DreamForge Anvil #18, Winter 2024
“More Than Microscopic” by Erin Darrow
“A Ray So Alone” by Jack Morton
“Cross-Pollination” by Taylor Jones
“Ties That Bind” by Mark English
“Recipes For A Voyage To The Far Shore” by Jared Oliver Adams
Reviewed by Mina
This issue has the subtitle “Solitary Journeys, Shared Souls”. It reminds us that, while we are all alone in our journeys, we can have moments of true communion.
“More Than Microscopic” by Erin Darrow imagines a world after the ice caps have melted. Pearl has mermaid blood running through her veins and sings to re-seed the oceans with phytoplankton. One day, she meets Sina who is looking for a safe beach to re-introduce penguins into the wild. A surprisingly sweet tale.
“A Ray So Alone” by Jack Morton moves us to a First Contact story. It’s unusual and beautiful; the end is such a wonderful mix of sad and hopeful, it hurts. But it begins with a grandmother, Lily, brave enough to set out to free a trapped alien. We switch between the present and the past as Lily remembers when she first met an alien. A story that asks us to remember how to feel awe and wonder. And it’s nice to have an older, gentler protagonist in our ageing Western world so obsessed with youth and aggression.
In “Cross-Pollination” by Taylor Jones, a researcher on Planet 108 experiences communication with the flower of a bierzom, a highly advanced plant species. This is another unusual and beautiful First Contact story, which I thoroughly enjoyed. As a translator by profession, I particularly enjoyed the author showing us that single words do a poor job of explaining reality, as the flower thinks of “sons/caregivers/mates/friends/sensory arrays/communicators” to explain the mobile bierzom. And the narrator’s description of communicating at cellular level reflects the ethos behind this entire issue: “We shared all of ourselves. And even if we didn’t fully understand each other’s experiences, the feeling that grew between us during that moment that lasted a lifetime was delighted acceptance. We felt deeply, profoundly known.”
“Ties That Bind” by Mark English begins with a man awakening from surgery after a car crash. He finds he can see people’s psyche on the outside but his surgeon’s fear has him put in a psychiatric unit. There, he begins to learn how to help troubled souls towards healing. A magical tale.
“Recipes For A Voyage To The Far Shore” by Jared Oliver Adams is set in a world that has lost its faith in the Far Shore. The ship’s cook befriends Hurreini, a disabled child making a pilgrimage with the cargo of dead. Cooking to make her smile becomes his life’s mission and, at the end, he risks all to make sure she reaches the end of her journey. A touching tale, full of gentle humour.