Aurealis #75, OctoberReviewed by Clancy Weeks
“Scattered Souls” by Cecilia Quirk is the story of Anney, an apprentice Undertaker living on the outskirts of her local village with her aunt and uncle. In this world criminals from the South are sent North for ritual execution and disposal, and here we witness her first “solo” job. We are never quite told what the condemned man’s crime was, but that is irrelevant to the story. This story is not about redemption, revenge, or even justice. It is about a rite of passage. Anney, as a young woman performing a distasteful job, has a powerful voice. There is a slight twist at the end that isn’t necessary, but adds to the depth of the world created regardless. This is a rich world Quirk has created, and I hope to seem more from her and Anney.
Miles Hurt, with his story “The Nevermaw,” gives us a peek across the multiverse to a place where a single entity controls which decisions get to live on, and which branches of our fractal universe need pruning. The academic Dirk Ogelvy has discovered the truth of the Nevermaw buried among bits and pieces of forgotten history and lost texts—it exists to remove those branches that are false or unviable. It also wants to remain hidden, and even the story of the disappearance of the heretic Raskin isn’t enough to dissuade Ogelvy from revealing his truth to the world.
Or is it? Every decision comes with a consequence, after all, and with each decision a new universe is created. Which to choose? Never mind…the Nevermaw will decide. Good stuff.
Clancy Weeks is a composer by training, with over two-dozen published works for wind ensemble and orchestra, and an author only in his fevered imagination. Having read SF/F for nearly fifty years, he figured “What the hell, I can do that,” and has set out to prove that, well… maybe not so much. He currently resides in Texas, but don’t hold that against him.