Sci Phi Journal, Summer 2025/2
“Beyond the Sea” by Kevin Eric Paul
“The Price of Progress” by David Partington
“Broken Windows” by Nicholas Diehl
“The Caves” by Harley Carnell
“Will We Talk to the Trees?” by Robert L. Jones III
“Memory” by Momir Iseni
“Mirror” by Philip Madden
“Gods of Science” by Lily Black
“The Museum of the Office” by Olga Zilberbourg
Reviewed by Victoria Silverwolf
In “Beyond the Sea” by Kevin Eric Paul, worm-like aliens that dwell deep inside their planet launch an expedition to the surface, in search of their god. They make a remarkable discovery.
The author does a fine job writing from the viewpoints of extraterrestrials very different from human beings. Their quest to reach a realm completely unknown to them creates suspense and a sense of empathy for these very strange creatures.
“The Price of Progress” by David Partington takes place in what seems to be an alternate version of the very early twentieth century, with slightly more advanced technology than existed at the time. Travel by motorcar and airship is common, and paperback books exist. An older couple display their disdain for the behavior of younger folks.
The story provides a bit of gentle satire about the way that the older generation looks at modern culture, in the form of social media and the like. The way young people stare at their paperback books, for example, is described in a way that parallels the use of smartphones. Little more than an anecdote, this bagatelle offers some amusement.
“Broken Windows” by Nicholas Diehl takes place in a version of the modern world in which all crimes are punished by defenestration. Minor offenders are tossed out of first floor windows, with little or no injury. More serious criminals are thrown from greater heights, resulting in severe harm or death.
Through a series of narrators, the story offers parallels with our own justice system. Both ways of administering punishment are deeply flawed, a point that is made in an obvious manner lacking any subtlety.
“The Caves” by Harley Carnell begins with the narrator reading about a cult that keeps its members inside caverns, so they have no knowledge of the outside world. The narrator is then transported into an ineffable realm by mysterious beings.
The author appears to be inspired by the famous allegory of the cave, found in Plato’s Republic. A story dealing with something beyond what we perceive as reality has the inherent problem of trying to describe the indescribable. Other than being told that it is without suffering, the reader learns nothing about the narrator’s new existence.
“Will We Talk to the Trees?” by Robert L. Jones III takes the form of a scientific paper describing a sentient entity consisting of several trees of a certain kind combined into a group organism. It concludes with the suggestion that humans could communicate with it.
There is a great deal of convincing detail, and this could be considered a work of hard science fiction in which the science is botany. There is little to this brief work other than its premise.
“Memory” by Momir Iseni describes a world in which minerals have evolved into something resembling a form of life with a certain amount of minimal consciousness. The arrival of visitors from another planet changes things drastically.
The nature of the mineral beings is difficult to understand, with the author having to use several words in quotation marks to convey the fact that they are not really analogous to what is normally meant by them. The entities don’t really “feel” or “need,” for example, although these words are used for lack of more accurate ones. The result is a sense of vagueness throughout the story.
In “Gods of Science” by Lily Black, the memories of a dying person can be placed into a clone of the original or into a newborn infant. This results in a sort of immortality. However, the children always die after a short time. A scientist uses this technique multiple times on his father. The father begs him to end his misery by letting him die.
The premise has a powerful emotional effect and raises multiple questions about mortality and bioethics. The way in which the son responds to his father’s plea creates a conclusion with dark irony.
“The Museum of the Office” by Olga Zilberbourg takes the form of a message from the artificial intelligences who rule over the citizens of San Francisco. They offer humans a chance to reduce their rates of depression and suicide by allowing them to perform white-collar work in the institution named in the title, although this serves no real purpose.
Partly a grim satire on the meaninglessness of many office jobs, this story also offers a bleak view of regimented life under a seemingly benign dictatorship. Some of the ways in which the AIs treat humanity struck me as inconsistent. They seem to promote reproduction (while banning nonreproductive sexual activity) but also encourage euthanasia. Perhaps this is intentional, to depict the irrationality of authoritarianism.
Victoria Silverwolf likes the word “defenestration.”