for the afterlife (Yenne Velt), and demon spirits (shedim), bring additional colour and interest to this supernatural tale. This is a well-written, superior novelette and is recommended.

“Judge Dee and the Executioner of Epinal” by Lavie Tidhar is a novelette in the author’s continuing ‘Judge Dee’ series of tales featuring the titular vampire and his assistant, Jonathan. I’ve read a couple of these in the past, and this is the one I’ve enjoyed most to date. Full of wry humour and smart references, these tales are quite sharp and entertaining. Judge Dee, himself an ancient vampire, is the wandering judge and jury to other vampires who have crossed vampiric law. In this adventure, Dee is hell-bent on delivering one vampire, who he has been tracking with some assiduity, to the Executioner of Epinal. However, this particular venture seems much more personally motivated than usual to his assistant Jonathan. Much of the enjoyment in the tale comes form the mundane thoughts and actions of Dee’s assistant, in stark contrast to the supernatural goings on all around him. Rather well done.

More of Mike Bickerdike’s reviews and thoughts on science-fiction can be found at https://starfarersf.nicepage.io/