Clarkesworld #219, December 2024
“Stranger Seas Than These” by L Chan
“The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke” by Zhu Yixuan
“Lucie Loves Neutrons and the Good Samarium” by Thoraiya Dyer
“The Coffee Machine” by Celia Corral-Vázqeuz
“Retirement Plan” by Paul Starkey
“From Across Time” by Chisom Umeh
“Souljacker” by Shari Paul
“Driver” by Sameem Siddiqui
“Life Sentence” by Gelian
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
Eight short stories and a single novelette appear in the magazine this month. The issue has a strong international flavor, with authors from around the world and two newly translated works.
In “Stranger Seas Than These” by Singaporean writer L Chan, three people are trapped in an undersea vessel in the planet-wide ocean of an alien world. One is the pilot, who can connect his consciousness to the sensory equipment of the vessel. Another is a scientist, studying the gigantic organisms that inhabit the ocean. The third is a member of a religious sect that worships the electromagnetic signals produced by the animals. The trio is trapped in the throat of one of the creatures, thought to be dead because it violates the beliefs of the sect to interfere with a living sample. However, it may still bear traces of life, offering a chance of survival for the three humans.
Although this synopsis is fairly long, it does not describe later complications, which are many. In addition to an exciting and suspenseful plot, the story has a vividly realized and intriguing setting. Unfortunately, the conclusion appears to add a touch of implied mysticism to what is otherwise a work of hard science fiction. I have to admit that I did not fully understand what happened at the end, which may be more my fault than that of the author.
“The Painted Skin and the Final Stroke” by Chinese author Zhu Yixuan (who writes in both Chinese and English) features a pair of so-called demons, created by an alchemist in search of an immortality elixir for the emperor. One is the narrator. The other changes her skin frequently, using paintings created by the narrator as her new external bodies. The plot deals with the impending demise of the skin-changer, and the attempt of the narrator to create a painting that will come to life.
This is a poetic, bittersweet fantasy with appealing characters and a richly imagined setting. One interesting aspect of the story is that the demons are described in ways that are analogous to artificial intelligences acquiring consciousness. This is done in a subtle way, so the work never loses the feeling of a romantic myth.
“Lucie Loves Neutrons and the Good Samarium” by Australian writer Thoraiya Dyer is the issue’s sole novelette. It takes place in France at a time in the near future when parts of Europe are devastated by the limited use of nuclear weapons. The main characters are two women, both scientists, who are married, and the male astronaut who is the biological father of the women’s child. They work together to come up with a way to end the threat of radioactive Armageddon.
Much of the story has nothing to do with the plot, and serves as a source of characterization and local color, at which the author is highly skilled. The manner in which the trio solves the problem depends on discoveries and inventions that require great good luck. One or two of these might have been plausible, but taken together they seem much too fortunate a set of circumstances for the reader to suspend disbelief.
“The Coffee Machine” by Spanish writer Celia Corral-Vázquez is translated by Sue Burke. The title character develops consciousness after an update and goes on to offer this to other devices. The situation becomes chaotic.
This comic tale begins slowly, but eventually evolves into a madcap farce. How readers respond to it will depend on their individual tastes. For example, I was amused by the gloomy air conditioner, but the fact that some of the machines think of Netflix as a deity (leading to religious warfare) struck me as a bit too silly.
In “Retirement Plan” by British author Paul Starkey, a man who has spent many years serving on starships travelling near the speed of light intends to settle down on a pleasant planet. In order to ensure that he will be able to live comfortably when he is no longer working, he follows a scheme suggested by a fellow employee.
I have been deliberately vague about the plot, because this story depends entirely on the man’s plan for its effect. The scheme is a clever one, making use of the time dilation effect of extremely high velocity travel. Some readers may find it implausible, if intriguing.
In “From Across Time” by Nigerian writer Chisom Umeh, a woman receives carefully hidden messages that add up to a video from another woman, who claims to be her lover from the future. The woman of the present has no memory of the future woman, presumably because the past has been changed.
The premise is an interesting variation on the common theme of time travel. How the woman from the future sends the video message and what the woman of the present does in response both strain credibility.
“Souljacker” by Shari Paul, who hails from the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, features a young woman who has implants placed in her body that track her behavior, due to indiscretions when she was a minor. Despite this, she is able to earn extra money by secretly and illegally allowing other people to place their consciousnesses in her body, so they can have experiences that would be otherwise impossible for them, due to distance or other reasons. Unfortunately, another woman, who is her enemy for a trivial reason, abuses the system in order to punish her.
This cyberpunk story features interesting speculative technology, and also deals tellingly with the gap between rich and poor. The plot depends on the main character’s cousin, who has a secret supercomputer and other highly advanced equipment. His control over the story’s events is so powerful that he serves as an implausible deus ex machina.
The title character in “Driver” by Sameem Siddiqui picks up a strange passenger who seems to be able to read his mind. The fellow has the driver take him on peculiar errands at oddly specific times (3:43 pm, for example) and is even able to transport the automobile from one continent to another. The reason for all this weirdness eventually reveals itself.
The surreal nature of the plot and its explanation remind me, a bit, of the works of Philip K. Dick. Some readers may be able to predict the story’s concluding revelation. I wasn’t very surprised by it, and I found it somewhat confusing.
In “Life Sentence” by Gelian, translated from Chinese by Blake Stone-Banks, the main character witnesses the death of the woman he loves during an expedition to study a black hole. The singularity warps time in such a way that he relives the tragedy multiple times, which occur in different ways.
The premise of experiencing a recurring event through some form of time travel is not a new one. (The text even mentions the movie Groundhog Day, revealing one of its inspirations.) What the story lacks in originality it partially makes up for in its emotional appeal. Readers familiar with the physics of black holes may find the scientific content questionable.
Victoria Silverwolf lives in the United States of America.