Aurealis “Goodbye Lucy” by Rosanna Watts
“Context” by Stephen Higgins
“How Grandpa Bear Saved Old Oak From Fire” by Benn Blattberg
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
“Goodbye Lucy” by Rosanna Watts takes place in a future Melbourne devastated by environmental degradation. Being outside is hazardous, and most people spend their time inside sealed buildings or underground. The narrator risks a journey to a facility where an old friend works in order to receive treatment, the nature of which is revealed late in the story.
The author paints a powerful portrait of a city wasting away and a narrator who is obsessed with the past. The treatment provides the story’s theme, but one aspect of how the narrator uses it, involving the friend, struck me as unlikely.
In “Context” by Stephen Higgins, a woman hits a man with her automobile. He seems injured, but denies any harm. The woman finds his wallet and carries it to the man’s home. She is shocked to discover that he has no legs, but is simply floating above the floor. Years later, she learns his true nature, with implications for herself.
The mystery is an intriguing one, but the solution to it is not as interesting. Once it is revealed, it seems anticlimactic. The woman’s realization of what it means for herself adds a nice touch at the very end.
“How Grandpa Bear Saved Old Oak From Fire” by Ben Blattberg takes the form of a legend related by an adult bear to cubs. The title character, mourning for the loss of the one he loved during a war with a tyrannical raccoon who used human tools, sets out to destroy all things made by people. Meanwhile, the animals in his region are dying from a strange disease. A raven arrives, offering to provide a cure that makes use of medicines stolen from human supplies. A further complication arises in the form of a mysterious figure who wields destructive fire.
The plot is even more intricate than I have indicated above, with multiple surprises for the reader. The animals are fully developed characters, with complex histories and culture. (There is a suggestion that humans raised the animals’ intelligence in some way, but the story is better appreciated as fantasy rather than science fiction.) The author captures the flavor of a folk tale perfectly.
Victoria Silverwolf has never seen a bear.