Lightspeed“Before the Haze Devours You” by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas
“Now You See Me” by Justin C. Key
“Now You Feel It” by Andrea Chapela (translated by Emma Törzs)
“The Tale of Jaja and Canti” by Tobi Ogundiran
“Anything Short of Death is Survivable” by David Anaxagoras
“My Sister is a Scorpion” by Isabel Cañas
Reviewed by Kevin P Hallett
There are six original stories in Lightspeed’s 135th issue, plus another two previously published stories. Two of the original stories are novelettes.
“Before the Haze Devours You” by Nelly Geraldine García-Rosas
Her own recklessness traps Yunuen on Titan in this short SF tale. When her flyer crashes next to the Legeia Mare her suit is punctured, and she feels the wetness of her blood soaking her suit. Yunuen tries to connect with her orbiting ship, but she doesn’t get a reply. Maybe she shouldn’t have come down to the surface without permission. Now, she has time to think about the life and lover she left behind on Earth.
The snippet of a story was easy to read but didn’t have much depth to the plot.
“Now You See Me” by Justin C. Key
Three white women visit a new BLM exhibit in this fantasy novelette. Jane is the chief resident at a nearby New York City hospital and watches over her friend, Pam, who is thirty-five weeks pregnant. The third woman is Danny, who frequently finds herself in trouble with the police.
The exhibit moves them all in ways they struggle to understand. It is as if the paintings emphasize how indifferent people are to the people of color around them. After leaving the BLM exhibit, Jane began noticing a difference in how people perceive her. Despite her seniority as a resident, the other residents and doctors no longer trust or seek her opinion. Even her cat hisses at her.
Pam and Danny suffer the same, and worse yet, begin to ignore each other. Things only get worse over the next few days, and Jane goes in search of the exhibit in the hope of finding some answers.
This story began easily and steadily ratcheted up the mystery and tension. It was hard to put down once past the first section.
“Now You Feel It” by Andrea Chapela (translated by Emma Törzs)
This short SF happens a century from now, where Rivera is an expert at manipulating a person’s memories. The reasons for changing a person’s memory are often less than honest; after all, who pays so much for something legal. Then she ruins a job, causing the arrest of a powerful man and her boss to break her arm as punishment.
Now she has another chance, and her boss reminds her what he will do if she fails. A rich young man has defamed an innocent girl with an indecent videolog of her. Can Rivera get past her repulsion at what the conceited brat did and change his memory, so he appears to be the innocent party?
The author set the story in the future, but only a few things seemed futuristic. Otherwise, the story seemed to follow a conventional path to a predictable ending.
“The Tale of Jaja and Canti” by Tobi Ogundiran
Jaja is a boy made of wood in this short fantasy. Canti is carved by his father and imbued with life by his mother before she left forever. She gave him eternal life, so long as he never sees her again. But as his friends grow up, they shun him. And when his father dies, Jaja has no one else who loves him.
So Jaja went in search of his mother. As he wanders the land, he hears tales of others his mother has helped. And as he continues his search, he grows older.
The author’s story read like a folktale. And like most folktales, it was a pleasure to read.
“Anything Short of Death is Survivable” by David Anaxagoras
Olive is scavenging two battleships in this SF novelette set at the end of a war of annihilation between two space empires. She is indentured to Grub, who only cares about what Olive can find, especially any cross-dimensional energy flowers.
On one of the ships, Olive finds a battlesuit from generations ago, something that could clear her debts. And if she slips inside, she could escape altogether. But a soldier in stasis still occupies the suit, and he’s waking up.
This novelette is one long scene that was full of action set in an imaginative future.
“My Sister is a Scorpion” by Isabel Cañas
Little Lucia believes Mimi, her baby sister, is now a scorpion in this short fantasy. Lucia’s Mama warns her about scorpions and takes measures to stop any from reaching Mimi. And Lucia believes Mimi will become a scorpion if one of them ever stings her.
So when her parents take Mimi to the hospital and never bring her home, Lucia knows the real reason. It isn’t cancer like her parents claim, but the sting of a scorpion. And if she didn’t want to be alone, she’d have to find the right scorpion.
This story was slow, confusing at first, and almost devoid of speculative elements.
You can follow Kevin P Hallett’s writing on www.kevinphallett.com