Diabolical Plots #118, December 2024

“Margery Lung Is Unstoppable” by Lisa Cai

“St. Thomas Aquinas Administers the Turing Test” by Mary Berman

Reviewed by Mina

In “Margery Lung Is Unstoppable” by Lisa Cai, we see Margie using what her grandmother taught her to raise the dead as goeng-sior zombies: first a pet dog, then her grandmother, finally a murdered woman.

This tale looks at violence against Asian women, a situation not improved by Covid. The goeng-si, Winona, remembers: “It wasn’t just strangers. Her classmates, acquaintances, and exes grabbed her, insulted her, hit her. She was punished for just existing.” I’m not sure vigilantism is the solution but a vigilante zombie is intriguing.

“St. Thomas Aquinas Administers the Turing Test” by Mary Berman was fun to read. Thomas Aquinas is asked to examine the Wooden Likeness of a Man that has apparently come alive. Just as Pinocchio wanted to be a real child, this wooden likeness wishes to be baptised so it can receive communion. To be baptised, it must first be proven that it possesses a soul.

This story marries AI and Catholicism in a way that is amusing and eminently readable.