Reactor
, April 2026
“Let’s Go to the Zoo” by Louis Evans
“The Day-Blind Stars” by Christopher Rowe
“I Spin Records into Gold” by Daria Lavelle
Reviewed by Geoff Houghton
The first original piece in the April issue of Reactor is “Let’s Go to the Zoo” by Louis Evans. This short story purports to be set in a near future where the one sane person left in the world is housed in a zoo. Meanwhile, in the words of a long forgotten 1982 “Fun Boy Three” alternative-pop song: The lunatics have taken over the asylum.
The first person narrator is certainly at least mildly deranged, which leads to the question of whether all the action actually takes place inside his head. The author does not definitively reveal that answer, but this fictional world appears far too functional to be entirely run by the insane, so that theory appeals to this reviewer. Perhaps the point of this story is that the reader must decide for themselves whether much of our own world is already run by those who should be inmates of the asylum.
Secondly, Reactor offers “The Day-Blind Stars” by Christopher Rowe. This is an unusual far-future sf story that easily meets Arthur C Clarke’s definition that a sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. So expect to meet an alien who casually states that he has bent the fundamental forces of the universe, but that he has a permit to do so!
Our female protagonist appears to have lived a good and well-fulfilled life for several centuries before she chooses to abandon her comfortable life in favour of exploring beyond her world’s limits. In common with many sf stories where humans conquer the aging process, the question of what to do next after accumulating a few centuries of life-experiences appears to be a regular issue. She is not the first to address this question by taking the risky path “up and out” rather than remaining within the bounds of her birthplace. However, she is an exception in that she meets and is befriended by an alien spiritual guide. They travel together for a period that so greatly exceeds her life so far that even the godlike alien finally ages and fades. His last revelation to her shares a secret about his own origin and the origin of his creator that has a profound impact, even on our world-weary protagonist. Then, in a final twist to an already complex story, her own people eventually catch up with her, and those individuals who finally locate her and offer her a new destiny are strangely familiar to her.
The last offering in Reactor’s April issue is: “I Spin Records into Gold” by Daria Lavelle. This bittersweet tale is set in the club-level rock music scene of 1970’s America. The story is told from the point of view of a struggling group’s chief roadie. He is a deliberate dropout from engineering college, hypnotically attracted to the music of the band whilst knowing that all sense and logic should tell him to go back to college and get a proper middle class job, wife and suburban home.
In common with all too many rock bands of the period, this group is talented but unable to rise above the noise level of all the hundreds of likewise talented groups until they meet a mysterious promoter at a most unpromising gig. Only days after signing with him they become stars, heading rapidly up towards superstardom. However, their new promoter is pushy and demanding and he and the group fall out and part ways with bitter words and threats.
The next day, all reality has changed and every memory of the band is gone. They are not only relegated to obscurity, they have never met. Our protagonist wakes up with no memory of his time on the road, but with his degree and the clear road to all his suburban dreams open before him. Yet he is left with an inexplicable itch for what might have been, and patient investigation of patchy leads finally bring him face to face with the mysterious stranger once more. There he must carefully weigh up what he should ask, knowing that he can only follow one path, and that this time his choice will be permanent.
Geoff Houghton lives the life of a retired old fogy in a leafy village in rural England and he may be declared by Tangent readers to be entirely out of touch with the modern world without him taking offense.