Future Science Fiction Digest #17, December 2022

“The Language of Insects” by H. Pueyo

“Seven Deadliest Inventions of the New Era; An Itemization” by Uchechukwu Nwaka

“Great-Granny Bethany’s Memories of Space” by Renan Bernado

“Let Us Keep Writing” by Han Song (translated by Nathan Faries)

“Max Loves the Internet” by Rodrigo Culagovski

[Ed. Note: Unfortunately, this is the final issue of this enjoyable magazine. For details click the link at the top of the page where you will find the publisher’s editorial explaining his decision to cease publication.]

Reviewed by Mike Bickerdike

“The Language of Insects” by H. Pueyo is quite an engaging novelette of first contact, between a lone human colonist on a distant Mars-like planet, Ippios, and alien visitors from a different world, who have also travelled to Ippios on their exploratory spacecraft. The differences in the species are slowly revealed, in much the same way that the two species only slowly discover about the others’ nature. The switching between perspectives throughout the tale is slightly confusing to begin with, but one soon gets used to it. The story is not especially novel or inventive but is a reasonably interesting read.

“Seven Deadliest Inventions of the New Era; An Itemization” by Uchechukwu Nwaka has an interesting structure to it that works quite well for the tale it has to tell. A researcher undertakes a robbery with her sister, which is recounted in seven brief sections, each of which focusses on their encounter, as they progress with the robbery, with military devices that the researcher actually helped to invent. The structure of the tale is perhaps more appealing and interesting than the story itself, in this case.

“Great-Granny Bethany’s Memories of Space” by Renan Bernado is a quietly effective story, recounting the last years of Bethany—a 99 year-old woman—who takes the Blissboat starship for a cruise around the galaxy, ostensibly to die far away from her loved ones, so they won’t have to live through her last days, and see her pass away. On the ship she befriends another senior, and rather than die, she lives life for a little longer. The piece is quite nicely done, and different enough to be an immersive read. Old age and death are not subjects that are often approached in SF short fiction, so to find a story that deals with these things was quite nice to see.

“Let Us Keep Writing” by Han Song (translated by Nathan Faries) is a rather trippy flight of SF fancy, that starts out with the idea that all good literature has been the work of aliens, who are now planning to depart Earth. From there it proposes the notion that literature actually drives the laws of the Universe. However, having set up such a weirdly interesting concept, the story doesn’t develop or conclude these ideas very well, as it introduces yet further wacky ideas that ultimately seem too daft to accept. The attempt to ground the story with a sub-plot regarding the protagonist’s relationship with his partner cannot save it.

“Max Loves the Internet” by Rodrigo Culagovski is very short, but despite its brevity it’s an entertaining read. An AI of sorts arrives at Earth to assess its suitability for invasion by aliens, but runs foul of the internet, which has attained self-awareness, and fights back. It’s quite funny, irreverent and takes a few wry swipes at modern culture that will appeal to many.

More of Mike Bickerdike’s reviews and thoughts on science-fiction can be found at https://starfarersf.nicepage.io/